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Snezhinka: Sentinel Girls 2 – Review

Only a little while ago, we took a look at KVARK, a game that fully embraced the so-called Sovietcore aesthetic. Games that take inspiration from the Soviet era are becoming more and more common these days, to the point that even fictional nations are looking like they were part of the Eastern Bloc. One such nation is Kazormia, the setting for developer Hinyari9’s Sentinel Girls series of shooters. We may have missed out on the original Marfusha: Sentinel Girls when it debuted back in 2021, but the console launch of its sequel provided us with the perfect excuse to pay a visit to Kazormia. Join us as we take a look at Snezhinka: Sentinel Girls 2. Story The first Sentinel Girls game focused on elite soldier Marfusha, but the sequel shifts its focus to a new protagonist, Marfusha’s younger sister Snezhinka. As the opening cutscene explains, the Eastern Europe-inspired fictional country of Kazormia is torn apart by an ongoing conflict between humanity and robots. The Molten Iron Squadron, of which Marfusha is a member, is deployed to the frontlines of the war much to Snezhinka’s dismay. When Marfusha doesn’t return, Shnezhinka decides that the only way she is going to be reunited with her sister is by heading to the front herself. She joins a private military division, Blue Peacock Company, with the aim of quickly climbing the ranks and heading out into the war zone to find her missing sister. Graphics The cutesy, anime-inspired character designs of Sentinel Girls 2’s main cast are deliberately juxtaposed against a bleak, war-torn landscape. The environments bring to mind both the aesthetics of Cold War-era Soviet states and the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000’s 41st Millennium. It feels a bit jarring to describe something so dystopian as beautiful, but Sentinel Girls 2’s pixel art really looks fantastic. The game’s main menu houses a gallery as well, so you can look at the gorgeous designs without being distracted by incoming waves of enemy robots. Sound We’re not entirely sure whether it was intentional or a glitch but there were significant chunks of Sentinel Girls 2’s story scenes where there was no audio whatsoever. This wasn’t the case when we were playing through the levels, fortunately. The game’s soundtrack combines fast beats with lingering, esoteric melodies, resulting in an interesting musical experience. There is no voice acting, unfortunately, and the sound effects are okay but nothing special. Gameplay A game doesn’t always need complex mechanics or deep strategies to be enjoyable, and Sentinel Girls 2 is a shining example of this. While we love having our brains tickled, sometimes it’s nice to unwind by just blasting away waves upon waves of enemies. That’s exactly the kind of experience you’ll get with Sentinel Girls 2. The game combines side-scrolling shooting action with tower defense elements. Each level represents a working day for Snezhinka, and requires the girl to defend a strategically important objective. Succeed and you’ll be rewarded with a paycheck, which can be spent on improving and expanding Snezhinka’s arsenal of weapons and defensive tech. The catch is that the Kazormian government applies quite a hefty tax rate to your paycheck, and any repairs that need to be made to the objective will also be deducted from your measly earnings. This approach does inevitably influence your playstyle, as you’re extra motivated to protect the objective if it means maximizing your earnings. The straightforwardness of Sentinel Girls 2 bleeds through in every aspect of the game, from the clear-cut objective of each level to the simplicity of its controls. While you need to put some thought into which gadgets you spend your in-game currency on, once you’re actually on the battlefield, there is no need to concern yourself with anything other than moving, aiming, and shooting. Granted, Sentinel Girls 2 never truly cranks up the difficulty, not even in its boss battles, and we always found ourselves adequately equipped for whatever the game threw at us. In theory, you’re given a breather in between levels as you get to spend some time off at the Blue Peacock Barracks, but these moments often felt like a speedbump rather than a necessary reprieve. The barracks act as the game’s hub area, and it’s here that you can recover and upgrade Snezhinka’s stats and equipment as well as recruit computer-controlled companions to find alongside you. There are seven girls to pick from, and each of them brings along a different branching ending to the story. The meat of Sentinel Girls 2 is in its story mode then, and although a single run will only eat up around an hour or so, those branching endings do a lot of heavy lifting. There is more to Sentinel Girls 2’s companion narratives than just changes in dialogue too, with each storyline fleshing out things significantly. Even if you play through every single one of the nine stories, Sentinel Girls 2 is a fairly short game, but this is reflected in the €11.99 price point. Should you still want more, you can get stuck in Challenge Mode. In this mode, you’re competing for a coveted spot in Sentinel Girls 2’s online rankings. Challenge Mode does add something that the story mode is missing, even at the hardest setting, and that is a much-needed bump in difficulty. Unlike in the story mode, where you’re best off upgrading Snezhinka’s stats directly, picking specific gadgets does make a difference. While we imagine most players will be content playing through Sentinel Girls 2’s story mode and call it a day, this additional mode is where the gameplay really shows its full potential, and we highly recommend giving it a try if you’re going to pick the game up. Conclusion These days it’s rare for a game to be as unapologetically straightforward as Sentinel Girls 2. The clear-cut gameplay and short length of a run make this a perfect game to unwind with after a busy day. Should you feel like Sentinel Girls 2’s story mode is too easy, you can simply switch to Challenge Mode. The game doesn’t offer anything innovative, but sometimes sticking to something comfortable and familiar feels just as good as trying out something new.