13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

 PlayStation 4
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 383 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 339 out of 383
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 383
  3. Negative: 23 out of 383
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. GrumpyReviewer
    Jan 19, 2021
    7
    It seems reviewers decided, collectively, to say this game is "the masterpiece nobody is playing". I really believe we need a reality check here.

    13 Sentinels is a great game, sure. But I don't think it is this "hidden masterpiece". The graphics are beautiful, what is expected from VW. The characters are charming, the gameplay works (for a 2D point and click game + tactical combat). And    It seems reviewers decided, collectively, to say this game is "the masterpiece nobody is playing". I really believe we need a reality check here.

    13 Sentinels is a great game, sure. But I don't think it is this "hidden masterpiece". The graphics are beautiful, what is expected from VW. The characters are charming, the gameplay works (for a 2D point and click game + tactical combat). And the plot... well, the plot is all over the place and eventually gets somewhere (even though it feels it won't get anywhere).

    On that note. People are praising the game for its "incredible sci-fi plot". I love (good) sci-fi stories. And I'm afraid that is not the case here. Through the exposition of 13 stories, the game keeps adding stuff on top of stuff on top of stuff and giving some files for you to check and try to keep up. I tried to do that at first and gave up. Decided to just finish it and see what that was all about.

    It's not that the story is bad. It's just... weird and complex for the sake of being weird and complex. I would make a lot of changes and cut a LOT of stuff and I would still have enough material for a surprising plot, which I won't spoil of course.

    I advise people to check this out, for sure. It's a cool game, especially if you are into VW games. But don't go in expecting 13 Sentinels to be the greatest game ever made. It's not, really.    … Expand
  2. UglyBunny
    Jun 27, 2022
    6
    This was the first game of this sort that I've ever played, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but by about 20 hours in, I was growing weary and I just wanted to see the end of the story.

    And when I saw it, well, it wasn't as profound or intriguing as the buildup made it seem. The whole "Remembrance" mode (where you're controlling the characters and interacting with other people and    This was the first game of this sort that I've ever played, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but by about 20 hours in, I was growing weary and I just wanted to see the end of the story.

    And when I saw it, well, it wasn't as profound or intriguing as the buildup made it seem. The whole "Remembrance" mode (where you're controlling the characters and interacting with other people and objects) weaves a convoluted tale - one that really doesn't come together neatly in the end; partly, perhaps because I'm just too stoopid, but partly because of the way the game allows you to jump around narratives. I felt there was too much forced intrigue; it's a story that features time-travel, clones, androids, AI, characters who are the child version of the parents of other characters, good guys, bad guys, characters who can transfer their consciousness into other humans and machines, etc. Much of it was shoehorned in to the detriment of the clarity of the narrative. This became especially clear towards the end as the developers tried desperately to tie it all together by making Renya Gouto the final character's story you can complete before the final battle. To muddy the waters even more, two characters have EXACTLY the same name, and two others have the same first name, different last names, but actually are each other (or, the same person).

    The "Analysis" mode is more or less throwaway; it's a collectopedia and reference in case you get lost, but it's not well organized and can be ignored entirely, except to spend your "mystery points," which is required to progress the story at one point. It can be kind of interesting to peruse, but I didn't spend much time here. A lot of the files are updated as you progress through the game. It's possible that if I were to seek out the characters or events that were a little confusing to me and read, I would understand better, but I never really felt compelled. There are some interesting tidbits about Japanese culture here and there, though, so that was nice.

    "Destruction" mode is a game within a game (within a game?). It's a turn-based RTS-style game where you control up to 6 sentinels with the goal of destroying all the bad guys, represented by weird, twisty, stacked two-dimensional shapes on the battlefield. It was interesting at first and had some good potential, but by the end, I found myself bringing down the difficulty to casual because I just wanted it to be over with. Every level was more or less the same, with slightly varying goals, enemies, etc. While it's not un-fun, it's not the most engaging aspect of the game and you really need to grind A LOT in order to upgrade your sentinels sufficiently to be able to able to get S* rank in every battle on Normal difficulty, let alone Intense. It's satisfying watching the icons blow up, but I found I only used a scant few of the skills available. Each sentinel has around 10 or so active and passive skills that can be upgraded, plus overall sentinel upgrades, plus a "meta terminal" that can be upgrade, all which require hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of "meta chips," - the currency you get for winning battles - to upgrade.

    The problem here is that battles don't net you nearly enough meta chips when you have to spread them between 13 characters' skills, 13 characters' sentinel upgrades, and the meta terminal. This is what I mean you have to grind if you really want to upgrade. A battle might net you 100k chips (once you've sufficiently upgraded your terminal) but those will be gone in a flash on ONE character's skills, let alone their sentinel upgrades. The thought of the grind makes me shudder.

