Unknown 9: Awakening

Sometimes, one could get the feeling that video games only come in one of two sizes: Either titles commonly known under the buzz word "AAA/Triple A", referring to blockbuster games created with a gigantic team and the budget equal to a minor country's GDP, or a small and quirky indie darling developed in someone's garage. The reality is of course much more multifaceted. One of the categories I occasionally like to explore is what you could qualify as "AA/double-A": games with a bigger team and budget than a small indie title, but with a style and gameplay mechanics clearly inspired by the best and biggest in the business and where the ambition is simply to create an entertaining game, not to push any technical boundaries.

This is why Unknown 9: Awakening piqued my interest when it was presented at Summer Game Fest earlier this year. Here we are introduced to a brand-new IP from a new studio with a new story and characters, but with mechanics and setting giving off an Uncharted vibe. The concept is not limited to the gaming sphere, however, as this is a new multimedia franchise including a podcast, comic books, two novels and "more to come", according to Bandai Namco's official website. A promising sales pitch to be sure, but after spending several hours with Unknown 9: Awakening, my main wish is that this game could have received some more time baking in the oven, because the cracks and structural weaknesses are all too apparent.

The central part of the setting in Unknown 9: Awakening is a secret world order and a true history behind the history as we know it. The old Sahin civilization disappeared thousands of years ago, and all that remains of their legacy are ruins and stories about the Unknown 9, nine immortals watching over the world. Fast-forward to India during the early 20th century, where we meet the young woman Haroona in her quest to avenge her mentor, which throws her into a power struggle between the hidden order called the Leap Year Society and their break-out group Ascendants. Fortunately, Haroona is far from helpless, as she is a Quaestor with the ability to tap into the unseen world of the Fold to find hidden clues, sneak past enemies and fight those who are after her.

The pulp fiction-y interpretation of the early 20th century is an important part of the sales pitch here, which Unknown 9: Awakening fulfils wonderfully. The mash-up of exotic locations, hidden orders, lost civilizations and a shadow realm only accessible to the few is well put together. Add gunslingers, airships, exaggerated technology way ahead of its time and old-school aeroplanes to the mix, and the sense of adventure is complete. If you like me can appreciate a good adventure about hunts for lost treasure or ancient civilizations, chances are this setting and story might be right up your alley. The characters are also engaging and interesting, lead by The Witcher actress Anya Chalotra starring as Haroona in her video game debut, a job she tackles quite well. When all of this is accompanied by well-composed music which always sets the mood, we are presented with a package giving off a good first impression. In many ways, this feels reminiscent to The Order: 1886 on PlayStation 4, a title that showed a lot of promise with an interesting setting and lore, but where the execution didn't live up to the expectations at the time.

Unfortunately, not everything is peachy when talking about the game's narrative, because it also comes with some weird cuts between shots in the cutscenes, which in turn creates rushed transitions between each location. The cutscenes in general feel incomplete, as if several shots are missing or like the developers didn't have time to finish all they had planned (a plausible theory, judging from the delays before the final release). The story in Unknown 9: Awakening is good enough, but with an even tighter direction it could have been better, maybe even amazing.

The sense of a rushed and unfinished product can also be felt on the visual front. Unknown 9: Awakening doesn't try to push any technical boundaries and is well-defined within the Unreal Engine parameters, but still comes with a disappointingly low resolution and lots of visual particle noise on PlayStation 5, making the game way less flattering than it could or should have been.

The game is plagued by an unstable presentation haunted by uneven frame rate and frame time, and noticeable shader compilation stutters certainly don't help. On top of that, no toggling option between quality and performance modes are available on consoles, meaning that you are stuck with 30 frames per second at best. Other issues diminishing the experience include grainy animation of hair, beards and power fields, and bad facial animations on most of the side characters, all which adds up to hinder the game from bringing its promising artwork to life the way it deserves. The technical issues are unfortunately not limited to the visuals, as you are regularly exposed to bugs which in the worst cases require a restart.

When it comes to the game mechanics, Haroona's adventures initially feels like your standard linear adventure game. You follow a clearly defined path, pick up collectables along the way, and occasionally you come to an area full of enemies who needs to be taught a lesson. It certainly has the feel of an Uncharted game or other games inspired by the series, such as A Plague Tale: Requiem, but the difference lies in Unknown 9: Awakening's creative and exciting stealth mechanics. Haroona's abilities as a Quaestor gives her the opportunity to inhabit an enemy's body and make them strike their allies, and over the course of the game she can learn to jump from enemy-to-enemy, creating great havoc that can take out several thugs at once. You also have other tools at your disposal to eliminate enemies without being seen, such as detonating or sabotaging objects from afar, and making yourself invisible and doing a stealth takedown from behind. Using all these tools is highly recommended, as the game is at its weakest when you are discovered and must fight with your fisticuffs. The combat mechanics are simply clumsy and imprecise, and an erratic targeting system certainly doesn't help.

There is a lot to appreciate about Unknown 9: Awakening. Airships, a concealed world history, secret orders, creative stealth mechanics, and a nice wrapping with exotic locations in a slightly exaggerated version of the early 20th century are just some of the positives here. This could easily have become a real hit of the best double-A kind if the game had received just a little more time, a slightly bigger budget and more polish. Unfortunately, the experience is also muddled by bad combat, clumsy directing and several problems of the technical and visual kind. Still, it's not hard to gleam the diamond in the rough here, and hopefully the developers at Reflector will be given more opportunities in the future after their debut, because there is definitely a lot of potential here.