First Impressions
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is shaping as much as be one other winner for Vanillaware, and a stark departure from the style stylings it has known as dwelling for many years. If achieved proper, this might be certainly one of 2020’s sleeper hits.
Key Specifications
Review Price: £49.99
Release Date: September 22, 2020
Developer: Vanillaware
Genre: RPG
Platform: PS4
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a daring departure for Vanillaware, which has beforehand lower its enamel on attractive, hand-drawn brawlers with the lightest of technique components, like Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown. Since the PS2 days, it has seldom deserted conventional fantasy settings and predictable style conventions, however this new outing throws each conceivable toy from the pram and doesn’t look again. The Japanese studio has grown up, moved ahead and is much, much better for it.
Even from the prologue alone, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a daring, bold and downright enrapturing time journey caper that appears like a mix of Doctor Who, Terminator, War of the Worlds and numerous different iconic sci-fi properties. While its influences are worn proudly on its sleeve, the attractive aesthetic and revolutionary strategy to storytelling assist Vanillaware’s newest effort actually shine, with the prologue establishing a winding story of tragic intrigue that I’m already smitten with.
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The core premise of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is easy. Otherworldly aliens have attacked the Earth, and a small group of towering mechs are the one technique of conceivable defence. Constructed throughout time as a method to fight the international menace, these machines are piloted by chosen people, who all occur to be in high-school as a result of anime.
While this core premise appears trivial, it rapidly entails right into a thriller which spans from 1944 all the best way right into a far off future, following the identical 13 characters as they mature, fall in love and are available to phrases with the inevitable destiny that awaits them. It’s fantastically established within the opening few hours, with every particular person storyline set to intertwine in some surprising methods.
You’re piecing collectively the true intentions of this world alongside the characters themselves, taunted by an impending sense of dread you could’t assist however morbidly pursue. The solid of characters consists of high-school college students from throughout time, all of which discover themselves attending the identical faculty and being managed by the next energy that’s but to be uncovered.
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Each new face has their very own private demons to beat within the wake of an impending apocalypse, they usually all have their very own establishing scenes within the opening hours. Natsuno Minami is a observe athlete with a eager curiosity within the paranormal, whereas Keitaro Miura is a younger man who’s drafted into the Japanese Army in 1944 earlier than being thrust ahead in time.
Another spotlight is Takatoshi Hijiyama, a soldier who finds himself stranded within the 1980s, slowly falling in love with the person liable for his now fractured life. I’ve solely described a couple of members of the principle ensemble right here, however they’re all fleshed out by fantastic performances and nuanced circumstances within the wider narrative, and I’m curious to see how they develop because the story progresses, and if the sport’s LGBT themes stick the touchdown given Atlus’ lower than stellar historical past in that division.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a standard narrative journey mixed with a real-time technique ingredient much like Into The Breach. This latter ingredient is moderately easy but executed with sufficient model and substance that it simply stands by itself. Played from a top-down perspective, you management quite a lot of mechs as they search to guard a selected space of the map – this exact same location is able to expelling quite a lot of lethal talents, too.
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Some enemies are massive and stationary, whereas others are fast paced and airborne. You’ll must fight these adversaries with the suitable talents, akin to downing foes within the air with an EMP blast or hacking away at bigger aliens with a devastating melee assault. While searching for to execute such assaults turrets and shields may be deployed throughout the map, defending allies as they transfer in for the kill.
It’s a battle system which is straightforward to be taught but fiendishly troublesome to grasp, and the consistently altering dynamics of every passing mission ignites it with a welcome side of creativity. Each pilot may be upgraded with new abilities as they degree up, enhancing their repertoire of talents alongside the story. However, you’ll want to drag some mechs again after a few fights, since repeated battles can have a deadly impact on the younger pilots.
The means through which the strategic battles and freeform storytelling of 13 Sentinels complement each other is absolutely spectacular, including additional weight to a thriller I’m determined to uncover. It’s by no means abundantly clear the place or why you’re combating and the way it ties into the prologue’s occasions. Characters you’ve but to satisfy and places you’ve but to go to are referenced in such a carefree method, like the sport is attempting to pique your curiosity earlier than purposefully tripping you up.
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First Impressions
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is shaping as much as be one other winner for Vanillaware, and a stark departure from the style stylings it has known as dwelling for many years. It additionally seeks to desert lots of the dangerous anime stereotypes its previous video games have perpetuated, akin to an oversexualised feminine solid clearly made to be ogled at. Here, virtually the entire characters really feel real with their very own distinct personalities and tales to inform.
The prologue units the stage for a bleak sci-fi journey with bold storytelling and fast-paced strategic battles which enhance each other moderately effectively, and I’m curious to see how this partnership expands because the narrative continues. Right now, this might be a sleeper hit for 2020 which I hope doesn’t fall underneath the radar.
A ’fingers on evaluate’ is our first impression of a product solely – it isn’t a full check and verdict. Our author should have spent a while with the product to explain an early sense of what it’s like to make use of. We name these ‘hands on reviews’ to make them seen in search. However these are at all times unscored and don’t give suggestions. Read extra about our critiques coverage.
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Jade is the devoted video games author at TechSwitch. She handles all issues gaming whether or not or not it’s information, critiques, occasions or foolish options. Seen at retailers akin to MTV UK, Kotaku and TechSwitch (…
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