The incredible sci-fi mystery 13 Sentinels is a perfect fit for the Switch

It is important to embrace confusion in order to enjoy 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. The game, which was originally released in 2020 on the PS4 and only got weirder from there, spans multiple genres and has a non-linear storyline. It demands a lot from players, but the result is one of my favorite science fiction stories in years, and is a great fit for the Nintendo Switch.

Here's my review from when 13 Sentinels first aired. The game is a mix of a visual novel and a real-time strategy game, which follows more than a dozen characters across events that span multiple centuries. The narrative likes to trick you. It seems like a simple classic Mech vs. kaiju story, where high school students piloting powerful Mechs to fight off an invading alien force. These sequences are simple and satisfying as you move characters across a grid to destroy devious creatures and get new abilities along the way.

13 Sentinels is a visual novel where you follow the stories of around a dozen Japanese high school students across a number of different eras. You can do a bit of exploration, but most of the time you are reading and listening to dialogue. It requires some time. The most interesting thing about the story is its structure. You can follow the path that seems most interesting to you if you pick from a bunch of different characters. The non-linearity made me feel more invested in the story, as if I was investigating different leads to find out what the heck was going on. The thought cloud is a feature that adds a dynamic feel to conversations and is similar to a video game inventory.

13 Sentinels do a great job of slowly revealing themselves. It initially seems like a story about a kaiju invasion, with a little bit of teen drama thrown in for good measure, but eventually becomes a complex narrative about the future of the entire human race. I won't give away any of the big reveals, but it probably took me 10 hours before I knew what the game was about. The way it lays out made me feel like I was lost.

This was all true before, of course, but that structure of bite-sized episodes also makes 13 Sentinels an ideal Switch game. I've watched the first few hours of the show, but most of the time has been spent in bed, squeezing in a few more episodes before going to sleep. It's easy to play in short spurts because each episode lasts 20 to 30 minutes. It's a lot like reading a good book, only you have to pause every few chapters to play chess. The game is the same on the Switch, but it's easier to choose between enjoying the story or playing it all at once.

13 Sentinels still has some rough edges on the switch. It is incredibly demanding, and you have to really believe that the hours and hours of confusion will pay off. There are questionable character designs that can sour the experience of the game.

It's worth pushing through that initial feeling of confusion if you can look past that. Figuring out the story together makes it all the more satisfying. A talking cat with a magical gun, time-travelingrobots, and a Groundhog Day-like repetition are just some of the high-level concepts crammed into one experience by 13 Sentinels. You can solve the mystery anywhere.

The Nintendo Switch and PS4 have 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.