I am all for new artwork to better match the newer expansions but ugh. Spent so much on this game already and the announcement said "and a bunch of other brand new things." I am sure it was not the intention but I feel like I am being being forced to by the new version to get all the content.
I'm super sad. I saw the announcement today and thought I might be up for a streamlined version of this very good cooperative superhero card game. But then I looked at the all-new card art. I just can't. I get what Adam is going for, trying to make it look like comic book panels from when we were kids, but here's the thing about comic books when we were kids -- we didn't love the art because it looked great, we loved it because it was the best we could get at the time. The old card art may have been rough but at least it had colors. The new stuff is de-saturated and pixel-y (again, I get it, done on purpose, but woof) and looks kind of awful to me. I'm super sad that I feel that way and that I can't see myself playing this very good game while staring at that card art the whole time.
I love the changes made to reduce the wall of text on every card (i.e. "Start Phase"). I don't love how the "Ongoing" and "One-Shot" tags are now so small you have to squint to see what kind of card you're holding. And the new logo is giving me stomach aches -- why is "Of The Multiverse" not centered? Maybe there's some genius reason for these bad (to my eyes) design choices, but I can't figure them out.
Like I said, I'm super sad today. :(
Understandable responses. Hopefully the things that they show us moving forward will help with some of the concerns, but we’ll see. :-\
I’m definitely in the “I love all this” camp, myself. 
Luckily, nothing they’re doing will break what we have now, so we can keep playing with the old stuff. It is going to be hard for completionists to be okay with this, unfortunately, but that’s true every time a game comes out with a new edition – which happens a lot. 
My take is that this is more for new people than it is for us oldbies, per se.
There is a not insignificant number of people I've come across over time who like the idea of SotM but can't get past what they see as clunky rules or "bad art". A lot of them in particular signed onto the Freedom Five Kickstarter expressing those sentiments. So this edition which lets Adam show off his current day level of skills and the aptitude for homaging art era styles he's shown on the Letters Page Writers' Room covers, and lets Christopher revamp the rules and flavor text, will help alleviate some of those issues.
Though there are also things us oldbies might find interesting as well. Scenarios, "First Appearance" variants, balancing tweaks to characters some folks find weak, etc.
They've also mentioned things like conversion packs to make old decks compatible with new rules.
I have no doubt Handelabra will be interested in this as well, which may make things cheaper and more accessible for us oldbies to have access to the new things without re-breaking our wallets.
Looking at the art I am a little more annoyed now. I assumed that the art would be updated to match say Oblivaeon art style and not a completely new style.
If it matched the art style or card layout of Earth Prime (what a long, drawn out kickstarter) then I would consider boxing them together.
Ah well. Not everything is for everyone. As mentioned above though the completionist in me gets a facial tic thinking about it.
Sure but how did they decide to move away from this kind of art:
and decide that this kind of art would be better:
I just don't get it.
Me neither Spiff. Finally read the whole article and how they plan to release 6 more big box expansions over the next 6 years. Makes me cry a little inside.
This may not matter for the specific concerns people have about the art shown, but those are all cards showing panels from old comics, likely chosen for the article precisely because they're in that retro style. Christopher previewed additional cards on the podcast Discord and many had panels from newer issues with a more modern styles (the Character Cards shown, at least the ones that aren't the few "First Appearance" variants, were in the cleaner modern look for example). What may be strange is having a variety of styles within a single deck.
Well, this first box seems to be a lot of golden/silver age brand characters, so the art seems to reflect that. You wont see that style of art in an Expatriate deck i'd assume. Void Guard will have exclusivly contemporary art, since all their stories are from the modern era. I think its part of the narritive devices they have created since the letters page to solidify what they have been building.
I personaly think the art is fire. Adam nailed that golden/silver age feeling with his own sentinel flavor.
I have a lot of ppl that love the old art and wont like the new. I have ppl that love the new direction and didnt like the old. Cant please everyone.
This wont be something I buy most likely. Ill check out the digital version when its out. I have Sentinels as far as Im concerned. I hope the new version brings in a new wave of sentinel fans into the fold. its a great jumping in point for those who havnt gotten into it yet.
Mixed emotions on this - I love the game, have everything and don't want to rebuy everything, but at the same time, I'm glad that they're trying to improve the gameplay. I just wish there was something done for us oldies to try and bridge the gap
WalkingTarget and Foote nailed it, Spiff.
The idea is that if a card's flavor text is taken from the 1960s, it has 1960s era art to match. Or 80s. or 90s. Etc.
Adam's already been doing the same thing for his Writers' Room covers.
