I was sent a free copy of Call of Sentinels to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinion of the game. This will be my honest review.
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What is Call of Sentinels?
You are a champion of the gods, chosen to bring down the foes who threaten peace in the land. With your skill and the blessing of the sentinels, you will repel the endless waves of monsters and their bosses, or die trying. But this won’t be an easy task. You’ll have to be quick, cunning, and strong. Do you have what it takes?
Gameplay
Players start each run with a basic and strong attack as they face off against endless waves of enemies. Waves start easy but increase in difficulty over time.
Throughout the run, the sentinels will drop random quests for the player to complete. Completing a quest allows players to choose a blessing. Blessings are passive thematic power-ups for a player’s character. What sentinel decides to bless the player, the type of quest offered by the sentinel, and the blessings available to the player are all randomly generated. Bad RNG will ruin a run, and it is frustrating.
Between runs, players can use coins they earn to buy items to boost their character’s stats. This seems to give players the option to build a character to fit their playstyle, but it also feels like there is a correct build path to follow. The main loop for Call of Sentinel seems to be grinding out waves of enemies, hoping the run is blessed with good RNG, buying power-ups, and repeating until you beat the story or beat the high score.
The game offers two game modes in this game: story and an endless mode. The story isn’t interesting enough to hook a player, and the grind is too steep to make endless worth it.
Review
Call of Sentinels did little to leave a meaningful impression. It isn’t a bad game, but it leaves a lot to be desired. One issue I have with the game is that combat and movement feel clunky. It almost feels unfinished, which normally wouldn’t be a problem if the game was more interesting.
I like the idea of the gods giving a player random buffs, and often a choice on what god they want to curry favor with, but the RNG doesn’t seem fair. There are blessings in this game that are worthless, and it sucks to find out after the fact. The missions often put players in situations where they have to take damage, and getting a worthless blessing ruins the game. Maybe these blessings get better after a few upgrades, but upgrades are never guaranteed.
To make matters worse, some of the quests are bugged and are difficult to finish properly. When a quest isn’t completed properly, players get fewer blessings to choose from. If a player gets a worthless boon, it is essentially game over.
My biggest issue with the game’s unnecessary grind. Buying the items you need to progress the story or do well in Endless is going to take more time than it is worth. In between runs, players can buy items with coins they earn during a run. These items grant permanent passive stat boosts and can be upgraded. To upgrade an item, players have to buy materials and pay for the upgrade.
From a flavor perspective, this is an interesting system. It is cool to think about forging a powerful ring of attack with a rare magic stone. The problem is the execution. Why make me convert gold into materials when I can just buy the upgrade with money? It turns the game into a needless grind, and the gameplay is too boring for the grind to be worth it.
Call of Sentinels isn’t a bad game. The art is fine, and the concept is interesting, but the execution is lacking. There isn’t a real reason to play this game, especially when you have better options.
You can pick up Call of Sentinels on Steam for $7.99.