It’s been just about a year since we’ve talked about Sentris, the visually and musically beautiful music puzzle game from Samantha Kalman and Timbre Interactive. For the past year it sat in a somewhat unfinished state on Steam Early Access where it garnered mostly positive reviews. Our look at the Early Access version ended with Marcus stating:
“Given the proper time to be further developed it can only get better. Along the way there will also be much-needed improvements to make the menu interface friendlier. It’s likely more puzzles will be implemented as well to expand the gameplay. Sentris is an incredibly unique game/musical instrument just begging you to take it for a spin.”
Sounds promising!
Well, Sentris was released a couple weeks ago via Steam, Humble, and the fun-to-say Itch.io. Since then the reviews, and lack thereof, have made it tough to get a pulse on how the game turned out. Steam reviews based on the final release are few in number, with only 5 people popping in to give their opinion; and one of them is negative.
Outside of the sometimes crazy world of Steam reviews I was only able to find two sites that have reviewed the final version of Sentris. PC Gamer gave it a less than glowing 62/100 review.
“… I didn’t hate anything about it, but Sentris tries to be both a music creator and a music toy, and it just isn’t a great example of either.”
Video Game Choo Choo gave Sentris a similarly middle of the road final score of 3/5, but arguably ended on a somewhat positive note:
“Sentris is not a bad game, just an odd one that doesn’t quite stick. Who does it appeal to? I’d highly recommend this game to anyone interested in making music in a way that’s less complex and more appealing than most boring loop-making programs, or maybe someone who’s extremely into conceptual games. However, I couldn’t recommend it to somebody who’s just interested in a musical puzzler. In its current state, Sentris doesn’t meet my expectation for a puzzle game, especially for the price. Sentris may be the beautiful highly experimental/conceptual music maker/puzzle game I deserve, but it isn’t the one I need right now.”
The lack of reviews elsewhere is disappointing, especially when you consider that in her most recent update Samantha Kalman mentions that she visited the offices of Polygon and Giant Bomb to promote the game. Perhaps they’re just behind on their reviews? Or maybe Sentris is destined to be another indie game that’s met with plenty of press during the Kickstarter, but a shrug of indifference once its released.
At this point I’m inclined to buy Sentris. When it launched on Kickstarter in 2013 I fully intended to back it, I just didn’t have the cash to spring for the $15 tier to get a copy. The final $14.99 price tag stills seems a bit high, and the lack of reviewer interest is troubling, but it looks and sounds amazing. A lack of interest from the press and a couple “eh” reviews shouldn’t dissuade you from checking out a promising game.
