Don’t take it personally, Sentinels of Freedom, but I am getting HEAVY Freedom Force vibes from you. It’s a good thing! Many of us would be behind a return to Patriot City. And if Sentinels of Freedom is anywhere near the madcap joys of that game, then we’re ready to pull on the lycra and hit the streets. Sentinels of Freedom is out now, and is performing a superhero landing onto Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC via Steam.
If you’re a board game fan, you may also be familiar with Sentinels of Freedom. This is a spin-off from the Sentinels of the Universe board/card game, and the Sentinels Comics roleplaying game, cribbing the characters and landing them in a turn-based strategy game.
In turn-based strategy terms, there are some interesting approaches here. It’s a superhero game, which makes the characters wildly divergent and gives you some natty abilities to play around with. It’s also a freeform strategy game, so it ditches the grid and gives you the freedom to move within a radius. It makes sense for a superhero game, and might open up some interesting strategic plays.
Graphically it looks a little basic, but there seems to be a lot of depth here. There’s a full solo story campaign, written by the creators from Sentinel Comics; large-scale missions that incorporate a number of smaller skirmishes; and customised heroes allow you to finetune the abilities and back-history of your character. Let’s see how far we can push those customisation features! I’m sure we can all imagine the sordid superheroes that are about to be created.
A lot of effort seems to have been put into the battles too, with some neat mechanics that help it to stand out from the crowd. Personally, I’m liking the Sync Triggers, which activate player characters who might have already performed their attack, all by doing something gnarly right next to them. It feels like a kind of superhero chest-bump.
Features include:
- Create Your Hero – choose backstory, archetype, powers, and appearance
- Massive Mission Variety – multiple objectives, interactions and dangers
- Squad Dynamics – heroes or villains can work together for more powerful actions
- Full Story Campaign – writers and creators from Sentinel Comics
- Freeform Movement – Turn-based game that allows you to move anywhere
- Build Your Team – select from the many available heroes and unlock more throughout
Sentinels of Freedom is out now for £20.99 on Xbox One. It also assembles today on Switch, PS4 and PC via Steam. Keep an eye out for our review.
Game Description:
Prepare for a story-driven campaign within the Sentinel Comics universe as you join forces with an ever-growing team of heroes to face a wide variety of villains. What seems like a typical bank heist reveals itself to be just the beginning of a much more sinister plan! Create your hero, gather your team, and save the world in this exciting new turn-based strategy!
