Truly a one-of-a-kind experience. While this game may not be for everyone (i.e. those who enjoy a bit more "game" or who can't tolerate anime tropes in their stories), it truly excels as one of the most interesting narrative experiences I have ever seen in a game. The art style is gorgeous throughout, and while the animations are limited, they never fail to be expressive. While narrative is the clear focus of the game, and its greatest strength, the pseudo-RTS "Destruction" mode is still a rather enjoyable pallet cleanser in between all the dialog heavy interactive cutscenes. As a package, 13 Sentinels is just so unique, and so ambitious with how it presents its story that you can't help but be in awe of it.
On the gameplay side, you have 2 options. "Remembrance", which are the 13 individual character stories for each of the main characters, and "Destruction", the RTS mech combat mode that involves about 90% of the actual "gameplay". Destruction is a relatively simple game mode, with S ranks for the missions being almost trivial to achieve without any challenge, but the core mechanics are actually quite strong and fun to play with, and as you progress, further upgrades and enemy types manage to actually push you a bit in the late game, forcing you to stategise to achieve those S ranks. That depth to the gameplay comes a bit too late to really make the mode stand-out for most people I imagine, and that fact is not helped by the absolutely horrible in-game UI, and even moreso the upgrade menu. The amount of visual clutter makes it so easy to miss unlockable upgrades which offer some of the most enjoyable mechanics to really make the 13 characters stand-out from each other. In-game, the simple digtal map aesthetic is functional for the most part, but doesn't really convey the cool factor of the mech combat, and at worst it can become downright headache inducing to keep track of all the things on screen. In the end, Destruction does provide some casual fun, and there is depth and optimization to be found, but the game takes too long to ramp-up to it, and never really demands that much out of the player, which is a shame.
Despite this, the real meat and potatoes of this game is the Remembrance mode. This mode plays out as a visual-novel crossed with a point-and-click adventure game, though it lacks the puzzles that make-up the bulk of the experience in the latter. Instead, this mode feels a bit more like a television show than a real game, with most of the time being watching cutscenes with minor interactivity to give the player something to do. While that fact may deter a more casual audience from playing this game, the sheer ambition of the narrative and the bold way it presents itself is what elevates this game into greatness. You get 13 character stories to explore, and each one will reveal bits and pieces of the greater narrative, but you can explore those stories in almost any order, and with a narrative that throws as much information and concepts at you as this game does, that player-determined order can lead to you making wildly different predictions on where the plot if going, and THAT is the most fun part of this game. I liken the experience of this game to a show like Lost in that most of the story unfolds through flashbacks, but placing those flashbacks together in order, and using them to try and solve the greater mysteries, is just an absolute blast. Truly, the story of this game is one of my favourites to have experienced, and even if it can't always wrap itself together with how insanely dense with information it is, the journey was one I will never forget.
I haven't experienced many other visual novel or point-and-click adventure games, so a lot of the charm of this game comes from the sheer quality of the delivery of the mechanics of those genres. Everything from voice work, to animations, to art design, to music, it all creates a solid bedrock upon which the rest of the game can unfold. The narrative is breathtaking in scope, but still manages to take time to ensure the characters themselves get fleshed out. The RTS Destruction game mode is a good time, with a decent amount of player expression to be had, even if it fails to really push those mechanics to their fullest extent. Overall, it's a truly one-of-a-kind experience, and one that I will forever cherish as an all-time favourite.
On the gameplay side, you have 2 options. "Remembrance", which are the 13 individual character stories for each of the main characters, and "Destruction", the RTS mech combat mode that involves about 90% of the actual "gameplay". Destruction is a relatively simple game mode, with S ranks for the missions being almost trivial to achieve without any challenge, but the core mechanics are actually quite strong and fun to play with, and as you progress, further upgrades and enemy types manage to actually push you a bit in the late game, forcing you to stategise to achieve those S ranks. That depth to the gameplay comes a bit too late to really make the mode stand-out for most people I imagine, and that fact is not helped by the absolutely horrible in-game UI, and even moreso the upgrade menu. The amount of visual clutter makes it so easy to miss unlockable upgrades which offer some of the most enjoyable mechanics to really make the 13 characters stand-out from each other. In-game, the simple digtal map aesthetic is functional for the most part, but doesn't really convey the cool factor of the mech combat, and at worst it can become downright headache inducing to keep track of all the things on screen. In the end, Destruction does provide some casual fun, and there is depth and optimization to be found, but the game takes too long to ramp-up to it, and never really demands that much out of the player, which is a shame.
Despite this, the real meat and potatoes of this game is the Remembrance mode. This mode plays out as a visual-novel crossed with a point-and-click adventure game, though it lacks the puzzles that make-up the bulk of the experience in the latter. Instead, this mode feels a bit more like a television show than a real game, with most of the time being watching cutscenes with minor interactivity to give the player something to do. While that fact may deter a more casual audience from playing this game, the sheer ambition of the narrative and the bold way it presents itself is what elevates this game into greatness. You get 13 character stories to explore, and each one will reveal bits and pieces of the greater narrative, but you can explore those stories in almost any order, and with a narrative that throws as much information and concepts at you as this game does, that player-determined order can lead to you making wildly different predictions on where the plot if going, and THAT is the most fun part of this game. I liken the experience of this game to a show like Lost in that most of the story unfolds through flashbacks, but placing those flashbacks together in order, and using them to try and solve the greater mysteries, is just an absolute blast. Truly, the story of this game is one of my favourites to have experienced, and even if it can't always wrap itself together with how insanely dense with information it is, the journey was one I will never forget.
I haven't experienced many other visual novel or point-and-click adventure games, so a lot of the charm of this game comes from the sheer quality of the delivery of the mechanics of those genres. Everything from voice work, to animations, to art design, to music, it all creates a solid bedrock upon which the rest of the game can unfold. The narrative is breathtaking in scope, but still manages to take time to ensure the characters themselves get fleshed out. The RTS Destruction game mode is a good time, with a decent amount of player expression to be had, even if it fails to really push those mechanics to their fullest extent. Overall, it's a truly one-of-a-kind experience, and one that I will forever cherish as an all-time favourite.