Should You Buy 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim?
The Pitch
Thirteen Japanese high schoolers. Giant mechs. Time travel. Alien invasions. A non-linear narrative spread across multiple timelines that somehow — against all odds — comes together into one of the most celebrated stories in gaming. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is Vanillaware's genre-defying 2020 release, now available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Half visual novel, half real-time strategy, 13 Sentinels shouldn't work. It juggles more sci-fi concepts than most franchises manage in a trilogy. But Vanillaware's George Kamitani pulled it off, and the result is a game that players describe in the same breath as NieR: Automata and Persona — high praise for a title many people haven't heard of.
The Story
The narrative is the main attraction. You follow 13 protagonists across interlocking storylines set in different time periods — 1940s, 1980s, 2020s, and a post-apocalyptic future. Each character's story reveals puzzle pieces that reshape your understanding of the entire plot. The game's "Analysis" mode — essentially a timeline glossary — is one of the best information management tools any narrative game has ever offered.
Without spoiling anything: the story rewards patience and attention. Early hours can feel confusing as you jump between characters and timelines. But 13 Sentinels is one of those games where a late-game revelation makes you want to replay the entire thing from the start because every scene now means something different. The twists are not cheap — they're earned through meticulous setup across dozens of hours.
The Combat (The Weak Link)
The "Destruction" mode is a real-time strategy layer where you deploy your 13 pilots in mech battles against waves of Kaiju. It's competent — there's genuine satisfaction in upgrading your Sentinels and finding synergies between the four mech classes. But compared to dedicated strategy games, it's simplistic. Most battles can be brute-forced with the right loadout, and the abstracted visual style (icons on a grid rather than detailed 3D combat) won't wow anyone looking for spectacle.
That said, the battles serve their purpose: they provide pacing breaks between story segments and give mechanical weight to the narrative stakes. They're the weakest part of the game, but they don't drag it down.
Platform Considerations
The Switch version is arguably the definitive edition — portable play suits the visual novel segments perfectly, and Vanillaware added QOL improvements and new combat options that the PS4 version didn't have at launch. Both versions look gorgeous thanks to Vanillaware's hand-drawn art style, which is timeless regardless of hardware.
Our Verdict
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is one of the best-written games of the last decade, full stop. If you have any appetite for sci-fi, visual novels, or narrative-heavy games, it's essential. The strategy combat won't convert anyone who hates the genre, but it's a small price of admission for one of gaming's most ambitious and rewarding stories. This is the definition of a hidden gem.
- One of the best-written sci-fi narratives in gaming history
- 13 interlocking stories that reward patience and attention
- Vanillaware's gorgeous hand-drawn art is timeless
- Switch version adds QOL improvements over PS4
- Analysis mode is a masterclass in narrative information design
- RTS combat is the weakest element — simplistic for the genre
- Early hours can feel confusing and disjointed
- Not available on PC or Xbox — PS4/Switch only
- Heavy on text — closer to visual novel than traditional game
- Very niche appeal — won't convert non-VN players
Fans of NieR: Automata, Persona, Steins;Gate, or any sci-fi that plays with time and identity. If you've ever wanted a game that treats its narrative with the complexity of a great novel, this is it. Skip if you need action-driven gameplay or dislike reading large amounts of text.
