Luckily, there is no ‘wrong answer’. The thirteen stories can be experienced in any order, although some remain hidden behind locks that require viewing certain scenes from other characters’ tales or completing certain battles in the game’s real-time strategy combat mode. Plus, although the stories are nonlinear, 13 Sentinels does offer a ’timeline mode’ that catalogues unlocked events in chronological order. There are, however, a few good places to start for players who may be experiencing the game for the first time - perhaps via the newly released Nintendo Switch version - and have a hard time deciding which character’s story to tackle first.
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Juro And Iori Are Available Early
Juro Kurabe and Iori Fuyusaka feature prominently on the game’s cover. They’re not exactly the central protagonists - all thirteen characters are given roughly equal focus - but their stories are some of the first available. Unlike some later characters, players don’t have to do anything special to unlock Juro and Iori’s stories, as they are available at the beginning of the game. While their stories are not completely without locks, their locks are generally easy to complete, such as opening three Mystery Files in the game’s Analysis mode.
Iori and Juro are also a good choice to start off with because they serve as stand-ins for the player - they know very little about the game’s deeper lore or what exactly is going on. Juro suffers from amnesia and experiences confusing dreams, while Iori is one of the few characters who starts out completely unaware that time travel is involved in the game’s story. These fairly straightforward stories allow the player to feel that they are discovering the game’s secrets alongside the protagonists.
Natsuno Unlocks Many Mysteries
Alien-obsessed Natsuno Minami is another protagonist who starts the game fairly unaware about what’s going on - although she’s more than willing to learn. Natsuno’s story involves her discovering a mysterious robotic alien named BJ, who is being pursued by sinister men in black suits. While keeping BJ safe from his pursuers, she must visit many time periods to track down a missing Sentinel robot. The quirky friendship between girl and robot creates a compelling narrative within 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim that also serves as a unique way to drop some big reveals, as Natsuno gradually unlocks BJ’s stored memory files.
While many characters’ stories are locked behind viewing other characters’ events, progressing through Natsuno’s story alone unlocks five others. In particular, an event entitled “Exterminator,” which occurs roughly halfway through Natsuno’s story, unlocks events for three other 13 Sentinels characters: Yuki Takamiya, Ei Sekigahara, and Nenji Ogata. Players should aim to complete “Exterminator” as early as possible, as it provides a much greater amount of freedom in selecting which stories to play after that.
Battle Through Shibugaki City
The nonlinear gameplay of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim allows players to alternate between playing visual novel-like segments in ‘Remembrance’ mode and real-time strategy battles in ‘Destruction’ mode. Because most of the game’s big reveals happen during Remembrance segments, it can be tempting for players to stick to this mode and ignore Destruction entirely - however, doing so will lead to running up against locks in almost every story.
Eight of the thirteen playable protagonists have story sections locked behind completion of certain Destruction stages. Ideally, players should alternate between stories and battles to keep progressing smoothly. The Destruction battles are separated into three “areas” with ten waves each, with most characters’ locks requiring completion of the second wave, Shibugaki City. Battle stages are generally not locked and can be completed quickly, so some players may even prefer to fight through as many waves as possible in order to progress through characters’ stories without encountering locks.
Ultimately, the nonlinear storytelling of 13 Sentinels is a unique decision that works out for the best - each and every player will experience the game’s reveals in a different order, but the puzzle will ultimately come together in the end. Though the story may seem tangled and complex at first, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has a surprisingly deep and cohesive narrative that has led to it consistently ranking as one of the best Vanillaware games of all time.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is currently available for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.
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