13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

An odd game, with two disparate halves. One is a side-scrolling sci-fi adventure/visual novel about a cast of Japanese high-school kids, told in 5 to 15 minute-ish fragments scattered across space and time and connected in ways that take a long time to become clear. It's hard to discuss the plot in any detail without getting into spoilers, but while I found the premise and structure compelling and enjoyed the mystery slowly unraveling itself, ultimately the mystery is more interesting than its resolution, and once the full picture comes into focus, the latter third of the game started to drag on a little. The other half of 13 Sentinels is a sort of real-time strategy tower defense game. While it's adequate in giving this game a "gameplay" component as opposed to just listening to dialog for 30 hours, I'm not sure it would stand as a particularly compelling game on its own merits, but the designers seem to realize this and dialed in the amount of combat to a degree where it doesn't detract from the narrative parts. The art style and presentation are strong points here. Ultimately, the narrative didn't stick the landing for me, but I still enjoyed my time in 13 Sentinels' odd little universe.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is not really what I expected. Granted I was very hyped up because it's Atlus published and the high ratings, I was expecting something in the line of Persona and SMT complexity even if it's more in the strategy realm. To my surprise it's more of an adventure game, and the strategy battles or more of an addition on top of it and aren't really the core of the game although essential to complete.

The story is actually very complex and it's told through flashbacks of 13 different main characters, and you get to have the option to choose which one you are progressing in just about any order (with some minor unlock restriction). After the long prologue you also have the option to switch between the Adventure (story) parts and the battles. The battles happen in the present, but you don't really know why they are fighting in these huge robots until you progress more of the story, so it's up to you to balance it out properly. The story of the game is actually very good and I would say the main draw here, it's hard to explain without spoiling anything but there's many occasions where certain reveals happens and they make you re-assess everything you have learned so far and make you view the game world in a completely different way.

The adventure parts aren't very challenging to progress as the more you talk with people you gain some thoughts that you can initiate conversations with on certain key NPCs, and that's how things progress. The story segments vary in length from a few minutes to some very longer ones, but keep in mind that there's a ton of them and the game does take 30+ hours to complete (I clocked in at 39 hours myself). The disappointing aspect of the game is the battles themselves, it's sort of a defend the core strategy of which you control 6 mechs (sentinels) where you need to defeat the invading enemies. Its shortcomings and limitations show very quickly, after a few battles you kind of know what to expect next and it's mostly just repetition of the same strategies. The game does offer a lot of customization in which abilities you want to equip and upgrade on your sentinels, but it's mostly just about buffing them as high as possible with all the credits you are making from battles and story progression.

Overall 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a pretty unique game, and unlike any other I've played before. I do not consider it a masterpiece as there's some pretty apparent flaws in it, but I did enjoy my time with it and it's pretty good story to unveil until the end. Not essential Atlus and not a reason to get a PS4 (or Switch), but if you already have access to one of those it's certainly not a bad pick and worth getting. My only advice would be to go in expecting a story heavy adventure game and not your typical Atlus RPG complexity.

It's a very fun experience, but it sacrifices emotional impact for mystery. It leaves a lot to be filled in by the player, which is a double-edged sword. It's really cool to figure out what's going on, but there are so many interesting ideas in this game that are just not fleshed out - multiple scenes I could have seen myself crying at, in a different game. And, without getting into spoilers, the mystery doesn't resolve cleanly, tied in a nice bow. And what is the point of the story? Is there any message here beyond it's - admittedly cool - mystery?

The game is also long, and drags at times. I managed to finish it because I was sick - had I been working a 9-5, this game would never have been finished, because playing a short session will sometimes reward you with no new information, only things you had already figured out. And that can only happen a few times before you get worn out.

I played the Defense portion at Intense difficulty, and it was quite fun. This part of the game isn't going to be what anyone picks the game up for, I imagine, but despite that it doesn't feel like an afterthought.

I'm comparing this game, in my mind, mostly to visual novels, or other games where the story is the main focus. I've played games that make me question the world around me, that make me cry, that pose tough questions that I think about for weeks. This game was a fun time, but next week I will be thinking about something else.

Excellent visual novel/strategy rpg hybrid. Some of the character stories are a little underwhelming compared to the others, and in honesty the combat sections are serviceable at best, but when you see the forest for the trees you get rewarded with a fantastic experience that'll make you wish you could mindwipe and play it for the first time again.

By far, the most successful "lots of individual stories with partial perspectives, piece together the truth yourself" visual novel. 13 Sentinels proves that good writing isn't just prose, it's the ability to juggle a wide swarth of characters and plot twists without losing readers. The tower defense is actually fun and easy, while not compromising the story focus as much as I expected.