13 Sentinels review: the PS4 masterpiece hits Nintendo Switch

We’ve published thousands of words about why you should play 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, an audacious video game that combines a century of science-fiction tropes into something unpredictably new. The story can be described as universally by many definitions, and the structure blurs the lines between a visual novel or a master’s thesis of genre fiction. That said, I understand why most readers skipped #15 on Polygon’s Top 50 Games of 2020 list.

Like the game’s teenage protagonists, always a step behind the kaiju hellbent on destroying the world, 13 Sentinels has suffered from bad timing. The title was released on PlayStation 4 in the weeks before the PlayStation 5’s launch, a bad time for a 2D game that probably could have run on the PlayStation 3. Today, the game finally debuts on Nintendo Switch. With few major releases over the next month, hopefully, this little masterpiece will finally get the big audience it deserves.

Image: Vanillaware/Atlus

Okay, so it’s great, but why should anyone actually play this game with no connection to an established franchise, superhero, or general intellectual property? Because you’re unlikely to play anything that’s both this polished while being this batshit — in the best possible way.

The story takes place in 1984, along with a handful of points in the past and future, as early as 1945 and as late as … well, I won’t spoil that for you. You play through the adventures of 13 characters in episodic bits in whatever order you choose. Gradually, you’ll learn about their teenage lives, including their romances, rivals, motivations, and fantasies. And you’ll discover why they must pilot mechs to fight kaiju in some mysterious distant future.

The game doesn’t reference or borrow from sci-fi, so much as it rips loose entire ideas from the sci-fi canon, grafting them onto one monstrous mega-fiction. You might have wondered what it would look like if you combined E.T. and Godzilla with War of the Worlds ,, The Terminator, The Matrix and several other great classics to create a text that makes some sense, despite all odds.

13 Sentinels, which plays sort of like a point-and-click adventure with branching dialogue options, is only half of the game. The game also features a real-time strategy game and its own wiki, both of which expand upon the advent. They’re an entire can of worms that you can learn about from our original review, but one note for the Switch port: The strategy elements looked a little funky on a 4K TV, but fit perfectly on the smaller portable Switch screen.

While it is cliché to say that a game can be perfected for Switch, this one is. It’s nice that I can play this text-heavy game on the go, but what makes Switch the perfect home for 13 Sentinels is the option to alternate between portable and TV modes. When I’m grinding through mech battles or revisiting character sequences for clues, the portability is perfect. However, when I start a new story, I prefer the TV mode, projecting the game’s gorgeous hand-drawn art on a larger screen. I don’t recommend playing the entire game on a TV — as I did with the PS4 version. But I encourage you to take breaks from portable mode now and then to really appreciate just how beautiful this game can be.

I have more to say about this game. For example, how the twists stack on top of each other, creating a tower full of turtles. Without ever falling apart under that amount narrative weight. Though reading more would spoil the fun – and trust me, you’ll be doing plenty of reading once you boot the game up anyway. This game is my favorite. I have written so many things about it. Now I leave y’all to decide whether or not to play it.

13 Sentinels was released on April 12 on Nintendo Switch and is also available on PlayStation 4. The game was reviewed using a download code provided by Atlus. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These are not intended to influence editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via these links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.