    Anyway, I'm glad it's over and I'm glad to have experienced it.

    Pros:
    - Natsuno's butt in the track outfit
    - Beautiful art style
    - 100% voice acted (English VA was great)
    - Ultimately, a very cool concept

    Cons:
    - Walled-off progression pending other activities
    - Too many required destruction stages (should have been skippable)
    - Some characters' paths were VERY unintuitive (only needed a guide once, though)
    - There's no secrets; nothing to "find" - you just push the button until you exhaust the prompts

    Scores
    Visuals: 7/10.
    Sound: 7/10.
    Gameplay: 5/10.
    Story: 7/10.
    Replay Value: 2/10.
    Total: 5.6/10. Average. It's not all it was hyped up to be, but it's by no means a bad game. It's not a "must play" and I certainly won't replay it, but I have no regrets and will probably give these sorts of games more of a chance in the future. It was intriguing, tedious, confusing, interesting, annoying, and heartwarming all at the same time.    … Expand
  3. Premier991
    Dec 3, 2021
    7
    This reminded me somewhat of a telltale game with more depth and tons of borrowed scifi themes. There was a lot of fluff in the story, but it was good overall. It's a fairly easy platinum trophy, just takes about 40 hours depending on mode you play. Overall, it had beautiful static backgrounds, but there were elements that needed more work. The characters look like paper cutouts, and theThis reminded me somewhat of a telltale game with more depth and tons of borrowed scifi themes. There was a lot of fluff in the story, but it was good overall. It's a fairly easy platinum trophy, just takes about 40 hours depending on mode you play. Overall, it had beautiful static backgrounds, but there were elements that needed more work. The characters look like paper cutouts, and the battle system looks really bad. It felt like a really long $15 game with a better than average story that was a little messy.… Expand
  4. Unrighteousss
    Jan 29, 2022
    6
    Is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim a masterpiece?
    No.
    Is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim a good game? No. Will you like it? Maybe. I'd like to preface this review with saying that I have the platinum for the game; not a difficult feat, but it should at least inform you that I've played my fair share. There are three different modes in the game, but your time will mainly be split into the combat    Is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim a masterpiece?
    No.
    Is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim a good game?
    No.
    Will you like it?
    Maybe.

    I'd like to preface this review with saying that I have the platinum for the game; not a difficult feat, but it should at least inform you that I've played my fair share.

    There are three different modes in the game, but your time will mainly be split into the combat and story modes, so I'll be focusing on those.

    To start off, even people giving this game a 10/10 will likely submit that the combat isn't the best; certainly not masterpiece level. In my opinion, it's a horrible and confusing mess to look at, and the strategic gameplay isn't fun for the most part. None of Vanillaware's strengths are on display here at all. I'm done talking about combat; I'm pretty sure even Vanillaware doesn't really care for it all that much.

    The artwork in the game's story is just as beautiful as you might expect from Vanillaware, and it brings up what would otherwise be a 3/10 to a 6/10. Unfortunately, you'll be staring at the same environments and characters for hours on end, which can make even the most beautiful artwork look boring.

    The story itself isn't hard to follow despite being very complex, which is the only positive thing I have to say about it. I won't get into spoilers, but for certain reasons, character development isn't really possible in this story, and we don't get much of a chance to get attached to any of the characters anyway because we only get to spend a few minutes with each at a time.

    On top of the characters being uninteresting plot devices that we follow around, the reveals and plot twists are just as boring, and only serve to add layers of needless, empty complexity onto a story that really didn't need it. If they had spent more time trying to get me invested into the lives of the characters, and less time talking about every sci-fi trope under the sun, I may have enjoyed myself a bit more.

    The way you interact with the story, at first, is actually rather interesting, but 20 hours in becomes tedious. Running around trying to figure out what object or person you're supposed to talk to is just wasted time. There's no choice here, you find where the story wants you to go next, and you go there, or talk to that person, or think that thought. It's not hard, it's not engaging, it's just boring.

    The voice acting is excellent (I played in Japanese, not sure about English). The dialogue feels very natural, but it's often very boring because of this. I found myself watching schoolgirls speaking to one another, and thinking: "this conversation seems like what actual schoolgirls might talk about; too bad I have absolutely no interest in anything they're saying." There were other characters that did make me laugh a few times, and I was occasionally interested in what was going on, but most of my time listening to conversations was time wasted. Excellent voice acting can't save a boring story with mostly boring dialogue.

