Four years ago, during the Gamescom 2020 Opening Night Live to be exact, Bandai Namco revealed a brand new project as part of its efforts with Western developers. Since then, little had been mentioned. Unknown 9: Awakening is the name of said action and adventure game, which, a few days ago we were able to see in a special presentation behind closed doors in which we were shown several details of its proposal, in addition to which we were able to see an extended gameplay section that made known part of its ambitions and objectives.
Unknown 9: Awakening It is a video game that is being developed by Reflector Entertainment, a Canadian studio that is actually debuting this title and is made up of industry veterans with different backgrounds and types of experiences. According to its official site, one of its main objectives is to create video games with immersive narratives that completely involve the player and actually give them something that goes beyond mere entertainment.
In Unknown 9: Awakening We take control of Haroona, who for reasons unknown to us, discovers that she has a series of supernatural powers, and then learns that there is a mysterious faction that is searching for lost knowledge that could lead the world to its salvation, or its complete destruction. . These beings come from another dimension where, it seems, their abilities come from. The truth is that it is difficult for me to tell you much more about the story that the game will present to us with the little we saw, but I can tell you that it feels a bit confusing and that the truth is, it did not arouse much interest in me. I repeat, it is too early to talk. Will have to see. By the way, the protagonist is played by Anya Chalotra, an actress who gave life to Yennefer in the series. The Witcher for Netflix.
Moving on to what is Unknown 9: Awakening As a video game, the studio defines it as an action and adventure experience, which, evidently, tells us little. From what I saw in the gameplay that was shown, I would tell you that we are facing an Immersive Sim in third person in which you are invited to solve the different problems of the adventure, in different ways, either by using stealth without anyone detecting you , or making a real scandal. It seems that we are facing a markedly linear game in its structure that will be divided by levels. It reminded me a little of Dishonored.
I think that undoubtedly, the idea that gives the most personality to Unknown 9: Awakening As a video game it is the power we have to control enemies. You see, one of Haroona's abilities has to do with possessing other individuals and forcing them to do basically whatever you want. For example, in one of the scenes we were shown, we saw how a soldier was controlled to use his rifle to shoot at an explosive tank that eliminated two of his friends. Likewise, it is possible to make the enemy itself take an action to cause damage to itself. In a boss fight, the idea was to take control of him to hit an electrical box that would electrocute him. Of course, this is where you can get more creative to eliminate your targets in different ways. It is an interesting idea without a doubt.
In addition to all of the above, the protagonist can also carry out attacks herself. Using basically her hands and legs, we can eliminate enemies with blows or using powers like a shield or basically using the force like a Jedi to push them. Here I did feel that everything looked a little clumsier and not as well done. I think that Unknown 9: Awakening It is a video game that rather invites you to be careful when solving these arenas with enemies using your vision that highlights them and all your powers. I highly doubt it's going to be fun as a beat em' up or action game, but you never know until we get to try the final product.
This first approach with Unknown 9: Awakening I found it interesting. I think the idea of taking control of enemies and basically doing whatever we want with them has a lot of potential, but I see the combat as a bit clumsy. Likewise, I don't know if the story that is going to be told will have the potential that Reflector Entertainment is trying to sell. Anyway, it seems super positive to me that Bandai Namco continue with these efforts in the West that undoubtedly break the mold of what the Japanese publisher usually presents, plus of course, they are betting on a small production that surely does not represent a great financial risk in case it does not work as expected, which Of course, it is precisely what the industry needs in these complicated times.
Unknown 9: Awakening It is scheduled to release in the summer of 2024 on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
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