SENTRY demo playthrough (Realms Deep 2023 / Steam Next Fest Oct 2023)
2I'd been curious about SENTRY ever since first seeing a trailer for it in a previous Realms Deep, so I was excited to see a demo pop up this time around, with 2 levels (and 2 difficulties) to choose from.
SENTRY's visuals and audio seem quite polished, and gunplay can feel satisfying. There's also a decent amount of visual accessibilitiy options already available, although the option to turn off screen shake didn't seem to remove all weapon-related shake entirely.
Each level consists of multiple enemy waves, where you have a limited time before/between waves to set up defenses such as ground/wall hazards and turrets, and replenish your health/ammo. You get to choose which weapons and deployables you'll have available before starting each level; you'll be stuck with the same loadout across all waves.
It's certainly important to get to know the layout of each level, and to pay attention to which entrances enemies will be using on each wave (indicated in the UI overlay). You're able to relocate deployables by using alt-fire to switch from build mode to sell mode, to remove deployments then rebuild them elsewhere.
While the demo was a good experience, it definitely felt like things can spiral out of control pretty quickly the moment you take your eyes off of an entrance (particularly a problem in later waves when multiple entrances are active). It also felt like some weapon and deployable loadouts are far more viable than others; I quickly ended up settling on SMG + shotgun for weapons since otherwise you can only fit one pistol and one larger weapon, which didn't seem worth it by comparison. (It's worth noting, though, that equipment slots seem like they'll be expandable in the full release.) I have to wonder how the map, equipment, and enemy variety will scale up in the full version - I could easily see there being a problem of levels being either trivial or impossible depending on the loadout you select.
If the mix of FPS and point defense interests you, check out the demo yourself and wishlist it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1252680/SENTRY/