New Platform Fighter Sentinels INC. Announced

With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate having officially wrapped up its post-release development, it seems like developers of all sizes think their game has what it takes to be the hottest new platform fighter on the market. But today we’re not talking about a big budget licensed affair like Multiversus or Nickelodeon All Stars Battle Royale. No, today’s platform fighter announcement trailer comes in the form of Sentinels INC. the debut effort by independent studio Snail Whale Games.

This latest fighter to throw its hands into the arena of platform fighters promises an attractive pixelated aesthetic, online ranked play, a story campaign, custom colors, tournament support, rollback netcode for a superior online performance, and some unspecified alternate game modes. The roster will feature a total of eight characters judging by the developer’s social media, though only three have been revealed so far; a dark blobby heavy character with polymorphic abilities, a nimble blue rushdown character with a tail, and a red-headed woman who fights with a huge red scythe reminiscent of Guilty Gear’s Testament.

Speaking of traditional fighting games, Sentinels INC. seems to borrow some interesting mechanics from them, like an EX meter that can be spent to amplify special moves with stronger properties and a team-based format that allows players to tag another character in either in neutral or mid-combo. Better yet, this secondary character can be controlled by a friend for some 3 or 4 player action free of the utter chaos of doubles matches in Smash Bros.

Players will need to make good use of their multiple characters too, as a single one can be killed fairly quickly if the long combos seen in the trailer are anything to go by. Of course, we can’t say whether the ones displayed there are true combos or not, but with how long they last, how far they carry the opponent, how far off the blast zones seem to be, and the fact that combos can be extended by calling in another character like in Marvel vs Capcom or Dragon Ball FighterZ it seems safe to say that Sentinels INC. is trying to appeal to those that want a more combo-heavy experience from the platform fighting genre.

No release date or platforms have been confirmed yet, but Sentinels INC. has promised more updates will be coming soon on their official Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Discord server.

Credits:
Writing: Octorockandroll
Editing: @Sari
Thumbnail Graphics: @Zerp
Social Media: @Zerp

 

 

Now this is a neat surprise. I think this is the first game during this fighting game renaissance to feature fully original characters, so that's always nice to see. As for the gameplay, I really like the spritework, and a focus on tag team play definitely helps this game stand out from the rest. I'll be keeping an eye on this one!

 

Nice! The graphics are beautiful and it brings some pretty interesting mechanics to the table. I also like how the blob character looks.

Also, "Nickelodeon All Stars Battle Royale".

 

looks like one to watch. though i thnik we can assume what the devs are fans of based on those characters

 

While I'm really digging the art style and animations, that hit stun is scary. I realize that's sort of how MvC is, but it feels like there should be a happy medium somewhere between this and SSB.

In any case, more platform fighters = good, so good on them for entering the genre!

 

While I'm really digging the art style and animations, that hit stun is scary. I realize that's sort of how MvC is, but it feels like there should be a happy medium somewhere between this and SSB.

In any case, more platform fighters = good, so good on them for entering the genre!

To be fair we don't really know anything about the game yet so these could just be early exihibition combos that have zero input from the secondary character. These may not be true combos and there may be options characters have to combo break or if you can just DI out of most of these. That and the balance/mechanics aren't really fine tuned yet and this is just the initial reveal. As Nintendo likes to say: "Balance may be adjusted before release".

Though what has ME hype is legit tag feature for 2v2. Tag your partner in to follow up or change the tempo of the match. Feels like this could open up a lot of interesting sets and team synergy (Both player and character choices) will have a great chance to shine, being more tactical and such than how chaos like normal team battles can be in Smash with 4 characters throwing hitboxes around and trying to convert off random/accidental hits.