Unknown 9: Awakening Review
The world is dying. It has died before, and it will die again — such is the nature of the cycles. Long ago, the Unknown 9 — the best and brightest of an ancient race — sought to break this cycle and preserve what they had, but to no avail. Now, there is hardly a speck of dust on Eath that does not lie on the bones of that which came before.
This is the premise of Unknown 9: Awakening. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is. We’ve all been here and seen this before.
As the game starts, your protagonist, Haroona, wakes from a dream where she walked the spirit realm, known as The Fold. She is with her wise and mystical mentor, Reika, who takes her on a trek through the desert, discussing the war between the ancient sect known as the Leap Year Society and its splinter cell, the Ascendants.
The Ascendants seek the Unknown 9’s knowledge and power, hoping to alter the course of destiny with this knowledge. The LYS, as they abbreviate themselves, know that the Ascendants will only herald death and destruction for humanity.
As a Questor, Reika teaches you to interact with the environment and fight using Am — the spirit energy that connect all things — trading sassy remarks along the way. Eventually, Reika finds the leader of the Ascendants, Vincent. She gives you an artifact that will make you more powerful than you can possibly imagine, before being struck down by the big bad.
To put it another way: Indian Nathan Drake learns to use the Force before Obi Wan gets killed by Darth Vadar in the desert. The cycle of imagination begins anew…
Granted there are very few modern creations that are truly original, but rarely do you see such obvious tropes being so brazenly stacked upon one another. The question that really matters is whether this delicate balancing act holds everything in perfect harmony, like a balanced rock in a zen garden, or if it’s just a pile of loosely connected ideas that will ultimately collapse under its own weight.
If you had high hopes for the delicate
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