Sentry is a co-op shooter about laying traps to defend your spaceship

Tower defense games aren't my thing, but the exceptions are those that embody you in a particular character on the battlefield, Orcs Must Die-style. That's what first-person shooter Sentry does. Sentry is an "action-defense" shooter in which you're protecting a spaceship from waves of aliens, alone or in co-op, by placing traps and blasting heads. You'll find the trailer below.

That's a well put together trailer, isn't it? Sets the scene, escalates in pace and action, and highlights some of the finer details of its systems. I like that meaty shotgun which seems to blast enemies into bits, I'm interested in the ability to use the environment to crush enemies, and I dig the look of those bubble traps.

If you die in Sentry, you can respawn in the body of a new crewmate and rejoin the fight, but you'll fail the mission if the aliens overrun that part of the ship. I'm not sure what the real consequence is of blowing open the windows as seen in the trailer above, but perhaps there's some Heat Signature-style chicanery available.

Sentry's campaign is described as "dynamic", so even failing one mission just alters the mission that follows rather than presenting you with a game over. There will also be multiple short and replayable campaigns and persistent upgrades between runs. That all sounds great to me on paper, although the fear I always have with shooters from small teams is that there won't be enough variety or depth to make repeat plays feel worthwhile.

I guess we'll find out in due course. Sentry will launch in early access sometime in 2023, with a plan for 9-12 months of updates before hitting 1.0. For now, you can find more information and screenshots on its Steam page.