The New Classics #22: 13 Sentinels – Aegis Rim

 

The Backstory: ‘Chaotic’ is an apt word to describe 13 Sentinels’ release journey. The initially planned Vita release was cancelled by Atlus in 2018, and the game remained a PS4 exclusive until it suddenly appeared on the Switch two months ago. The question is: was it worth the wait, and the pinning for? 

 

 

The Game: I quickly noticed something I was not aware of: namely, that 13S is a mix of Visual Novel and RTS. More precisely, it’s a VN with chunks of RTS fighting, which means that the story is the primary focus. That shouldn’t be a problem given that I love VNs; however, it ended up being a big problem indeed.

 

 

The VN segments’ gameplay instantly bothered me. See, I rant every now and then about the lack of interactivity in modern gaming, and about how games shouldn’t forget to give the player agency; and well, it’s like Vanillaware heard my rants and translated them way too literally. To advance the plot, you have to: a) walk around and talk to people, b) check keywords obtained in dialogue through a dedicated menu, and c) talk to the same people again to get more dialogue and keywords — rinse and repeat. This gameplay loop feels forced and unintuitive, and it comes across as more tedious than empowering.  

 

 

I had another, bigger problem: the atmosphere and story didn’t click with me at all. See, I love Vanillaware’s signature style as a rule; but 13S’ crepuscular graphics and vistas failed to please my retinas. I’ve seen enough school settings in games to be completely blasé about them; and the few narrative developments I witnessed didn’t whet my appetite. 

 

 

13S’ combat sessions are perfectly competent and could have single-handedly salvaged the game — that is, if I actually fancied RTS. Recent experiences prove that I don’t; and so, 13S’ destiny is pretty much set.  

 

 

The Verdict: We’re talking about a game that reaped the enviable total of 88 on Metacritic, with universal acclaim and scores ranging from 70 to 100; and yet, that game left me cold, which proves one more time that my gaming instinct is the only compass I need. Since I read here and there that the story is amazing, I went and spoiled myself; and now, I don’t need to touch 13S ever again!