13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is an unusual and innovative hybrid experience that is equal parts visual novel and strategy RPG. Released in Japan in 2019 and worldwide the following year, the game features an ensemble cast of thirteen protagonists, who each have their own 1-2 hour story within a complex overarching narrative. The player has significant freedom in how they choose to approach the experience, therefore enjoying a certain amount of control over the story’s pacing; but progression is gated at certain points, meaning you are encouraged and ultimately obliged to switch back and forth between different characters and combat missions. While the convoluted nature of exposition can breed confusion, the writing and presentation are imbued with enough charm that it’s easy to become invested in the proceedings, even if the precise nature of the threats and challenges encountered by the thirteen protagonists are sometimes opaque.

13 Sentinels’ sci-fi setting sees its characters inhabit different time periods between the 1940s and the distant future, but much of its story takes place in the 1980s or present day. From the outset, the player is aware that the characters are, or will be, ultimately engaged in a life-or-death struggle with a horde of massive alien monsters known as the Kaiju. But as the game begins, the teenaged protagonists exhibit varying awareness of this threat, and early chapters frequently comprise slice-of-life interactions with their peers at school. Each protagonist, however, soon becomes apprised of the dangers threatening their world, as a series of more or less dramatic events interrupt their hitherto peaceful lives.

The sequences which see characters interact with one another and their environment are depicted in beautifully-drawn 2D art. While gameplay is limited, and chiefly involves conversation, we are drawn into the characters’ inner lives through the ingenious mechanic of revealing their internal monologue via ‘thought bubbles’. These become accessible once keywords are triggered by dialogue or other prompts, and they provide the central means by which the storyline’s many branching paths become unlocked.

The world-threatening events of the game’s story provide a canvas against which the much smaller, but more relatable, dramas affecting its cast of characters unfold. 13 Sentinels is a realistic portrayal of late-adolescence inasmuch as its protagonists tend to be preoccupied with affairs of the heart. The romantic attachments and interests which they develop are sometimes fleeting, frequently intense, and always sympathetically portrayed. The relationships of the cast may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but they certainly don’t seem that way for the individuals concerned; and they provide emotional linchpins giving them extra incentive to fight. They also help ensure the player has a reason to feel invested in the outcome of the story.

The remarkable ambition of 13 Sentinels is discernible not only in its large cast, but in its extremely convoluted narrative. The daunting array of abstract concepts and technical mechanisms upon which it relies would be hard enough to track in a linear storyline, but the back-and-forth nature of exposition means the player is liable to get lost. A certain lack of clarity is, of course, essential in any mystery game, where excitement and anticipation are generated through the expectation that, at a certain point, everything will come together and start to make sense. Where the ending resolves the scenario through the introduction of brand-new elements – such as a deus ex machina – then the audience is likely to be dissatisfied. 13 Sentinels isn’t quite guilty of this, but it’s hard to avoid the feeling that later sections of the story do contain too many new plot points, and some important background is reserved for text files that are accessed in a separate archive.

The first thing anyone will notice about 13 Sentinels is the beautiful art style, with the visual novel sections resembling living and breathing watercolour paintings. This is perfectly adapted to the more contemporary slice-of-life sequences, but also proves surprisingly well-suited to the more heavily sci-fi environments that are increasingly utilised as the story progresses. Indeed, there’s a certain novelty in seeing such a traditional, tactile style applied to a genre generally associated with a much more ‘inhuman’, futuristic aesthetic. The characters and environments all feel like they’re alive, exuding a gentle and restrained physicality as the subtle animation shows chests perceptibly rise and fall, while trees sway in the breeze.

In contrast, the strategy combat missions, which see the characters fight waves of Kaiju using the titular Sentinels, employ a minimalist graphical style. In fact, presentation of the battlefield is more akin to what one might expect in a HUD map; and what the combat might look like ‘on the ground’ is largely left to your imagination. At least the maps are busy, with waves of Kaiju appearing incessantly and prompting a rapid succession of offensive and defensive manoeuvres. Each mission has a two-minute time limit, but time pauses while you’re deliberating over your actions, meaning they usually take five or ten times that long to complete. There are four types of Sentinels, and up to six units can be deployed on each map, allowing for tactical flexibility; while characters level up and unlock extra abilities, which introduces additional depth. There are three difficulty settings for this mode, but (with the exception of one or two later maps) even the highest, ‘Intense’, poses only a moderate challenge. That being said, the fast pace of combat, the varied Sentinel abilities, and the constant interjections of the cast, ensure that these ‘Destruction’ missions remain diverting; while aiming for the highest possible combat grade provides a modicum of replay value.

13 Sentinels features a lot of voice acting, and the fully-voiced English dub significantly enhances its appeal, adding distinctiveness and nuance to its large cast. In light of the recent sad passing of Billy Kametz, a much-admired actor also known for portraying Ferdinand von Aegir in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, his performance as Nenji Ogata is especially poignant.

Translating and localizing such a complicated story would always present a challenge. While the translation seems error-free and is idiomatically correct, it’s hard to know whether some of the more abstruse elements of the story could have been translated more clearly; or whether they were equally opaque in the original Japanese. The English release did court some controversy by re-interpreting an important line, where one (male) character explains why he’s dressing as a girl, in light of fashionable Western gender theory. Fortunately, this doesn’t detract from one of the story’s most engaging character arcs and romances.

In sum, 13 Sentinels provides memorable character drama that should satisfy most visual novel fans, even if the overarching narrative doesn’t cohere in the most satisfying manner. And it reminds us, as each of its characters learn, that while our senses can deceive us about the nature of reality, we can generally put our faith in the reality of our own emotions – like love.

8/10