One of my most favorite sci-fi RPGs ever, Sentinel Worlds is one of the very best "hard" sci-fi games ever made, despite disappointing sales figures. Your task as is to command a crew of 5 Federation officers as they embark on an epic quest to combat raiders that are plaguing the Caldorre System in the far-future year of 2995, learn where the raiders' base is, and terminate the problem once and for all.
There are many bold innovations that set Sentinel Worlds apart from other RPGs. For one thing, the game is very non linear: you can ignore the central plot (i.e. solving the raiders mystery) for as long as you want-- there are many random dogfights with raiders ships you will encounter in space, each of which require manual dexterity as well as strategic planning (e.g. you can coordinate attacks with other Federation Interceptors in range). Engaging in these action-based fights is a lot of fun, and is a good way to boost your crew members' combat-oriented skills. You can also make a living by harvesting valuable minerals on a planet's surface, and selling them at planets where demand is high. Earned income can be used in various ways, from buying better equipment for your ship, as well as more powerful weapons and gadgets for your crew members.
Once you decide to get knee-deep in the game's plot, you will find a complex, well-written story that involves many subquests (some of which are optional), plot branches, and colorful characters. The conversation system is particularly notable: when you converse with another character, you must often select a response from a number of multiple choices. Each response you choose will affect that character's attitude and future response towards you, and the "optimal" response is not always obvious. This makes the game frustrating at times when you have to resort to an earlier save game if you have selected a conversation choice earlier that prevents you from finishing the game. Worse still, the game only allows 2 save game slots, which makes manual backup almost unavoidable (I remember backing up my saved games to about a few dozen files, just in case).
Despite this flaw, Sentinel Worlds is so well-written, gripping, and teeming with characters going about their business in real time, that you'll gleefully forgive the game and plunge headlong into its many intricacies. The game's well-written plot will appeal to adventure gamers who don't normally play RPGs, while RPGers will find much to like about its skill-based character development and a myriad of high-tech items to use. Don't miss this one folks, and be sure to try the sequel Hard Nova which is even better :)
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
I have D-Fend Reloaded, and I put the SW1 folder in my E:\retro\SW1, then pointed at the FM subfolder for Sentinel.exe. Set D-Fend for Tandy, and the game worked! So don't know why all the issues? Maybe it's DOSBox? Try the GUI driven D-Fend Reloaded, and you may have more joy, and a much easier time!
Ok, here is another fix for running with dosbox (D-Fend Reloaded).
Grab latest version, default install. Your "mounted" drive will be here (rober is my user name, yours will be different)
C:\Users\rober\D-Fend Reloaded\VirtualHD\
Copy the SW1 directory here, and not C;\SW1
The program file location for D-Fend Reloaded should look like this: C:\Users\rober\D-Fend Reloaded\VirtualHD\SW1\FM\SENTINEL.EXE
Should run just fine in latest version of Windows
I cant get this game to run for the life of me. I keep getting a red bar that says "Insert Game Disk". I look at the comments and read all this technical stuff and almost get a nose bleed lol. Makes me wish my old disk still worked and I could just pop the game in my Tandy 1000 and off I go. I dont understand how to toy with this emulator stuff. Im kinda OCD about my directories and dont want to have to make an SW1 directory on my C: drive just for that game, rather have it in my games folder but *sigh* if I have to I guess I will just grit my teeth and slop up my directory structure. I like my games on my D drive in a Games folder.
How to get TANDY sound and EGA graphics:
Edit dosbox config (DO NOT put DOS Box in Tandy mode, only update the sound section):
[sound]
tandy=on
Go to your SW1 directory.
Run:
driver 1
Go to Windows. Find the game folder. Sort by file creation date.
Copy the 5 sound related files to a backup folder. They will be in positions 2-6
Back in DOS Box...
Run:
driver 2
Back in Windows. Copy the 5 files your put in the back up folder back to the main folder.
Enjoy the Tandy sounds.
KORR, Thank you so much! Mounting the volume as C: and nesting the folders did the trick!
How to start Tandy mode?
Dosbox 0.74, 0.73, 0.65. dosbox.conf
machine=tandy
tandy=on
game start, and music plays, but screen flickering and no even start screen shows.
Thank you in advance!
Got it working! I was trying to run it under C:\SW1\ folder, but the key was to nest it and mount that parent folder as C in Dosbox... here's how.
First create a folder like "dosboxC" under C:, then extract SW1 into it
C:\dosboxC\SW1
folders D, DOCS, FM, and loose files should be in SW1
Launch Dosbox
type the following commands one at a time
mount c c:\dosboxc
c:
cd sw1
cd fm
sentinel.exe
That's it! Hope that helps someone
Like SIRDEBLIN said... this and Starflight were my favorites too. I can't get this to run on DOSBox v0.74-3... it just says "Please insert Game Disk, Press 'Enter' when ready.." Enter does nothing of course.
This and starflight where my two go to games and this was so much better. better game play plot and story. I am super excited to try i downloaded but i am getting an error wont load. 64 bit issue. any work around?
Thanks for the work. Would love to play, but: downloaded, unzipped, but my pc (windwos 10) says: 16Bit version uncompatible. ask developer, if there is a 64 bit version available....
