Unknown 9: Awakening is the primary of a group of multimedia initiatives starting from novels to audio dramas. As an intro to the broader Unknown 9 universe, Awakening builds intrigue and units up the worldbuilding fairly properly whereas appearing as a standalone sport expertise in its personal proper. And it’s value mentioning off the bat that it is a very ‘gamey’ online game and under no circumstances a story strolling sim like some previews may counsel. The story of Haroona and her journey to avenge her mentor and settle for her newfound skills as a Questar is quite well-told and cinematic. The overall vibe and style of Unknown 9 is a mix of the swashbuckling escapades of one thing like Uncharted with the extra conspiratorial facets of Murderer’s Creed. All through the course of Unknown 9, you’ll encounter secret societies, journey by the jungles of India, and faucet into the material of actuality utilizing Haroona’s Umbral skills.
I discussed how the sport was cinematic earlier, and whereas it has the framework and parts of a blockbuster movie, it doesn’t overly depend on rendered cutscenes to inform its story. A lot of the story is advised by character dialogue and in-engine scenes, and it’s the previous the place Unknown 9 actually shines. Whereas I do admire the occasional scenes, there’s some awkward transitions right here and there that gave me scripting whiplash, because it had been. One minute we’re arguing on the airship, the subsequent we’re abruptly looking out by a jungle by ourselves with out context. These jarring scene transitions aren’t distinguished by the expertise, however you’ll discover them once they happen. Against this, the dialogue between characters is well-written, with communication occurring organically between the characters and never with the participant instantly, as so many video games clumsily do. There’s a subtlety and wit right here that jogs my memory of traditional BioWare at occasions. Nowhere is that higher mirrored than by companion conversations aboard your airship hub. You’ll be launched to the airship a pair ranges into the sport, returning to it after each different stage to work together and catch-up with crewmates.
“Conversing along with your crewmates aboard the the airship shows among the sport’s greatest writing and characterization.”
It was in these moments aboard the airship attending to know all of the companion characters the place I loved Unknown 9 probably the most. The crew aboard the ship have up to date dialogue each time you come back after an outing on land in true Mass Impact Normandy trend. I discover the characters’ private tales and personalities to be a spotlight of the sport, regardless of the protagonist’s extra abrasive and untrusting persona. I want I appreciated the protagonist of Unknown 9, Haroona, as a lot as the remainder of the solid, however even by the top of the narrative, her standoffish mistrust and conceitedness didn’t actually evolve or allure me. That stated, Haroona, identical to the remainder of the solid, have a well-developed backstory that informs their motives. Characters just like the quirky navigator making an attempt to get Haroona to hearken to opera, or the informal and likeable bartender reminiscing on his time within the American Civil Conflict continued to be the spotlight of the entire expertise for me, prompting me ahead even when different components of the sport stored making an attempt to get me to stop.
As for plot, it follows a kind of conventional construction; the protagonist realizes their potential after dropping their mentor and will get embroiled in a wider scheme as they be part of a ragtag resistance group. I might see among the plot twists a mile away, however every part is well-told and offered with sincerity, so I didn’t thoughts when it stepped into tropes. Additionally, props to the story not beating me over the top with themes or endlessly repeating plot factors as if I had been an fool; the sport respects the participant’s mind.
“You journey by a lot of various environments from Indian jungles to Portuguese mansions, all housing quite a few collectables.”
Whereas we’re with regards to issues Unknown 9 does properly, exploring the baubles and furnishings throughout the airship is a delight due to the number of doodads and scattering of collectables hidden all through. I benefit from the exploration on the whole, whether or not or not it’s the jungles of India or the subterranean caves hiding secrets and techniques of the mysterious godlike Unknown 9 and their affect of historic occasions. Environments are embellished with a excessive consideration to element, which is helped by the sport’s very good graphical high quality and dynamic lighting. You actually get a way of the dampness of the Indian forests and the dry warmth of the desert places, however facial animations aren’t practically as nice. Facial animations look stilted, virtually like they’re placeholders, which is an unlucky distinction to the splendidly textured and detailed environments.
