Every single plot reveal in this game feels like they're doing this without making the tower completely collapse.

Fascinating non-linear sci-fi story that you can play in whatever order you want and at no point does it fall apart because of it. A real feat of storytelling to get everything to work how it does. A game you gotta go in completely blind.

The RTS portion of the game is a lot of fun when you figure it out, I just wish that there was a way to balance it out and make it feel less Start-And-Stop than it is but it is satisfying to see the waves of bad guys explode on the screen. I thought for sure the last mission was going to make my launch PS4 melt through the floor.

cool game.

Aegis rim, is prolly the best story I have ever gotten to experience in my life. Now I won't pretend that I understand the story at all and I won't act like not understanding the story left me satisfied in anyway, but I don't think I was really supposed to, at least not on my first playthrough. But don't mistake me here, just bc I didn't get it, doesn't mean the twist and turns of this game didn't have my hands on my head screaming "WHAT!?!" this game will never cease to Surprise you and entertain you, it somehow pulls you back into the story even though you have no idea what's going on. The moment you think you have a grasp on the story the game hits you with another plot twist that completely switches your thinking. The games story is amazing and the way it's told unique (though I would've mush perfered if it more if it was more direct in its story telling) the story is complicated, and the characters are nothing but a delight, you will find yourself finding a home with these mentality ill teenagers. My biggest complaint with the game is the gameplay. The gameplay is just boring tbh not much I can really say about it. Overall though the game is beautiful, the story is complex and exciting, and the characters are funny and are oozing of personality, and their very complex too. This game has definitely taken it's place as the best game in terms of story for me at least

This is one of those games I can’t help but have a ton of respect for after finishing it. As a relatively new Vanillaware fan (Unicorn Overlord was my first title from them) it’s no wonder this game is beloved by so many and I’d say it’s more than earned it’s passionate fanbase.

The prospect of weaving together a narrative of 13 different protagonists to create a cohesive story isn’t something I would’ve ever thought could work as well as it does here, and the fact that it does is extremely impressive. With that said, there are some hiccups with the overall story presented here which frankly was always going to be the case given how ambitious this method of storytelling is.

Most if not all of the protagonists are endearing and have their own standout moments from their own stories, and being able to gradually piece things together in varying orders depending on whose stories you focus on was overall a fun experience that does a great job of getting you attached to the characters themselves. Some were more interesting than others (Minami and Ogata were particularly great) but I’d argue everyone at least had something going for them that kept their respective narratives interesting. I had a few qualms with the ending of the overall plot and felt some aspects were rather convoluted but at the end of the day it’s more than serviceable and accomplishes what it sets out to do.

The combat sections are…fine. You assign members of the team weapons and abilities to fight in squads through strategic mech battles fighting off waves of machines, and its clear that while these sections serve the plot, it isn’t the focus of 13 Sentinels. It works well enough and can thankfully be taken care of relatively quickly if you know what you’re doing, especially given that the battles themselves aren’t particularly difficult.

Overall, Vanillaware made something special here and it’s no wonder that this game has developed such a dedicated following. It isn’t perfect, but the scope of the game combined with its endearing cast of characters makes this a title I’d recommend to just about anyone into narrative-heavy titles.

Наверное, чтобы искренне полюбить 13 Sentinels, нужно так же любить жанр Sci-fi, который не то чтобы меня цепляет. У меня нет никаких претензий к повествовательно части игры, а геймплейная часть не смотря на всю простоту даже радует (не в последнюю очередь тем, что не душит между сюжетными главами).

Естественно отдельно хочется отметить графический стиль Vanillaware, который неизменно радует и частенько смущает откровенными изображениями героев.

Игра абсолютно точно не плохая, и я даже мог бы рекомендовать с ней ознакомиться. Но пройдя где-то половину я поймал себя на том, что мне просто не интересно следить за происходящим и не очень-то интересно что произойдёт дальше. Поэтому было решено забросить игру и идти дальше

This game is so good.
The story is absolutely fantastic, it's very complex and told in an EXTREMELY interesting and unique way but still makes perfect sense. Because of the nature of the presentation, plot revelations can be found in completely different orders depending on the player's choice. I've never seen anything quite like it, and it's really amazing.
The gameplay is also really fun and pretty unique, although not as unique as the story. It's a fusion of tower defense and trpg with a focus on customization. The enemies are pretty standard but still lead to fun situations that force you to improvise.
The game definitely isn't for everyone. You're essentially playing a normal game bundled together with a visual novel that you swap between. They feel rather disconnected, which is definitely intentional but some people might not be a fan of. It's also a bit too anime for my tastes (although the plot and characters more than make up for it). Also, it's a small issue but there's one or two characters who feel a little bit underdeveloped considering their plot significance, even if they only feel underdeveloped because of how good everyone else is. All of these issues don't really matter though, especially considering how amazing it is that this game works at all.

13 sentinels aegis rim is one of those games i saw get really hyped up and picked up because of how much i liked the english VAs in it. after playing like three jrpgs prior to this i much appreciated the break of a 30 hour game even though those 30 hours were completely batshit. Let’s discuss:
- story is really good. and also VERY convoluted. every scene you’re gonna be sifting through plot twists. it does have a slow start (especially when you’re going through six or so different prologues) and i got kind of bored of what i call interactable cutscenes where a long exposition dump is interrupted by you needing to interact w the character again so its not just a 30 minute cutscene (this is a constant throughout the game) but i kept coming back every day just because i was HOOKED and finished the game in under a week. juggling 13 stories is no easy feat and i think this game does so very well in a way that’s very well… characteristic for each character. the stories riff off and shout out a lot of other media (even outside of sci-fi) so most of the references fly over my head but i still enjoyed it? it’s absolutely helped by the analysis mode which recaps events in chronological order and sticks specific reveals in mystery files; looking at that alone answered most of my lingering questions about the plot when the story itself wasn’t quite clear. it actually made more sense to me than some simpler stories i’ve gone through (eg. persona 2 innocent sin, a game i played not long before this, where i could not tell you what the hell in lak’ech was about) which is SURPRISING
- you need to know AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE about the story going in though. to get the best experience
- characters: this cast fucking rocks. there’s only one character out of the main cast i really didn’t like and even then i think her story is cool (even if i think they kind of drop the ball with its resolution it still made me cry for other reasons?!! can’t explain without spoilers) i just got tired of megumi going “juro… 🥺🥺🥺” after the first three times. i would break down what i like about each one but that would take forever and it’s also hard to be spoiler free about it. side cast is cool too though i wish they had the time to do more with tamao in particular. there is so much cut content and ideas for this game it’s not even funny
- gameplay: i don’t have much experience with RTS games so i was worried i would regret buying this looking at the gameplay but it’s pretty… fun?!! it’s like a power trip for me even on normal (i managed to S rank every story stage with.. not that much struggle?!). experience may vary between ports bc i know the switch version made some changes. my personal strategy i settled into was using just the first and third gen sentinels but different stages will call for different team and even armament compositions. it’s quite malleable like that. since destruction all takes place chronologically after remembrance i decided i would play as much of remembrance as i could before i needed to progress in destruction and then go back and since destruction can spoil some stuff it’s not a bad idea but also sitting through story can get kind of tiring especially with the information overload. it’s a balancing act. i also had the occasional performance issue but that was only when my screen had sensory overload levels of attacks and kaiju like the missile rain armament and it runs super well otherwise.
- oh i guess remembrance also had some gameplay too? aside from the extended cutscenes it was pretty easy to get through. i had to look up a walkthrough a couple of times but the system will generally lead you in the right direction
- presentation is AMAZING. this is my first vanillaware game and holy shit they were not kidding that art is gorgeous. character designs are top notch. music is also really good; not mindblowing because a lot of the soundtrack is ambient but some tracks do really stick with me even outside the battle themes. my favorite track is probably the insert song seaside vacation. once again can’t speak for the jp cast but the english voice acting is so good i’m shocked to learn they recorded during covid lockdown and it still turned out THIS GOOD. i firmly believe because of the versatility of these roles that they’re among the best roles for many of these VAs. allegra clark (one of my ALL TIME FAVES ❤️) and mick wingert (who i’m surprised i didn’t discover was this good sooner?!) in particular have to do a lot of heavy lifting here and WOW do they exceed expectations!!! but they’re not the only ones who get to show the extent of their range they’re just the biggest examples
- unfortunately this is not a five star rating. there are two things that bump it down for me though not enough to be just 4 stars. they are the needless high schooler fanservice (ESPECIALLY the girls… the staff’s perverted tastes are embedded so far in down to how they summon their sentinels compared to the boys…) and the obligatory pairings between all the protagonists. with story in mind i can sort of get why it’s there and appreciate how they play with some characters having multiple different love interests depending on their Circumstances but they feel kind of shoehorned in (like “this is a boy and this is a girl so they have to kiss!”) so really not all pairings are created equal.
- the bright side to these forced pairings is that we do get a queer romance that is MY personal favorite but honestly even if it was a straight couple and thus we didn’t get the comphet dilemma it would still be the best couple in the game.

to sum up: if you can sit through a lot of mind melting story (probably the biggest barrier) focused on high schoolers i highly recommend this game. lived up to all the hype For Me. peak fiction. 4 and a half hemborgers

I'll be real here, if this wasn't a spoiler free review this would be five times the length but I'm not here to subject you that, in fact we can both do that once you the reader are done with this game one day! I'm here to try my level best to condense my thoughts into something coherent without ANY spoilers, without sounding like a crazy lunatic, on selling to you what is arguably my favorite story in fiction so here goes. There will be ABSOLUTELY ZERO SPOILERS in this review, I'll be making sure of that. Spoiling this game for someone or for yourself has to be a cardinal sin or something SO I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT LOOKING UP ANYTHING ABOUT THIS GAME UNTIL YOU BEAT IT, NOTHING ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THE TERMS YOU HEAR AND DON'T EVEN MAKE A SIMPLE SEARCH ABOUT THE CHARACTERS I'M SO SERIOUS. LOOK UP ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

First off, what is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim? Well in a nutshell it’s a VN-esque game pumped full of steroids and cranked up to the max. This game features a non-linear narrative revolving around, you guessed it, 13 distinct characters. There are 2 types of gameplay options: Remembrance and Destruction. Remembrance is the real meat of this game and features the non-linear story with you controlling characters in a side-scrolling scenario whereas Destruction is the RTS (Real Time Strategy) section where you control the Sentinels as per the games namesake. Usually, you're mostly here for Remembrance which is understandable, I was too, but I personally find Destruction quite fun despite some considering it the weaker part of the game which I disagree with, it is genuinely really fun once you get the hang of it. It doesn't take too long once you get the hang of it either and the gameplay itself is quite minimalist, simple and most importantly it ends rather quickly as to not distract you from the story, in fact it adds even more to the story but that's a discussion for another day. That's it for the basic rundown of this game but allow me to go in depth and the reason why I hold this game in such high regard without spoiling anything for you.

This will be talking exclusively about Remembrance for the record but let me to get the simpler stuff out of the way first: the visuals are absolutely fucking gorgeous, so is the artwork and animations, characters have such subtle animations during events in order express their personality with some even happening in the background unbeknownst to the player and all accompanied by stellar voice acting in both languages but I personally find the dub much more enjoyable and would recommend it. The game is a visual treat for the eyes, this is Vanillaware at its peak, the music and even the sound effects are absolutely phenomenal as well but that's enough of the little stuff let’s move onto why you're really here. This game has the most unique way of telling a story that I've ever seen in a game, you can quite literally play the story in any order you like hence the obvious reason it’s called a non-linear narrative along with swapping between Remembrance and Destruction at your leisure albeit you will need to fulfil certain criteria to progress the overall narrative but worry not, the game spells out exactly which pre-requisite you need to do for unlocking the next segments. Every single character has their own distinct stories which branch into multiple other stories, oh and a neat fact, every single one of their stories is a unique spin on an existing piece of media or a movie, the characters themselves are also exceptionally well written for the most part. This may seem daunting but its presented in a way to hook the reader in, the stories overlap and intersect, there are countless clashes between the characters and their own goals and beliefs, some work together, some are at odds with each other and what really drives this home is the fact that eventually you will be seeing these certain events from another characters perspective sooner or later when you pursue the aforementioned characters story which on its own sheds even more light to the overarching narrative along with adding even more context on the event you just experienced. Again, this may seem daunting but it truly isn't, I say it has a unique way of presenting its story but it’s not merely just presented, the real reason is that piecing together the story IS the gameplay and I don't just mean the overall mystery, the game trusts and respects the players intelligence unconditionally. If a certain word is said again in another route? There is no flashback or "I remember them saying this" for the most part, the game reminds the player nothing because it trusts the player to remember the finer details and it does not let up in the slightest along with giving you an extensive archive to help you keep track. The plot is this constantly changing schematic inside your head which changes drastically as you take in and learn new information and plot threads, sometimes even flipping it over its head entirely, challenging everything you may have pieced together thus far. You the player are tasked with piecing this gigantic puzzle together, that in itself IS the gameplay, the puzzle may not make sense at first but you soon suddenly have some manner of "OH NOW I GET IT" moment which feels immensely satisfying BECAUSE you did this all yourself, the game did not feed you this revelation in a traditional manner, you the player pieced it together before the answer was even presented to you. It’s such a unique concept and I wish more games went to the lengths 13 Sentinels does in respecting the players intelligence to do. No matter how farfetched a plot detail may seem the game WILL expand on it in a well-executed manner at a certain point, the game trusts the player and it expects the player to trust the game in return, a symbiotic relationship if you will. Every bit of info, every bit of context from a different perspective and every single plot thread is tailor made to fit into the overarching narrative in such a disturbingly cohesive manner that you gotta wonder how long it took for the writers to make everything not seem nonsensical in fear of it seeming like multiple asspulls. Then again, this game WAS delayed multiple times so mayhap that was the reason, contrary to popular belief I haven't exactly deep dived into this game’s development cycle... yet.

This game is an experience like no other and, full disclosure, this is just me quoting 2 certain well known and respected game developers but I truly believe there will never be another game like 13 Sentinels but I would LOVE to be proven wrong, in a perfect world maybe everything was this game but this is just me being delusional for the sake of it but its heartening to know this games sales went from poor to exceeding expectations due to strong word of mouth by its small albeit extremely dedicated fanbase, giving Vanillaware the push they needed and deserved. This game is a phenomenal work of art, an extensive labor of love and passion by the developers and if you still managed to listen to my ramblings this far, I recommend this game to you with everything I have. Now go get in that Sentinel and strap in for the ride, also here's a cool line from the game to end this review cause why not :P

"It's really happening... Just as you said it would. So we'll do what we have to do. Get in the robots and fight. Our fate was sealed a long time ago."

Review in progress:

First Impressions
Pretty sure I'm only like 25% of the way through this beast, but I just wanted to get some initial thoughts out since it's been getting me to think a lot, and I've been enjoying my time with it pretty thoroughly! First off, this game looks and sounds gorgeous, and that's coming from someone who's generally not huge on anime artstyles! I'm a massive sucker for hand painted sprites and damn does Vanillaware deliver— the soundtrack goes insaneo style too. ALSO, I fw the mech combat hard, and I'd honestly be perfectly content if that's all 13 Sentinels was.

However, what I more so wanted to talk about was this game's narrative, an aspect of it I'm a little conflicted on, at least as of writing this. To specify, I'd like to speak more of its writing's quality than of my personal experience with it, because regardless of if it amounts to little more than pulpy anime bullshit, I can't lie, I've been getting quite a kick out of following the ludicrously convoluted paper trail. I think my final verdict on 13 Sentinels' story will be contingent on whether it uses its unconventional structure for something meaningful, or if it's just confusing for confusing's sake (and knowing the GOAT Yoko Taro praised it, I'm hopeful).

Something I'm a little confused by is the ratio of information 13 Sentinels leaves ambiguous to that which it just directly tells you. I'm usually a pretty big advocate for show-don't-tell, but when a piece of media throws 30 wacky new keywords at you every second, I think it's totally understandable and generally advisable to include some exposition, or even a glossary. 13 Sentinels is an anime mystery game so it obviously would fall into that camp, and does indeed compensate with a much appreciated and cohesive glossary (and at that, a pretty clever one in that you unlock entries as you go). However, for how happy the game is to leave you in the dark on major plot details, it can be surprisingly heavy handed when it comes to the more digestible ones.

For instance, in the scene that introduces Megumi (whose plotline has probably interested me the most so far), she's walking and talking with her friend Tomi, and then Tomi basically just turns to the camera and says "This is my good friend Megumi Yakushiji. She's always been the Hopeless Romantic character archetype, probably because she's so Shy personality trait." I'm exaggerating a little of course, but what I mean is that it feels really awkward and unnatural to blatantly exposition dump during a casual conversation between high schoolers, especially when that exposition is simply one of said student's personality, something that was already being established organically. Now, it's honestly very possible that the tropeyness of the cast is actually a highly intentional David Lynchian stroke of genius, but when the rest of Megumi's plotline consists of contracting with a talking cat to shoot witches with a magical gun in order to revive her deceased boyfriend from a different era, and none of THAT is explained, I'll admit this kind of thing feels a little off— probably just some clunky translation, idk. When basic information is so bluntly communicated in a story otherwise seemingly apathetic to one's understanding of it, there are times when it's hard to tell whether the game actually respects its players' intelligence.

At least, going directly into another time traveling RPG immediately after Chrono Trigger gives me a little whiplash. On one hand, I think complexity is great for a story, but it also needs to be earned, well placed. CT's story is instantly very effective because of its simplicity, but 13 Sentinels' seems much more of a slow burn. With that being said, I do really appreciate how the characters themselves generally don't seem to know what the fuck is happening either, and it makes them a lot easier to connect with. On the surface, they may all be defined by an archetypal personality trait and a like and dislike or two, but with the game's focus on story and its 40 some hour runtime, I'd have to imagine they go a little deeper than that once they're better established.

13 Sentinels is as niche as it is a vibe, and from what I can tell, its opening chapters are a weeb-level filter if nothing else. Since it's as well received as it is, I think I'll just have to swallow my pride and trust VW to cook, but nonetheless it's pretty damn fun. :)

Super 13 Euphoria: Subarashiki Sky

If you want the short version I actually really liked the game despite my grievances with the last quarter and the tower defense gameplay merged with the weird gatekeeping system.

(+) Plot (not the ED)

The very idea of telling a story from 13 different perspectives is just absurd, its so easy to mess it up and have it all feel convoluted and even though the actual plot itself is very hard to follow for the sheer mish mashing of (spoilers) events over separate eras, the multi-perspective storytelling is done VERY competently. Some perspectives didn’t qualitatively add much for example Iori’s route is total garbage, but then other routes were REALLY good. The way I’ve described the quality of storytelling in this game is that its insanely difficult to design a story such that it doesn’t feel like you’re hearing the same facts again and again especially with 13 PERSPECTIVES.

13 sentinels is a culmination of so many of sci-fi tropes in JP media that I lost count, oh you want cloning? mind control? time travel? cyborgs? AI? Whatever you can name the story definitely puts its feet in it, and somehow all of these still felt fresh and (for the most part) fully realized.

The pacing is really bad at the prologue for everyone’s routes, not so much so that its slow infact quite the opposite, you are forced to consume so much information that doesn’t make any sense that its almost a complete turnoff.

I like the idea of sprinkling in story-bits out-of-context that make sense much later down the line but there’s so much happening in a single route sometimes that you can straight up forget where it picks back up when you revisit it after completing OTHER routes that have a lot happening in them. Even then the game still does a very good job of having such distinct events and outcomes occur in routes that you’re able to still have a mental log before you revisit it eventually.

I’m not going to split hairs about the actual plot, sure there are silly moments here and there and I feel like the story is too needlessly incessant on being convoluted especially with added jargon as JP media already does but I have nothing really negative to write about the plot, I just had a lot of fun after the first quarter up till the end. Well-paced and well delivered, as much as they could at least.

(+/-) Characters

All the characters in this game are exactly as 1 dimensional and follow character archetypes that have existed in countless JP media in the past, you ALREADY know these characters before they even properly get introduced in the game because both their design and their dialogue are reminiscent of the mold they were pulled out from.

I think most of the characters are likable but I don’t know what is wrong with the authors they could not write a single character that doesn’t get paired with another, it was such a massive turn-off I almost thought there was a plot-related reason why some characters would suddenly go into heat throughout the game, turning red as if they had a permanent rash on their face one itch away from peeling off their skins, this game has the WORST most POINTLESS romance it actively annoyed me holy shit.

(+) Presentation

Phenomenal, beautiful game

(-) (FORCED) Gameplay

There’s 2 types of gameplay, one is during the “Visual Novel” portion where you have to select actionable/thinkable items from your thought cloud (or on the rare occasion you’ll press a button to shoot) and then there’s a whole separate mode that is tower defense gameplay.

To be abundantly fair I haaaaaaaaaaaaated the tower defense but I had to only do 3-4 consecutive sessions on it up until the game gatekept me, so as inexcusably mind-numbing destruction is it doesn’t take up the massive percentage of annoyance the thought cloud takes up. I HATE THE THOUGHT CLOUD.

The game forcefully breaks up conversations so you keep hitting the interaction key with a character (or multiple) and sometimes it was so absurd that the game will go as far as to have “hello” and the main agenda of the convo require separate key presses to continue the conversation. The thought cloud is artificial interactivity added to the game, the game essentially probes you to select specific pieces of information from the cloud and highlights them out which makes it even STUPIDER… why even encourage the player like this to continue a stream of conversation when you could just continue the conversation directly? Oh right then it wouldn’t make sense why this is even a game rather than a VN.

The most absurd example of the thought cloud “gameplay” is when the game forces you to wander around school, listen to floating conversations and then go collect coins along the premises. BAD.

I don’t like the weird gatekeeping between destruction and remembrance but the gatekeeping within remembrance makes perfect sense. Remove destruction entirely.

(-) The Ending

As much as I will forever hate this type of ending, the game strongly hints it and it does make logical sense as the ultimate conclusion. I still do NOT like the ending but I wasn't melting with rage it felt very reasonable and its unfortunate that this type of ending is just... its tired.

(+/-) OST

It serves its purpose not much to say

Truly a one-of-a-kind experience. While this game may not be for everyone (i.e. those who enjoy a bit more "game" or who can't tolerate anime tropes in their stories), it truly excels as one of the most interesting narrative experiences I have ever seen in a game. The art style is gorgeous throughout, and while the animations are limited, they never fail to be expressive. While narrative is the clear focus of the game, and its greatest strength, the pseudo-RTS "Destruction" mode is still a rather enjoyable pallet cleanser in between all the dialog heavy interactive cutscenes. As a package, 13 Sentinels is just so unique, and so ambitious with how it presents its story that you can't help but be in awe of it.

On the gameplay side, you have 2 options. "Remembrance", which are the 13 individual character stories for each of the main characters, and "Destruction", the RTS mech combat mode that involves about 90% of the actual "gameplay". Destruction is a relatively simple game mode, with S ranks for the missions being almost trivial to achieve without any challenge, but the core mechanics are actually quite strong and fun to play with, and as you progress, further upgrades and enemy types manage to actually push you a bit in the late game, forcing you to stategise to achieve those S ranks. That depth to the gameplay comes a bit too late to really make the mode stand-out for most people I imagine, and that fact is not helped by the absolutely horrible in-game UI, and even moreso the upgrade menu. The amount of visual clutter makes it so easy to miss unlockable upgrades which offer some of the most enjoyable mechanics to really make the 13 characters stand-out from each other. In-game, the simple digtal map aesthetic is functional for the most part, but doesn't really convey the cool factor of the mech combat, and at worst it can become downright headache inducing to keep track of all the things on screen. In the end, Destruction does provide some casual fun, and there is depth and optimization to be found, but the game takes too long to ramp-up to it, and never really demands that much out of the player, which is a shame.

Despite this, the real meat and potatoes of this game is the Remembrance mode. This mode plays out as a visual-novel crossed with a point-and-click adventure game, though it lacks the puzzles that make-up the bulk of the experience in the latter. Instead, this mode feels a bit more like a television show than a real game, with most of the time being watching cutscenes with minor interactivity to give the player something to do. While that fact may deter a more casual audience from playing this game, the sheer ambition of the narrative and the bold way it presents itself is what elevates this game into greatness. You get 13 character stories to explore, and each one will reveal bits and pieces of the greater narrative, but you can explore those stories in almost any order, and with a narrative that throws as much information and concepts at you as this game does, that player-determined order can lead to you making wildly different predictions on where the plot if going, and THAT is the most fun part of this game. I liken the experience of this game to a show like Lost in that most of the story unfolds through flashbacks, but placing those flashbacks together in order, and using them to try and solve the greater mysteries, is just an absolute blast. Truly, the story of this game is one of my favourites to have experienced, and even if it can't always wrap itself together with how insanely dense with information it is, the journey was one I will never forget.

I haven't experienced many other visual novel or point-and-click adventure games, so a lot of the charm of this game comes from the sheer quality of the delivery of the mechanics of those genres. Everything from voice work, to animations, to art design, to music, it all creates a solid bedrock upon which the rest of the game can unfold. The narrative is breathtaking in scope, but still manages to take time to ensure the characters themselves get fleshed out. The RTS Destruction game mode is a good time, with a decent amount of player expression to be had, even if it fails to really push those mechanics to their fullest extent. Overall, it's a truly one-of-a-kind experience, and one that I will forever cherish as an all-time favourite.

story + characters: was good from start to end, with twists. If you want the story to be told chronologically though that is not the case here.

sound & graphics: really good/clean art style and sound design. After playing the game I still frequently play the Ost, and even more so play 2 songs from the game.

gameplay:
this was my biggest worry before playing the game. I liked the combat from the start, and it just became better and better and better the more I played and understood more & unlocked more "weapons".

summary: Really fucking good game