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Nowadays, bringing a new IP into a market flooded with remasters and remakes is no easy task. Many of us have grown fond of the familiarity of watching franchises resurface constantly. Yet, some companies and developers take a leap of faith in trying to create something new. Unknown 9: Awakening is Reflector Entertainment and Bandai Namco‘s bold and ambitious attempt at creating a narrative universe. While there are already other media, such as comic books, novels, and even a scripted podcast, the game is the one that starts the chronology. Sadly, Unknown 9: Awakening is a mix of interesting ideas that are poorly executed.
Let me start by saying that, despite not watching most of the trailers for Unknown 9: Awakening, I was excited. Why? Because it is always nice to get a new game featuring top-notch actors and fresh ideas. Looking at it from the outside, U9: Awakening has everything to succeed. It has a great lead actress, an interesting setting, and a well-designed and easy-to-understand lore. Unfortunately, Unknown 9: Awakening becomes another Icarus who crashes into the depths of a sea too deep to escape from.
Enter The Fold
Our story begins with Haroona, Unknown 9: Awakening‘s protagonist, played by the talented Anya Charlota (The Witcher Series), who joins her teacher for a dangerous mission. Haroona’s teacher dies during this quest, leading our pupil into a path of vengeance. Thus, a globetrotting adventure begins with an eclectic cast of characters as they track down the big baddie to exact revenge and uncover other mysteries.
While the game’s universe is rich with lore, one noticeable issue is how it presents it. To paint a clear picture, think about your favorite film. Imagine everything there is in it that you love so much: the music, the color palette, the camera work, its characters, etc. Now, imagine if any of those elements were lacking in any way. The other things would lose weight, right? That’s precisely what happens with the plot of Unknown 9: Awakening.
For example, at one point, Haroona reaches her village and meets her childhood friend. After a short chapter where they traverse together, defeating enemies, they arrive at a crossroads where they must part ways. In what should’ve been an emotional moment, my game bugged, and the ground swallowed Haroona, putting her face at the height of the friend’s crotch—how can I take that seriously? It’s sad, really, because Haroona is a great character who doesn’t fall into many of the edgy, vengeful cliches she should have. However, many moments lose all form of impact due to the game’s buggy nature.
Let’s move on to another example: the game’s epic sequences. During one of the early chapters, Haroona traverses a jungle full of stealth sections and new enemies appearing everywhere. Throughout this 2-hour level, I had no music whatsoever. It got even worse when the boss fight began, which had quite fun mechanics. But again, there was no music. Imagine Darth Vader entering a room without The Imperial March in the background or the Fellowship of the Ring running across a field without sound; it defeats every sense of epicness.
By the time some of the game’s plot twists started occurring, I was not invested. Even if some moments were intended to be surprising, the plethora of issues distracted me from what could’ve been a gripping story. And again, it is sad because there are many elements that can give us a compelling narrative. The characters are great, the setting is intriguing, and the lore, despite being new, is easy to understand. Unfortunately, the lack of polish overshadows everything that tries to make the game’s plot shine.
An Ethereal Butt-Kicking Experience
One thing I have to praise is the combat, which, despite some issues, is pretty interesting. Unknown 9: Awakening allows players to use Haroona to beat Ascendants up, the game’s main enemies. To do so, you can use a 4-hit combo, heavy attacks, and many supernatural abilities. For instance, my favorite is the one that allows Haroona to enter a foe’s body and control it briefly. While doing so, time stops, and you can move them around to cause devastating attacks. One thing that I loved was the variety of enemies. Stepping into a Bruiser’s body can let you create a devastating shockwave. Normal enemies can stun foes with their batons in a straight line. And things get even more fun as other foes join the fray.
Furthermore, there are other skills for players who prefer a more stealthy approach. You can use tall grass to hide and lure enemies in to knock them out or lead them to an explosive canister to take them out with one hit. Also, as you progress through the story, you’ll unlock Umbric abilities that let you fill an enemy’s stun bar and then follow up with a devastating finisher. Frankly, combat was extremely fun and offered many approaches to most scenarios. Even boss fights were quite challenging due to bosses having intricate and well-designed mechanics. But then again, there were many issues that deterred me from it at times.
At some points, I noticed certain moves would freeze my screen. Despite my PC being way above the recommended specs, it struggled when Haroona used specific abilities. During a boss fight, where I could finally perform a finisher on the enemy, my frames dropped below 20, and my screen stuttered, so I couldn’t see Haroona beat the boss up, which was anti-climatic. The same occurred in the more fast-paced sequences. I’m unsure if it was intended, but there was a moment where Haroona had to escape a boss fight and jump onto a zeppelin. However, the screen froze, and all I saw was a frame of Haroona trying to jump and then the zeppelin flying away, which was strange.
Lastly, the enemy AI isn’t the smartest and tends to get stuck in the environment. During the first boss fight, the boss got stuck behind a railing, and I had to reload the encounter. Halfway through the game, I was in a stealth section, and I lured an enemy toward me, who got stuck in a place and started spinning. I was able to beat it thanks to this, but again, it is distracting and brings down the immersion the other elements are trying to convey.
A Beautiful Setting Marred by Technical Issues
Unknown 9: Awakening features some of the most unique and beautiful landscapes I’ve seen. Seeing other countries represented more brilliantly in video games is always nice. The streets of the Indian-like city of Chamiri and Portugal’s beautiful scenery and many more locales are jaw-dropping. In this area, the studio nailed it. While the story didn’t hook me, visiting new places was always exciting. The color palettes were superb, and the design of most levels was elaborate enough to give each area a unique touch. However, some of the cutscenes didn’t let these places shine much.
While U9: Awakening tries to keep its scenes and landscape gorgeous, the visual aspect tends to fail. Take characters, for example. During most cutscenes, the lighting doesn’t help the character’s faces, and most of the eyes look as if they were about to pop out from their skulls. Also, the hair tends to look like tinfoil in most scenes, which is distracting, especially because it happens in most characters. Lastly, there are many instances of grainy effects and blurred textures. When the camera swaps from one character to another, the textures take a while to load, and by the time the shot moves to another place, it is too late to appreciate the details.
Finally, the voice acting and acting in general are top-notch in the game. However, there are many instances of bad lip sync or characters not moving their mouth at all. It was jarring to see a companion try to deliver a heartfelt speech just to see his mouth close before finishing a sentence. Sadly, this happened more than once and diminishes the great work the actors put behind their characters.
An Ephemeral Journey
As I wrapped up my time with Unknown 9: Awakening, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. While I’m someone with a high tolerance for bugs and glitches, what saddened me was the mishandling of all the potential in the game. It is rare to find a new IP that does lore as easy to grasp as this one. Finding characters who don’t fall into Hollywood cliches is amazing, and I’m glad the cast of this adventure is mostly well-written. Sadly, every issue eclipses what could’ve been a short yet enjoyable adventure.
Ultimately, first impressions are everything, and Unknown 9: Awakening drops the ball hard on that part. Since it is planned for a large and intricate narrative universe, this should’ve been an almost perfect product. And even if the story wasn’t the greatest, a polished game would’ve brought more people in. Instead, it was a journey full of bumps, technical problems, and a neverending dichotomy of great ideas executed in the roughest possible way.
Review copy provided by Publisher.
Unknown 9: Awakening (PC Reviewed)
Unknown 9: Awakening is the perfect example of having great ideas, interesting lore, and well-written characters that are thrown to the wall in a random fashion to see if they stick together. The plethora of technical issues is so large that by the time the game gets going, one's investment is long gone.
Pros
- Interesting lore and world-building
- Engaging combat
Cons
- Many performance issues
- A lot of visual bugs and glitches
- A weak story
