13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is full of the sorts of complexities and nuances that make you want to double back and analyze the script, lore, and artwork in every scene. There’s so much going on, but it’s handled in a way where you’re typically never given more than you can handle. Rather, it prepares you for its major moments.

For fans of heady science-fiction or winding mysteries, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is nothing short of a staggering achievement.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a must-play for fans of Japanese sci-fi adventures. Mixing the strengths of Vanillaware's art with time-travel adventures is a recipe for huge success. A story ambitious enough to have thirteen different protagonists seems bound for failure, yet the game manages to make each story not only incredibly impactful on its own, but adds up to a bigger, brighter and utterly unforgettable narrative. The addictive tactical gameplay that strings these story scenes together, despite a strange artstyle, is just icing on the already massive and delicious cake.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a phenomenal visual novel — and a surprisingly great strategy game. In trying something different, Vanillaware has crafted one of its best games yet. It's got an engrossing story that's absolutely packed with mind-blowing twists and endearing characters, all wrapped up in a gorgeous visual style. Don't sleep on 13 Sentinels — it's one of 2020's finest.

Had Vanillaware crafted a title where the story and the action wove into one another flawlessly, we'd be looking at the greatest game the developer has ever made, without question. Unfortunately, that's not what this game is, and while what is here is great, it's crushing to see just how close 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim came to perfection.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is an odd hybrid, but it knows exactly what it wants to be and pursues that goal with confidence and style.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is absolutely a high mark for the studio. It is such a refreshingly unique interactive title that I'd urge everyone to give it a shot. Maybe it won't get its hooks in you, but a game so brazenly different like this doesn't come around that often. You'd be crazy to pass it up if anything here sounds remotely interesting to you.

This game is like two different games in one and the same package. Both of which are good, but might feel a bit disjointed at times. That said, the story of this game is one of the most insane and engaging sci-fi stories I’ve yet to come across and I’ve played a lot of games and watched a million movies or so. I realize it’s not for everyone, and I myself preferred the story part of the game, it was only when I’d finished the story that I kept playing the endless tower-defense mode. Anyway, I love a great story and all these characters and how they’re tied together keeps the player wanting more answers and the story will surely stay with me for a loooong time. Amazing game.

In my opinion this game would be better if it had less dialogues, less main characters (around 5-8) and if it lasted 10-15 hours. It took me 40 hours and 40 minutes.

面白いゲーム。なんだけど、、、 物語が全体的にプロット的な、ゲーム的な都合によって動かされているような印象があり。 『E.T.』や『宇宙戦争』や『マトリックス』や『2001年』やらのブレンドがうまかったのは間違いない。

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

13 Sentinels is two games in one: An epic visual novel where you play as a rotating cast of high school-aged protagonists, and a tactical combat game where those same characters pilot giant robots (“Sentinels”) to defend your city against waves of kaiju. The visual novel is where you’ll spend most of your time. It’s a lavish production: beautiful art, excellent voice acting, and tens of hours of content. The only problem is… it’s boring. The story is convoluted even by the standards of sci-fi anime. I tried my best to follow it, but at a certain point I just stopped caring who’s a clone of who, whose dreams are whose implanted memories, and so on. And the gameplay is tedious. There are no choices, just steps you need to take to advance: talk to X, think thought Y, touch item Z. Usually the next step is obvious, but occasionally it’s a frustrating exercise in trying to read the dev’s mind. The combat is actually pretty fun, though it doesn’t require much strategic thinking. Usually you can just spam your rockets at the incoming waves and call it a day. (If you like your kaiju fights to be more cerebral, go play Into the Breach instead.) Also, your performance in combat doesn’t affect the story at all, so there’s no sense of stakes. Overall, 13 Sentinels is a unique, ambitious genre-bending experiment that fails to cohere as a gaming experience.