“Sayonara Sigil Sentry” Game Review – Generative Doom

Sometimes a game gets the times just right. Capturing within a thin veil of fiction a real struggle deep within our day-to-day lives. It’s hard to see a game like Sayonara Sigil Sentry and find anything but a mirror through which we can find the dangers of today.

Released March 26th of 2025, the game was developed by ApeHardware, and tells the story of the horrible creatures that start emerging from the corpse of… Earth itself? And the effort to combat them.

At the same time, we’re told the story about the disruptors who saw this corpse as the chance to create something new. A special engine able to create copies of almost anything. Isn’t that neat? Such brilliant entrepreneurs.

The situation quickly devolved into an ever-increasing group of plutocrats fusing with this weird engine fueled by the planet’s corpse. The result is, of course, nothing short of horrifying.

As the pilot of the sigil sentry, your job is to fight these creatures by drawing increasingly complex symbols across the battlefield, all while you try to avoid enemy attacks.

From this simple gameplay premise emerges a really polished design that takes the idea and runs with it as far as it can. I find it outstanding that across every single stage, I never thought it was overstaying its welcome.

Even more so, there’s a twist in mechanics at the end that I was sure would be ideal for a forced handicap, but in turn results in a new mode of movement that is invaluable for beating the last stage.

The game is short, of course. Last me about 90 minutes. It’s also free, and the deeply troubling and visceral aesthetics give it a weird, underground feeling that’s quite enticing to anyone with a bit of disdain for modern societal trends.

Let’s cut to the chase, too. The metaphor is really thin. It’s quite evident what we’re talking about here, right? Well, you know what they say.

I know writers that use subtext and they’re all cowards.

I can’t help but admire the bluntness of the approach, while at the same time recognizing that a significant effort has been made to create a landscape, both in visuals and sounds, that fully sustains the vibe and hatred for the current generative landscape.

In a lot of regards, Sayonara Sigil Sentry is a perfect game. It achieves precisely what it wants to do.

The mechanics are fantastically executed. The aesthetics, although limited, are clearly deliberately considered. The sound is superb and unnerving.

The story is as clear in its message as it wants to be. Really, I could sit here as an armchair developer and tell you all about things I’d do differently, but…

… I really can’t. It’s simply a very well-done, very well-scoped, and very thought-provoking game. Congratulations to ApeHardware for their launch. Hopefully, we can get more from them soon enough!

You can play Sayonara Sigil Sentry for free via Steam/PC here.

You can read more of our game coverage here.

Author: Walker M

Aspiring game developer and hobbyist writer. Perpetually doing too much. Chronically burnt out.

Argentinian. Passionate. Unbearable?

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