Vanillaware’s 13 Sentinels Is Delayed, but Will Launch With Full English Voice Cast

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13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, an action/real-time strategy game on the PlayStation 4 from Vanillaware, will suffer a small delay in its trek westward. The new release date for the localized product is September 22, a wee bump from its initial September 8 launch.

Don’t fall into despair just yet. As the official Sony blog points out, the delay means the English voiceover will be part of the day one patch instead of a later addition.

Ari Advincula, the Communications Manager for Sega of America, talks to 13 Sentinels localizer Allie Doyon about the game’s core premise, and about the challenges of implementing voice acting adventure during the COVID-19 lockdown. The cast was moved from the studio to their homes, and unsurprisingly, a lot of improvisation was necessary to get the job done.

“It’s not as simple as just calling in and talking—we needed studio-quality audio recordings, a way for the audio engineers to work with said recordings on the spot and afterwards, and a way for each actor to view the director’s screenshared script at a readable size,” Doyon says. “To help achieve that studio quality, actors set up makeshift studios in their own homes, which sometimes meant getting cozy in a closet with a nice mic.”

Doyon calls 13 Sentinels a “surprisingly heartfelt mystery across time, space, and human lives” featuring giant robots, kaiju, and mysterious government agents. There are 13 characters to follow, and 13 intertwining narratives. It’s no wonder the localization team needs a little extra time to make sure everything is ship-shape.

Finally, Doyon promises Vanillaware’s talent for tormenting us with mouth-watering depictions of food is fully intact in 13 Sentinels.

“Do you like food? I like food. Vanillaware likes food. Takatoshi Hijiyama from 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim likes food. If this game doesn’t make you want to urgently find someplace to buy yakisoba pan, I don’t know what will.”

Look for 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on the PlayStation 4 on September 22.