Unknown 9: Awakening Preview: An adventure with plenty of highs and lows

You can almost smell the spice vendors in the market as Anya Chalotra sneaks through the fictional Indian town of Chamiri sometime in the early 1900s. Chalotra plays Haroona in Unknown 9: Awakening, but what her goal is I don't really know yet, though it's obvious that she has mystical powers at her disposal, as she is a so-called Quaestor, with the ability to manipulate people in a way I haven't seen in the gaming world before.

When two armed guards see me and call for the help of their companions, I have the opportunity to explore the possibilities she holds, which is simply to take over others while time freezes. We've done this before, but the big twist is that here you can do this in several phases. Why not take one enemy and strike a gas tank in the vicinity of other enemies, then take the most dangerous opponent and slam his long axe into another group of enemies before taking on a third enemy and hitting the biggest threat from behind.

Once you've done all this, time restarts and you get to watch your commands play out in real time, in a system as satisfying as it is unique. I've never been a fan of the stealth concept, but this setup makes it a lot more fun and creative to try and sneak around unnoticed. To this end, you can also either push or pull enemies in a manner reminiscent of how the force is often used in Star Wars games. But, of course, there's a combat system too, which comes in handy when you get spotted and you haven't yet recharged the system, known as Stepping, that lets you take over other people's bodies.

This is a standard setup and includes the instant killing of enemies you can sneak up on from behind, as well as light and heavy attacks, which are performed with the RB button. On top of this you have the usual array of different parries and the ability to evade. Normally I think I'm pretty good at these types of games, but during the two hours I had the opportunity to play, I never really got the feeling of a good flow in the gameplay mechanics, which partly seemed stiff and partly not as responsive as a good combat system should feel. In addition, I felt that it was very rigid with take-downs from behind, something I hope the developers are working on as it is frustrating to fail the easy attacks and be discovered even though you sneaked like a ninja and made it all the way forward unnoticed.

After moving through the Indian city, which in many ways serves as a tutorial for Unknown 9: Awakening, I am taken on a boat trip where I meet Luther, an American cowboy-inspired gentleman who Haroona soon teams up with after it turns out both have goals that at least partly overlap: revenge against antagonist Vincent Lichter. All this is presented in cutscenes, which in Unknown 9: Awakening are rendered in real-time. This makes them blend well into the game, while also feeling a bit unpolished. Overall, it's noticeable that the developer Reflector Entertainment is a slightly smaller studio and the game constantly balances between being good looking and having a more budgeted vibe. It also runs consistently at 30 frames-per-second on console, which is a shame as I think this would really benefit from 60 frames-per-second. As a parallel, I can mention Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, to give an idea of what you can expect graphically.

After the boat trip with Luther, a jungle level awaits, where the latter is on the hunt for the Morning Star, without further explaining what it is (it's totally not what we might believe - but I'll leave you to discover that for yourself), while Haroona goes to avenge the murder of her mentor. The jungle stage works pretty much the same way as the town of Chamiri, with tall grass to hide in, logs and rocks to duck under, and plenty of enemies to sneak past.

Gradually, however, I'm given more tools to play with thanks to three skill trees with unlockable perks. Since I'm fond of fighting games, I'm going for parry combos, while those who want to can also improve the ability to Step and take over other characters, or push and pull enemies or similar. Whether it's enough to keep the adventure fresh for the estimated 12-14-hour playtime remains to be seen, but the slightly shorter playtime still bodes well for a well-contained gaming experience in these times when so many titles are far too long.

The jungle level ends with a boss fight, which unfortunately I was not entirely impressed with. On one hand, we have the previously mentioned problem that the combat mechanics are simply not tight enough, but I also feel that the boss can withstand far too much of a beating and it therefore becomes an unreasonably long fight that simply does not fill the encounter with exciting gameplay.

Overall, it's still a pretty positive impression I get from Unknown 9: Awakening. Today, we often talk about AAA games, where the AA category has basically disappeared, however, it's in the latter that I had placed this adventure based on the two hours I played. The combat system and the somewhat poor (and often questionable) cutscenes are my biggest concerns, but hopefully anyone looking for a classic adventure game in the same vein as Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden or A Plague Tale: Requiem will have something to look forward to next month.