Operation Backlog Completion 2026

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Has an Incredible, Complicated Story

 Reviews, Video games  8 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jan 152021
 

Do you like story-driven games? Have you played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim yet?

If you haven’t, you’re missing out on one of the best story-driven games that came out last year.

A lot of people had been anticipating 13 Sentinels for years, but I wasn’t actually one of them. It’s the latest title from Vanillaware, and when I looked it up because of the hype, I saw its combat was described as real-time strategy and crossed it off my list.

Then it came out, and the high praise for its story together with assurances that calling it real-time strategy is pretty misleading convinced me to try it.

I’m so glad that I did.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim followed thirteen high school students who are caught up in a struggle to protect Japan from kaiju trying to destroy it across various time periods. Its genre is a little tricky to pin down; it’s so story-focused that some people consider it to be a visual novel, but that’s caused no end of controversy. The narrative sections could be seen as an adventure game, yet they are almost entirely focused on dialogue with only light gameplay.

Meanwhile, the combat is a comparatively minor part of the overall game and features a sort of real-time system, but one that pauses for you to select your character’s actions.

But whatever genre it falls into, it’s fantastic. The story is told through a non-linear presentation with a fair amount of freedom as to how you proceed. Stick with one character’s story until you hit a lock that requires you to do something else first? Alternate between between characters? Focus on story over combat? Focus on combat over story? Do a little story and then a little combat? All of these are valid approaches to playing 13 Sentinels, and the narrative is constructed in such a way that they all work.

You will start out feeling confused by the story. After a little while, you’ll start to understand what’s going on. Then you’ll play another section of the story and get hit by a plot twist that makes you realize your “understanding” was actually wrong.

There are so many plot twists, and the non-linear approach to the story (along with certain story segments being gated by others so you don’t have complete freedom) lets it tease information in such a way as to nudge you in the wrong direction until you finally learn the truth.

(In some ways it reminded me of the fragment system in Zero Time Dilemma, except handled in a much better way.)

With so many plot twists and convoluted aspects to the story, there were times when I worried it wouldn’t ever feel cohesive. But that’s not true. Through surprise after surprise and even plot twists late in the game, the pieces of the story all come together in a way that makes sense. At the end, you finally do understand the story and see how all those confusing little parts actually fit into it.

The characters are great, the story is intense and filled with twists, and it’s just so brilliant the way everything fits together.

I can’t praise 13 Sentinels enough. It is an incredible game, and it would have made my top 5 list easily if I’d finished it last year instead of this year. As it is, it got 2021’s gaming off to a great start.

So if you love story-driven games, you need to play 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. And if you’ve already played 13 Sentinels, share your own thoughts on it in the comments below!

I Finally Plunged Into the Suspenseful Mysteries of Danganronpa

 Reviews, Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 272020
 

One series I’d been intending to try for ages is Danganronpa. Murder mysteries, investigations and trials, it sounded like my sort of thing, but I never got around to it.

Well, one of this year’s Celebrating All Things Spooky contest winners chose a game for me to review as his prize, and he picked Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

In Danganronpa, you play a boy named Makoto who is selected to attend an elite school, but when he gets there, he finds himself trapped along with his classmates and forced to participate in a deadly game. They’re told that if anyone can successfully kill another student and get away with it, they will be allowed to leave. If not, they have to stay there forever.

Of course, it isn’t long before a student turns up dead.

Similar to games like Ace Attorney, Danganronpa is essentially a cross between a visual novel and an adventure game. There are long stretches of time that are solely story-driven, but at other points you’re set loose to explore and investigate.

Once you’ve gathered all the evidence for a case, the “class trial” begins. Unlike Ace Attorney, these trials involved much more action. Pieces of evidence become “bullets” that you shoot at contradictory statements while the text is on-screen. I’m not crazy about my ability to solve a case being dependent on my shooting skills, but the game gives you enough time that it isn’t too reliant on fast reflexes.

At other points you’ll have to shoot letters to spell out a key word to answer a question, and there are also rhythm game confrontations. Of everything, the rhythm game parts are the ones I liked the least, but I endured them.

(Fortunately, if you lose all of your health and get a game over, you can restart from right ahead of where you failed.)

In between each case, you get a few “free time” sections. These sections let you pick a character to spend time with and learn more about them, which also unlocks optional skills to help you in trials.

I liked the characters, and I enjoyed solving the cases (especially as they got crazier and more convoluted later in the game), but what I really loved the most was the overarching mystery. Why are they trapped at this school? Who is the mastermind behind Monokuma, the robotic bear overseeing the game (who fortunately isn’t as annoying as I feared, considering my general dislike of “cute” mascot characters)? What is really going on?

I loved thinking over every clue and developing theories about the overarching story. Sure, I predicted some things that weren’t revealed until the game was almost over, but it was still fun to watch them finally come to light.

Danganronpa also did a great job of building up an “anyone can die” atmosphere. By the second case, I was already looking at each character anxiously, wondering if one of my favorites would survive through to the next one or not. It made everything feel that much more suspenseful.

Aside from one particularly annoying point in a case that involved a drawn-out debate to prove something that could have been resolved with a single sentence, I had a great time playing Danganronpa. I’m not going to start the next one immediately, but I’m looking forward to playing the sequel when I finally do get there.

Reviving My Review of The 25th Ward: The Silver Case

 Reviews, Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 112020
 

The Silver 2425, a collection that includes Suda51’s The Silver Case and its sequel The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, is coming to the Switch next year.

The news made me realize that while you can still read my review of The Silver Case, my 25th Ward review (which I reviewed on another site as a freelancer) is gone. Even the Wayback Machine can’t find it.

So in honor of these games coming to the Switch, I’d like to revive my 25th Ward: The Silver Case review and talk about a weird sequel to a weird game.

The Silver Case is a strange, confusing visual novel with adventure game elements that had me intrigued in the story even when I didn’t know what was going on. The 25th Ward is much the same, and I’d say it’s even weirder.

Sometimes it’s a dark, grim noir mystery, while other times it veers into dark humor. That aspect came through much stronger than in The Silver Case. There are times when The 25th Ward is hilarious, but never in a way that really distracts from its disturbing tone.

The gameplay can be tedious, and just like in its predecessor, it feels unnecessary at times. The story is the major focus.

Set six years after The Silver Case, it follows three different stories this time. These three stories slowly come together, and there are connections back to the original game, too. It can be pretty difficult to follow, and the whole thing is strange and surreal, but once again I found myself invested in the story – not to mention waiting to see what wild and bizarre thing it might do next.

The 25th Ward: The Silver Case is not a game for everyone, but if you enjoyed The Silver Case, you’ll probably enjoy its sequel too.

While the Switch version of The Silver 2425 hasn’t been confirmed for an English release yet, the English website mentions it and Suda51 said during the announcement that he’d like to release it in English. Have you played The Silver Case or The 25th Ward? Are you interested in The Silver 2425? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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