Any idea for a workaraound?
Thanks
@SESCHERAUN
I added the source paragraphs to the remake of the manual that is included in the download page, just take note of the download link for the updated version of the manual as it appears in the footer of the .pdf that I've updated from ver 1.1 to ver 2.1. Apologies to anyone that previously checked that link as it was down for a few months while I juggled websites.
The update extends the number of pages of the manual to 45 and like the previous version, it remains an accurate rendering of the original content.
I confirmed it's not working for Tandy because the files packaged here represent a hard drive install of of the EGA / PC Speaker version. I located the original media that includes the Tandy drivers. Basically the following files need to copied over from the original media \FMPLAY into the SW1\FM directory of the package included in this site to get Tandy support.
song01.kt - song01.sng
song02.kt - song02.sng
song03.kt - song03.sng
song04.kt - song04.sng
sfxwar.kt - sfxwar.exe
grafxtan.exe - fm-grafx.exe
I copied all the original drivers (CGA / EGA / Tandy) into SW1\FM dir and created a batch file to switch between drivers. Works good, I'll see if this site will allow me to upload the updated package.
This game version does not work in Tandy mode in Dosbox .74. I know it's not my Dosbox config, other games work in Tandy mode, as does Deskmate Music.PDM. When it loads the text screen flashes (not loading Tandy graphics) and I hear PC speaker audio. I suspect it has something to do with the modifications of this game version or a Dosbox regression.
To run this game i used emulator of commodore 64 called VICE and went to file - attach disk - selected the disk image available 0.something then i launched the game from the right. Now my issue is that it asks for a joystick or something I hope i helped som1, if you figure out how to use keyboard let me know please :D cheers
Anyone have a source for the paragraph book?
Some tips for character creation for those wanting to try this classic:
- You will earn your first few levels by blasting raiders in space, so your character's stats doesn't matters early on the game. The only relevant skill is the Pilot's gunnery, and he will be perfectly capable of handing raiders with just 1.
- HP are calculated initially as STR+STA, and later you are given bonus HP per level according to your STA: 10-11: 1, 12-13: 2, 14-15: 3, 16-17: 4, 18-19: 5, 20: 6. This means that a character with 10-10 will start with 20HP and have 30 at level 10. A character with 10-20 will start with 30HP and have 90 at lvl 10. So, this is a primarly characteristic to invest on, unless you want your characters to get killed with 1-2 shots.
- Skills gained per level are calculated from Comprehead: 10-13: 1, 14-16:2, 17-19: 3, 20: 4. As there are few useful skills in the game, you don't need 20 COM, 17 is more than enough.
- STR is only important for contact and edge weapons damage. You might want to invest some for your combat-leader, or just stick to projectile weapons and ignore STR.
- DEX governs how fast your character attacks, it's very important, but you can raise it during the game and have it at 20 by the time it really matters. It's specially important for the Medic, so he cal heal faster.
- CHA is useless until mid-game. NPCs will react the same no matter your CHA. At mid-game one of your characters becomes a magic user, and CHA determines how many magic energy he gets. Your Comm Officer is the ideal choice.
- For skill assignation, first maximize your primary weapon (projectile for almost all, edged if you decide to use a close-combatant as your frontman). Then max tactics. Then Athletics (you can only raise attributes to a max of 3+atlethics). After that you will already know the ropes of the game and know what to do, maybe max edged so your characters can rely to a secondary hand-to-hand weapon if they run out of ammo, and max Blasters for late-game.
* So a ideal starting party would look like (in combat party order):
1- Main fighter: 13-20-10-17-10
2- Second-Liner: 10-20-13-17-10
3- Medic: 10-18-15-17-10 (he will be in the middle, HP not so important for him)
4- Future Magician: 10-18-10-17-15 (raise CHA to 20 asap with plastic surgery)
5- Rear Guard: 10-20-13-17-10 (enemys will attack you from behind very often)
Couldnt find any walkthrough on how to make the game work with D-Fend Reloaded. Just cant for the life of me figure out how to get past the load game disk screen. Guess its not so simple.
need help to run the game, dont understand where how to section is to run the game in D-fend.
anyone have a savegame at or past the space station... even trained up.. they are wiping me out
Make sure to play this game with the Tandy sound on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O48HgFio6wI
@Whane The Whip: thanks for the awesome work on the manual
The game is great but I wanted a decent looking manual so I updated the plain text manual to a more visually appealing PDF. It's easier to read, has screenshots and is still searchable. It contains the same content and in the same order as the original with some subtle enhancements and typo corrections. 30 page PDF here: http://bit.ly/sw-fm
Awesome game ! great memories ... THX
I like dis
to get around the Disk problem, be sure the game is in c:\sw1 (it's in the readme.1st file)
It tells me I need a disk to play the game; have no clue what to put on my drive for dfend reloaded in the driver profile
Use DosBox with a frontend like Dfend Reloaded to launch the game. See the howto section to read how to do. Cheers ;)
Having trouble getting this gameto work, Says my 64 bit computer won't play this 16 bit game....
It tells me I need a disk to play this game?...what can I do?
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.