    I could go on for ages about how stupid some of the twists and reveals are, but obviously there's loads of people that actually love this game, and I wouldn't want to spoil anything for anyone reading who also might wind up loving the game.

    I consider myself a fan of Vanillaware, and I have no issue with them making different kinds of games; I just wish they'd stick to their strengths, which is mostly their beautiful artwork. If I could take a break from the story, and button mash with a gorgeous 2D sentinel instead of giving myself a seizure looking at flashing neon lights in the combat system, I may have liked this game. Vanillaware has never been good storytellers, but that didn't matter when I could take control of their art and beat up other art. Odin Sphere had better character development and a more engaging story even without its combat, but letting me control the characters in combat helped me get more invested in them; 13 Sentinels could have greatly benefitted from giving the player more agency over its characters, which rarely ever happens at all. Decisions are actually meaningless, and will force you into saying "yes" if you said "no," and any combat in the story is just a single button press that often fades to black with beat-em-up noises playing in the background. I just didn't care.

    Regardless of what I think, there are people that will love this game, and there are people that will hate this game. There are also people that will fall in the middle and tear themselves apart agonizing over it (me). What it really comes down when deciding whether or not to play this game is to figure out what kind of person you are.    … Expand
  5. infinitysend
    Aug 2, 2021
    7
    I really want to like this game. It's definitely not a 10, but it's not a 0, either. Maybe a little higher than midrange. I don't dislike it, but it's not this mindblowing GOTY or anything like that.

    If you like the following: - 100% trope-based, Japanese culture, characters, and dialogue focusing on high school kids - A very basic, cliche "save the world / post-apocalyptic" sci-fi    I really want to like this game. It's definitely not a 10, but it's not a 0, either. Maybe a little higher than midrange. I don't dislike it, but it's not this mindblowing GOTY or anything like that.

    If you like the following:
    - 100% trope-based, Japanese culture, characters, and dialogue focusing on high school kids
    - A very basic, cliche "save the world / post-apocalyptic" sci-fi tale containing mecha, kaiju, multiple dimensions and time travel
    - RTS / tower defense gameplay that isn't *too* challenging
    - Some fan service, but not over the top
    - Good voice acting
    - Hand drawn character sprites in a gorgeous 2D world
    Then give it a try. If not, stay far, far away.

    Pros: Extremely good voice acting - the English dub is quite tolerable! Their dialogue and vocabulary do not suffer any "engrish" treatment and the localizers did an amazing job. This game has a TON of spoken dialogue so you'll be listening to the characters speak often. The hand-drawn character sprites are also of the highest caliber, as one could expect from a Vanillaware title. Music is pretty cool too.

    Cons: The battle / tower defense parts are a mixed bag. Yes, it is difficult to see where things are. Everything on the battle overworld is depicted in a futuristic, holographic neon vector outline and you never see anything fully realized. The characters tend to all yell at each other in unison, which makes it very stress inducing, but you just have to tune them out. They all say the same things, too, so by the 10th or so battle, you may be a little sick of hearing them state their "battle cry" when you select them. I know they want you to get really deeply connected to these characters so you can make sure they don't die, but none of that ever hit home with me. Guess I'm just not Japanese enough to feel that way.

    The game is made exclusively for Japanese people. It contains absolutely no other races except Japanese people, takes place in Japan, and is only about Japan and Japan life. There are even some WWII refs in there because of course there is. JAPAN!!!!

    All 13 of the characters themselves are cliche and trope-tastic, from the "basic but kinda weird boy, with leadership qualities" to the "quiet, shy girl who's afraid to confess to her crush" to the "dark, brooding tough guy who has a heart of gold." It's all very tried and true. I wish these Japanese storytellers would just expand their creativity once in a while.

    Bottom line: Have you ever seen the series Dark on Netflix? It's kinda like that, but with Japanese kids and mecha. Enjoy!    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PS4 Game of 2020
33
#33 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. Edge Magazine
    Dec 31, 2020
    70
    No, it doesn't make any damn sense. But consider us compelled. [Issue#354, p.112]
  2. CD-Action
    Dec 18, 2020
    80
    “Huge mechs, a ruined city, and a hot female teacher in a latex suit”, is how one of the game’s characters described his visions. That’s, in a nutshell, the essence of this unique, crazy RPG where you face kaiju in turned-based combat one minute, and follow weird conversations of high-school students the next. And there is nothing wrong with that. [12/2020, p.70]
  3. Games.cz
    Nov 12, 2020
    90
    A game of two halves. One of them is an amazingly detailed and well-told sci-fi story, the other a fun, strategic RPG. And as a whole it works perfectly.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »