13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Some games tell their deep, engaging story with a solid plot in a straightforward path from beginning to end, instead of plot threads tangled in a bunch of knots to try to pull apart. In 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, players control a whopping 13 different protagonists, each with their own distinct stories, relationships, and purpose in the overall plot. Even more confusing, thanks to the back-and-forth time travel hijinks, little things said or done in one era can have big ramifications in another, assuming you even realize you've done anything. The game keeps an updated selection of key phrases that evolve over time as the characters interact with one another. But you don't necessarily know exactly what you should be looking for in order to make progress. So one missed clue early on might come back to haunt you later, forcing a do-over of the chapter's events. It's a convoluted mess that's frustratingly difficult to keep track of. Eventually, things start to come together and make sense, but it never stops feeling like you've opened up a book or started watching a movie somewhere in the middle and are simply playing catch-up.

When players aren't trying to seek out clues to make sense of the story, they're suiting up for battle in their giant Sentinel mechanized suits and taking the fight to the kaiju in top-down real-time strategy battles. Sentinels come in one of three different models, each complete with a certain battlefield specialization (melee, long range, or all around), and each can be customized with attacks and abilities. These battles show off the power of the Sentinels and their importance to the future of humanity. For players, this means living out their mech vs. monster fantasies, carving out a swath of destruction through wave after wave of kaiju forces. There's a lot going on at any given time, and it can be difficult to follow all the action, but thankfully players can pause the action and think through their strategies on the fly. In the end, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim almost tries too hard to do too much. It takes some time (no pun intended), but eventually the gameplay and the story begin to mesh into an entertaining, yet confusing, experience.