Announced at Gamescom 2020, Unknown 9: Awakening hasn’t had a lot in the way in which of stories since its reveal. That promising trailer gave us a primary thought of what the sport, which is a small a part of a multimedia franchise, goes for, however past the essential premise laid out by the collection, we have not realized something new concerning the sport in fairly a while. However, I not too long ago had the prospect to fulfill with writer Bandai Namco and developer Reflector Entertainment to be taught extra concerning the sport and see the primary gameplay footage.
What is Unknown 9?
As a multimedia franchise, the story of Unknown 9 follows the story of the Quaestors – highly effective people who find themselves keyed into the way in which the universe works – which folds out throughout varied platforms. This preview particularly talks concerning the sport, however the story unfolds throughout media like comics, a novel trilogy, a podcast, an internet collection, weblog posts, and the sport. However, Reflector designed the story of Unknown 9: Awakening to be a self-contained story that anybody can get pleasure from. Still, in the event that they really feel compelled to dig deeper, they’ll accomplish that by way of different media.
The Unknown 9 universe facilities round empires’ cyclical rise and fall throughout human historical past. As the subsequent empire’s finish approached, 9 people with a powerful connection to a mysterious hidden dimension referred to as The Fold had been shielded from demise. Those joined the search of attempting to interrupt the cycle of destruction. Out of this premise, two separate teams fashioned with a shared purpose: attempting to be taught the ability of the 9. However, they need various things with the data and energy they search. The Leap Year Society hopes to realize the data of the 9 to inform it to humanity for his or her betterment. On the opposite facet, the Ascendants need the data and energy of the 9 to interrupt the cycle, then use the ability for egocentric means. As you may think, in Unknown 9: Awakening, the Leap Year Society is commonly painted as the great guys, whereas the Ascendants are the extra antagonistic group.
Awakening Gameplay
Unknown 9: Awakening follows Haroona, a lady raised within the streets of Calcutta, India. Played by Anya Chalotra (Yennefer in Netflix’s The Witcher), Haroona’s powers woke up throughout her childhood. Now, as an grownup, she’s studying how you can prepare her powers whereas on a mission for revenge towards Vincent, a member of the Ascendants who killed her father.
The gameplay of Unknown 9 operates on three essential pillars: Stepping, Combat, and Active Stealth. Stepping makes use of Haroona’s distinctive powers, permitting her to leap into the physique of an NPC and management them. You begin with one Step Token however can improve to 4 by the tip of the sport. When you’re taking management, time pauses, and also you map out their strikes. For instance, you’ll be able to Step into one enemy and pressure them to drive their melee weapon into an explosive object within the atmosphere to take out the three guards, then Step into one other enemy and have them open fireplace on a few different close by guards. Moves like these stage the enjoying subject for Haroona as she faces insurmountable odds on her quest.
Outside of Stepping, Haroona additionally has varied different powers, together with the flexibility to tug, push, and crush objects on the planet. Using this, she will be able to detonate objects or alarms to distract guards. She may heal, an Umbric Rock to distract enemies, don a cloak to show invisible, and use her senses to see the places of enemies and aims. All of these permit Haroona to take out enemies craftily, however when issues hit the fan, extra simple strategies turn out to be useful; Haroona may carry out gentle and heavy melee assaults and use an Umbric Attack to stun enemies, and might block and dodge on the defensive facet.
Demo Recap
My demo takes place in Suknasari Forest, a location gamers will encounter within the first three hours of Unknown 9: Awakening. The minimal U.I. parts help with immersion, exhibiting only one single component within the decrease left nook to inform you your well being, Tokens, and powers. As you discover the environments, you discover ability factors inside anomalies. Unknown 9: Awakening would not use a standard XP system, as an alternative counting on these anomalies – a few of that are on the primary path, a few of which require some exploration – to permit Haroona to unlock upgrades.
Across a number of sequences, I watch the developer giving the demo Step into the our bodies of guards between Haroona and her goal. In some situations, Haroona forces the guard to kill different guards. Other occasions, the guard is compelled to run head-first into an explosive. Stepping positively appears like a enjoyable extra fold into conventional stealth gameplay.
Playing by way of the sequences stealthily, Haroona sneaks by way of the tall grass in typical stealth-game trend, however her stealth takedowns are devastating in a manner Assassin’s Creed may by no means pull off; Haroona appears to be like to be eradicating their souls from their our bodies. Or possibly she’s merely eradicating their consciousness after which placing it again utilizing her added senses. Either manner, it would not appear like one thing I need accomplished to me.
After a few sequences of smaller minion-type enemies, I watch the demoer tackle a more durable enemy. This brute blocks loads, so customary melee assaults will not work as effectively. Instead, you have to use Haroona’s powers to Step into different enemies to assault environmental objects like incendiary lamps and explosive barrels. After dealing a great deal of injury to the heavy, Haroona finishes him off by pushing him into an explosive barrel, placing him down for good.
The demo ends with a phase the place Haroona should steal an airship from Vincent. However, earlier than infiltrating the hangar, she should take away the anchors which can be maintaining it grounded. After watching the demoer battle by way of the primary wave of enemies, he loosens the primary anchor, which unleashes one other wave of baddies. Some of those guards are the usual melee guards, whereas others have high-powered rifles, and others nonetheless are the heavy-style enemies from the earlier encounter.
Each loosened anchor unleashes a brand new wave of enemies, and I enjoyment of watching the developer enjoying the sport showcase how artistic you may get with these encounters. After dropping a lamp on the final enemy’s head and setting him ablaze, Haroona removes the ultimate anchor. With that, the trail to the airship is opened up, and my hands-off demo involves an in depth.
While there’s nonetheless a lot we do not learn about Unknown 9: Awakening, I favored loads of what I noticed. The universe is ripe for thrilling storytelling, and the gameplay jogs my memory of a powerful mixture of Control, Uncharted, and Assassin’s Creed. I’m positive we’ll be taught extra within the lead-up to the launch, however for now, my curiosity is piqued. Unknown 9: Awakening arrives this summer season on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