Whereas I totally loved my time exploring the dense jungles and Victorian mansions, the identical can’t be stated for the sport’s fight. We’ll begin with what I do like about fight first. A lot of the sport’s early fight situations contain sneaking by tall grass to beat foes by stealthy again assault assassinations and ranged tampering of explosives by the Crush means. You’ll be able to even throw psychic ‘stones’ to distract enemies and use a psychic Peek means which acts as a survey lens to see enemies and interactables by objects. I quite loved these early stealth-oriented sections of the sport and favor them to the extra direct tanky strategy the latter sections necessitate.
“The Step means grants you management of an enemy’s physique till your Umbral meter drains, providing you with the higher hand in most encounters”
Integral to to most encounters is Haroona’s Step means, which grants management of an opponent for a restricted time, permitting you to assault different enemies or set off explosives. Step is especially helpful when overwhelmed by massive teams, one thing that occurs far too typically midway by the sport. Whereas I do just like the package accessible to Haroona, the abundance and dimension of the enemy encounters midway within the sport don’t accommodate her Umbric skills very properly. Haroona isn’t any tank, and your occasional fight companion barely does something that can assist you overcome your foes, making a majority of the later encounters really feel tedious and mismatched. Certain, you’ve a magical protect with parries and a short invisibility trick to evade potential catastrophe for a time, however there’s solely a lot you are able to do when there’s gadgets that prohibit these skills in tandem with heavy ‘mini-boss’ enemies.
“Gearhead enemies prohibit your Step means. Many different machines and enemies prohibit different Umbral skills as properly, though you possibly can overcome some restrictions by advancing within the ability tree”
Take Gearheads as an illustration. Your first encounter with a Gearhead is terrible, as you don’t have any defensive terrain to cover behind nor tall grass to fall again to. Worst of all, you can not use Step on Gearheads, rendering your most precious instrument nugatory. So many of those fights whittle right down to clunky melee bouts the place your coolest Umbral skills are taken away, and there’s a tad too a lot of them contemplating how emphasised the stealth and Umbral skills are on the whole. It doesn’t assist that the variety of bugs will increase as extra opponents get thrown at you. I’ve had a number of cases the place I couldn’t leap throughout gaps as a result of my character was caught in a fight animation, leading to a swift demise. I’ve additionally been caught in terrain throughout sure fights involving busier terrain that includes rocks and the like. Unknown 9 is at its worst throughout these massive group battles with heavy opponents that prohibit sure Umbral powers. The melee on this sport isn’t nice, attributable to inconsistent lock-on and obscure punch harm containers, but the second half of the sport insists on overwhelming you with waves of those sorts of enemies.
“Overwhelming fight encounters that includes a dozen-plus opponents are frequent mid-way by the sport, sadly”
Repetitive melee-based encounters aren’t the one hiccup in Unknown 9’s gameplay although; character dialogue and banter typically will get lower off when progressing or triggering an encounter. In a special vein, companions typically nag on you to “hurry up”, repeating their demand incessantly till you observe the primary path ahead. This nagging actually discourages exploration, which as I said earlier is without doubt one of the sport’s greatest qualities. I used to be particularly aggravated when being yelled at for not progressing the primary story aboard the airship; I needed to listen to all of the companion dialogue and discover the great surroundings, so why doesn’t the sport need me to?
Another slight niggles are the absence of efficiency or graphics modes on console. I used to be caught with the sport hovering round 40 FPS, with frames getting choppier throughout among the overwhelming group fights. Oh, and you can not change problem after you begin up a brand new sport, so choose between the 4 problem settings properly since you’ll be caught with it.
“Regardless of its flaws, Unknown 9 delivers some great story moments and enjoyable gameplay when it desires you to discover”
I actually was starting to fall for Unknown 9: Awakening as I approached the halfway a part of the narrative, however then the sport insisted on me going melee and threw repetitive enemy encounters at me prefer it forgot what makes it tick. The sport shines in its explorative moments, and particularly so when conversing with the crew aboard the (airship title). The sport’s fight works properly when it encourages stealth and lets you use your umbral skills with out abandon, making me query why they threw enemy waves at you want they do in the course of the second half of the sport. The story and worldbuilding are a deal with although, and also you’re certain to search out one or two characters to develop hooked up to all through your time in Unknown 9’s world. I’ll have an interest to see the associated initiatives throughout the Unknown 9 universe since Awakening has proven promise with its worldbuilding, regardless of its gameplay irritations.
This sport was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.