13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim clears 1 million in sales

Atlus and Vanillaware have announced that the time-traveling mecha epic 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has cleared one million sales.

According to Gematsu’s translation, this accounts for both digital sales and copies shipped. The ambitious visual novel/real-time strategy hybrid debuted in Japan on November 28, 2019, before steadily launching elsewhere in 2020. In March of 2021, 13 Sentinels hit the 400,000 sales milestone. Originally, the Vanillaware title was a PlayStation 4 exclusive before receiving a Switch port in 2022.

Defying Fate

Describing 13 Sentinals is difficult beyond its genre mash-up, but it is a fantastic game. A few hiccups blending the genre, unfortunately, work against its potential as perfect. The climb to the one-million-milestone may have been a longer journey than expected, too. Though 13 Sentinals launched at a weird time, debuting worldwide as next-gen consoles were coming out.

Vanillaware is an accredited developer known for creating gorgeous 2D games, but their biggest projects were historically sidescrollers. Making a visual novel with RTS elements exclusive to consoles sounds odd, but the concept rocks when you give it a shot. 13 Sentinels‘ selling point has always been its story, however. With 13 protagonists in a time-travel story with outlandish twists, it remains compelling the whole time, and that’s a feat in itself.

13 Sentinels is one of my all-time favorite games, and the genre mishmash, coupled with the slower public uptick, made me worried when I first picked it up. I’ve been a Vanillaware fan for a few years, and the concept was still a hard sell. Strategy games have never been my favorite, but thankfully, the studio won me over here.

Anyway, congratulations to Vanillaware for hitting the milestone!