It has been several years since ATLUS West first confirmed plans to release Vanillaware’s 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on the PlayStation 4, first sharing a teaser trailer in mid-2017. Now three years on and the publisher has finally confirmed that the game will be launching on 8 September 2020.
Featuring a design aesthetic similar to Vanillware’s previous works, including Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown, the setting is shifted to a modern-day environment. In the game, players will experience a sci-fi mystery narrative, delivered across thirteen intertwining stories. Gameplay-wise, 13 Sentinels is a 2D-sidescrolling adventure with a battle system described by ATLUS West as offering ” fast-paced, top-down combat”.
While ATLUS West was planning to offer an English Dub for 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, restrictions imposed by COVID-19 resulted in them being unable to deliver this at launch. However, a free post-launch English voice-over pack will be offered at some point in the future.
While we don’t see brand new 2D side-scrolling action games from major publishers much anymore, Vanillaware has continued to play to their strength in this genre over the years. Hopefully 13 Sentinels, especially with a change in setting, will be yet another worthwhile project from the development team.
Promoted Features of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
• Beautifully rendered in Vanillaware’s signature hand-painted visual style
• Uncover a deep story through visions of the past and the future
• The doomsday clock is ticking. Become a Sentinel pilot, customize your mech, and fight waves of kaiju in top-down tactical combat
