The studio Vanillaware is known for its unique approach to art design and storytelling. Their titles while always well-received often went overlooked by anyone other than hardcore Japanese gaming fans in the West.
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However, when13 Sentinels: Aegis Rimwasreleased on the PS4 in 2020 it becamethe studio’s best selling gameand is rightly regarded as one of the best games of a generation. Now, thanks to a Switch port released in 2022, JRPG and visual novel fans get to experience13 Sentinels: Aegis Rimon Nintendo’s machine too. Two years on and it’s still one of the best and most unique gaming experiences available, so let’s take a look at what there is love and not love about the game.
7Loved: The Narrative
Vanillaware has always been greatat telling compelling and original stories and13 Sentinels: Aegis Rimis no different in this regard. It may arguably be the studio’s best narratively driven experience yet. The story mode segment in13 Sentinelsis called Remembrance, and it tells a non-linear story that spans four generations focusing on 13 characters to play withduring different time periods.
The Remembrance segments play out like a 2D visual novel but it rarely overstays its welcome and doesn’t bog the player down with too much exposition. Moreover, despite13 Sentinelsfeaturing familiar anime character tropes, it’s never predictable, the characters have depth, and it has a plot that will keep one guessingfrom start to finish. There are so many twists, turns, betrayals13 Sentinelshandles it all brilliantly thanks to an excellent script and well-written characters. The science-fiction plot appears to take inspiration from thePacific Rimfranchise but this game’s characters and plot have more depth and much better characters.
6Loved: The Non-Linear Gameplay
Further to the storytelling in13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim’s Remembrance mode players can choose any character from different periods in history. These stories are intertwined leading toward one inevitable ending, but players can tackle this story and piece together the plot’s complexities to the player’s liking.
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What’s impressive about Vanillaware’s execution is despite the varying timelines and different characters one never feels lost in its complexities.13 Sentinelssucceeds where so many stories fail when it comes to time-hopping narratives.
5Loved: It’s Complex But Easy To Follow
There is a lot of information and technical jargon to process in13 Sentinelsplot threads, but the game does a good job of making sure the player doesn’t feel lost. The game very rarely feels confusing but thanks to13 Sentinels' Analysis mode players can keep track of key information viathe “Mystery Files"and important events are covered in Analysis mode’s “Event Archives”.
Furthermore, the Analysis mechanic allows players to dive back into the game after a long break or if they’ve suffered any real-world distractions. It’s a deep game and the sheer amount of information that occurs during13 Sentinels’plot is handled in a way so that it never feels intimidating. Moreover, there’s a cool little mechanic called the “Thought Cloud” that allows the player to hear their character’s inner voice and thoughts on various events and NPCs.
4Loved: The Visuals
Anyone that’s played any of Vanillaware’s previous games will be familiar with the studio’s unique but beautiful art design. Games likeDragon’s CrownandOdin Sphereimplement high-resolution 2D visuals and characters. The effect is quite stunning, and the still image captures never seem to do the game justice.
The visuals in13 Sentinels arestunning and the story events where the Kaiju and giant robots show up never fail to live up to their epic premise. The character models have an obvious anime style but look hand-drawn and nicely animated giving that interactive anime feel the developers were going for.
3Loved: The Music
Much has been said about13 Sentinels’narrative, characters, and visuals. However, the music deserves just as much praise and is some of the best work the studio has produced.
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The music was composed by Yoshimi Kudo whose other works also include Vanillaware’sMuramasa: The Demon Bladeand Sega’sValkyria Chronicles 2. Each of the’s game’s themes set the scene well whether it’s interacting with other students in a classroom or during the battle segments.
2Loved: The Switch Port
Thanks to13 Sentinels: Aegis Rimreleasing on the Nintendo Switchthe game will hopefully get a chance to reach a wider audience. As a game that was originally designed to be played on the PS Vita,13 Sentinelsfeels right at home on Nintendo’s console.
Whether one is playing the game docked in TV mode or handheld it’s a great game with very few cutbacks. Furthermore, thanks to the game’s long story segments playing it on the Switch allows players to manage their time better. More importantly,13 Sentinels' Destruction mode has some updates to the gameplay to make some sequences more challenging. Additionally, each Sentinel now has two abilities to unlock that are specific to them making the characters feel more unique in combat compared to the PS4 version.
1Don’t: The Destruction Mode
Despite some adjustments to13 Sentinels’combat system and mechanics for the Switch, the weakest aspect of the game is still Destruction mode. The Destruction mode is where all of the game’s battle scenarios take place.
It takes elements of the real-time strategy combat from the studio’s previous titleGrimGrimoireand implements elements from the Tower Defense genre. The interactions between the characters during these sequences keep things interesting but on a visual level, it’s quite bland to look at. Vanillaware is known for its incredible-looking boss fights with all manner of screen-filling monsters and dragons to fight in13 Sentinelspredecessors. It’s disappointing that a game that features Godzilla and King Kong-sized monsters and robots doesn’t get the same epic moments as the ones found inDragon’s Crown.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rimis available now for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch
