SDGC Review Discussions - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Justin and Derek sit down, only a little late to the party, to discuss Vanillaware's genre-mixing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. It's part visual novel, part classic adventure game, part tower defense, but all pulp sci-fi. This flew under a lot of people's radars, ours included, when it first launched worldwide back in September of 2020. Should you jump in on the late wave of renewed interest the game is getting? The answer isn't simple, and the game isn't for everyone, especially if you are frustrated by certain stock anime tropes (or as Derek repeatedly puts it "anime bull****").

Unfortunately, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a difficult game to discuss without spoiling. And trust us, you don't want to be spoiled. The game's 13 high school protagonists each have their own separate stories that can be experienced largely out of order, and the time travelling nature of the plot makes it hard to talk about the game even with other people who are playing it. However, there's still plenty for us to talk to when it comes to the broad strokes of the characters themselves. The game is also surprisingly explicit with its queer representation, and unusually body positive for a piece of anime-inspired media.