SENTINEL RETURNS

You know you're being watched.

You know the Sentinel is out to get you. You know he anticipates your every move. You know he will stop at nothing to destroy you. But do you know how to survive? You must maneuver with cunning through eerie, elemental landscapes - outsmarting his merciless strategies, absorbing life-saving energy from objects around you... staying onestep ahead of his withering gaze.

You know you have met your deadliest match. But has he?

• Based on the classic hit, Sentinel, by Geoff Crammond.
• Over 650 levels and endless hours of solid gameplay challenges.
• Over 10,000 randomly generated bonus levels.
• 5 Stunning abstract landscapes: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and the final most terrifying level - the Void.
• Multi-player options allow up to 4 players to join the action.
• Haunting soundtrack provided by famed horrormaster, John Carpenter.

~ from the back of the US box

 

If you were an aficionado of British micros in the 1980s, then you're sure to have heard of The Sentinel (or perhaps Sentry as it is also known as). It's a strange, almost ethereal puzzle game that uses pseudo-3D geometry in interesting ways. Created by Geoff Crammond, The Sentinel was a bizarre strategy-puzzle hybrid that garnered a cult following, and its biggest fan was John Cooke of No Name Games who proudly boasted that he was "probably the only person in the world to have finished the original game twice". And it was his fondness and dogged enthusiasm that ultimately gave birth to Sentinel Returns, a sequel/reimagining that released in 1998 under Psygnosis' banner. 

In essence, not much has changed from its days on the BBC Micro. You're an abstract Synthoid stranded on a series of surreal checkerboard landscapes while a malevolent eye in the sky called the Sentinel hunts you down like Sauron searching for a hobbit. Your only defence is your ability to absorb matter, including the Sentinel itself. But there's a catch. You can only absorb matter that rests at your eye level or below. And when you begin at the lowest point on the map, yo have to get creative. Literally.

Use the mouse or "A" to absorb trees (left) or Sentries (right). The energy will display on the bottom left.

Icons will change from tree ("T") to boulder ("B") to robot ("R") to tell you what you can create at a glance.

While you can absorb items, you can also create. The matter is stored as energy units as displayed on the lower left of the screen. One unit can create an abstract triangular tree, two builds a square block, and three creates the empty shell of a Synthoid. This last one is how you travel the map. You can't walk, but you can teleport between robotic shells. Combined with blocks - the only object that can be built above you as long as it's stacked on top on another one - these allow you to climb the terrain piece by piece.

With all this creation, it's easy to run out of energy points. Thankfully, the level plays host to a number of tees to collect. The game tracks how much of a level's total energy you've absorbed, and the more you clean up, the more levels you skip ahead once you finally defeat the Sentinel. Absorb under 50% of the energy and you only skip one level; clear over 90% and you'll warp ahead four. And with a colossal 650 stages, it's worthwhile if you ever want to see the end.

You travel by pressing "Q" to teleport between robot husks (left).

Make sure you absorb them again after travel. It's wasted energy otherwise (right).

The towering Sentinel looms large over each stage, and when it has you in its sights, it's a panic-inducing experience. A loud industrial noise will obnoxiously boom at you and the indicator on the top right turns red to indicate you're in danger. It doesn't kill you outright, instead sucking the energy away from you which can be devastating if it takes too much, eventually draining you to nothing and die. As the rules of physics dictates, it won't keep all this energy to itself. Instead, it will convert it back into matter by scattering trees across the landscape. Useful if you barely escape and need to power yourself up again. 

But this big baddie is not the only thing primed to attack, there are also Sentries and Meanies (yes, that's what they're called). A Sentry is a mini-Sentinel but his turn cycle is not signalled by a crunching sound effect. Instead, you'll have to visually identify where it's looking by focussing on the glowing white of its eye. Meanies are a little more difficult to overcome. They will spawn if either of the above can see a Synthoid or boulder, but not the square it's standing on and there are other trees in the vicinity which will be the energy used to create it. These powerful annoyances cannot be absorbed, but their time is limited to a single rotation. It they catch you within this time, they will hurl you into hyper-space at the cost of 3 energy points and drop you on a random, inconvenient point on the map.

When high enough, absorb the Sentinel (left) and place a robot in its place (right).

Teleport into this new husk and enter hyper-space ("H") to complete the level.

Visually, the landscapes are alien and muted with skies packed with streaking nebula and clusters of stars. The trees are uncannily tall and spiky while boulders pulse like strange beating organs. The sound design is equally important. The humming electricity is barely audible in the background and gets abruptly drowned out by the metallic cries of a Sentinel on the hunt. While it relies on sound effects for the most part, there is a soundtrack. Composed by the one and only John Carpenter (who scored all of his movies as well as directed), the brooding synthscapes of the soundtrack he called Earth/Air perfectly encapsulates the nightmarish quality the permeates the entire game. 

Sentinel Returns, at its pulsating mechanical heart, is a simple game. But first-time players will likely be completely lost. There are no in-game tutorial levels to allow you to get to grips with the unconventional game mechanics. Instead, a thorough read of the manual is a must. Once you do understand them, it becomes incredibly hard to put down. The idea of conquering all 650 levels (or 651 if you count the final one) is insanely compelling. Whether you're a completionist or just someone who loves trippy puzzle games, you will return to Sentinel Returns. It is timeless.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses dgVoodoo to run on modern systems with with OGG-WinMM, for CD Audio emulation. Manual included. Soundtrack included as a separate download. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 79.2 Mb.  Install Size: 106 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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Sentinel Returns is © No Name Games Limited & Psygnosis
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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