It's basically them leaning further into the metaverse they've built up of this being "fictional comics from a fictional comics company".
Not to mention how dog-eared my copy of The Wraith is getting… 
I am particularly excited for the scenarios, personally, and I’m really interested to see how they plan to weave more story content into the game – since it seems like they plan to be a little more explicit about going into particular issues, events, and so forth. Like, where do those covers come in?
The art I don’t mind – I get the polarization, but I’m able to look past it. The card redesign I’m a little more iffy on, though, but I’m sure it’s still in work and we’re looking at mock-ups. I really like the “start phase” indicator (I imagine there would also be tags for “end phase” and “whenever: X”). But I agree with the comment about how small the One-Shot/Ongoing keywords are. And what the heck is “fixed” damage? Oh, gosh, another damage modifier to keep track of!
I'll join the mixed feelings boat as well.
I've long felt that GtG spends too much energy on the story their games tell and not enough on the games themselves and the art style change seems to be more of the same. Making your game look worse just because it fits the story you're telling seems like shooting yourself in the foot. I hope it works out for them, I guess.
"Like, where do those covers come in?"
I'm guessing you mean the Moonfall and Singularity covers? Moonfall kicked off in April '68 and Singularity in April '76 (although we see the cover for issue #8 from November) and cover Baron Blade's original Terralunar Impulsion Beam plot and the Omnitron I events respectively, so basically already what those two villain decks model, only I guess with specific setups to lean even more into the story they envision for the comics.
"I really like the "start phase" indicator (I imagine there would also be tags for "end phase" and "whenever: X")."
Yes, we saw similar color-coded tags for all 5 main turn phases. Also, stuff in Incapacitated abilities that were like "One player takes their Play Phase now" so any modifiers they have in play for their Play Phase (say, Tachyon getting to play extra cards) still take effect.
"And what the heck is "fixed" damage?"
This seems to be a replacement for "irreducible" and my guess of "a symmetrical irreducible, can't be increased or decreased" got a pointing-at-it emoji from Christopher. Somebody else guessed unable to be redirected too, but there was no comment on that one way or the other that I saw.
I mean, the entire reason the SotM games exist is because C&A wanted to tell a story, and many of us are here specifically because we like the Sentinels fiction including the metafiction.
Wow! It's so fun to come back to the GtG forums and see so many familiar faces all in one post!
As an "oldbie," I would certainly agree that this isn't for us...which is a shame because I definitely want to support the company (and Adam and Christopher, who feel like cousins or something haha). I'm sure this will get made because Kickstarter is where it's at, but I can't imagine it getting the same tidal wave of support as OblivAeon. As for the new art, I would love it to be integrated into my current set, and I would buy it easily if that were the case. But...c'est la vie!
I personally love how the art faithfully replicates the art of the era the comics are supposed to come from. I can look at pretty art anywhere. Art that evokes real comic books from the history of a made-up publisher, placing each story somewhere in an 80-year history, is completely unique. Heck, I'd actually prefer it if games like Marvel Legendary did the same thing! For me, story and history trump attractiveness. Adam has done a stellar job with this and--other than the new, non-cute Raptor Bot--I wouldn't have it any other way.
I personally probably won't buy this right away, unless the Kickstarter comes with lots of perks, just because it doesn't include all the content, especially my wife's favorite hero Parse. (She complained bitterly about not being able to play Parse every time we playtested.) Plus we don't game in-person these days anyway. But I'll almost certainly get it eventually. It's an amazing product. As a playtester, I'm very proud of what I was able to be a part of here.
I'm pretty neutral on the change in the art - it runs the risk of making the decks look inconsistent for the long running heroes (same way modern and silver-age Spiderman comics are inconsistent), and between heroes of different eras, but at the same time the original art has always felt more cartoon than comic-book. That's not a criticism of Adam, it's a product of how quickly they had to put the games together and the sheer amount of art required, so I can't blame them wanting to take another pass at it.
I'm much more interested in the game play changes and how those are handled
Yeah, I know what stories they represent, what I meant was more like, how do those covers integrate into the gameplay material? Are they on setup cards for scenarios? Pictures in the rulebook? The backs of Baron Blade and Omnitron cards? There are lots of possibilities, and I think this is an opportunity to better integrate the story with the game, which would be cool.
I should also say that when I wrote that I see how the art is polarizing, but I could look past it – I meant looking past the polarization, not the art. I do kind of like the “period” art. Baron Blade in particular looks fantastic! I hope it all integrates together into a cohesive whole, with the newer-style art presumably on other cards.