Tower Defense games are not my thing, but the exceptions are the ones that incarnate you in a certain character on the battlefield, Orcs Must Die style. That’s what first-person shooter Sentry does. Sentry is an “action-defense” shooting game where you protect a spaceship from waves of aliens, alone or in co-op, by placing traps and blasting heads. You will find the trailer below.
It’s a well put together trailer, right? Sets the stage, escalates in tempo and action and highlights some of the finer details of its systems. I like the meaty shotgun that seems to blow up enemies to pieces, I’m interested in the ability to use the environment to crush enemies, and I dig the look of these bubble traps.
If you die in Sentry, you can revive the body of a new crew member and join the battle again, but you will fail the mission if the aliens exceed that part of the ship. I’m not sure what the real consequence is of blowing up the windows, as seen in the trailer above, but maybe there is some Heat Signature style available.
Sentry’s campaign is described as “dynamic”, so even if a mission fails, the mission that follows changes instead of introducing you to an endgame. There will also be more short and replayable promotions and ongoing upgrades between runs. It all sounds good to me on paper, although the fear I always have with shooters from small teams is that there will not be enough variety or depth to repeat games feels worthwhile.
I think we’ll find out in time. Sentry will launch with early access sometime in 2023 with a plan for 9-12 month updates before it hits 1.0. So far, you can find more information and screenshots on its Steam page.