Unknown 9: Awakening Review - A Hasty Patchwork Of Ideas
The release of promises to launch a transmedia event in a new sci-fi/fantasy world. While it’s nice to find a risky new IP among the glut of remakes, Reflector Entertainment and publisher Bandai Namco’s third-person action-adventure game is a hasty patchwork of ideas that never adhere, further troubled by stuttery performance and imprecise action. Aspects of the project do prove effective – the voice acting is generally strong throughout, and the possession mechanics are interesting in theory – but 's best ideas never clear the landing.
Montreal studio Reflector – now a direct subsidiary of Bandai Namco – proves ambitious to a fault with this project, launching an interconnected narrative meant as a lead-in into scripted podcasts, comics, and other media. It's all in an effort to establish the wider, which centers on a group of immortals who secretly influence human progress and Earth’s destiny, with some folks catching on to their mysterious machinations.
One such individual is Haroona (voiced by Anya Chalotra, who played Yennefer in Netflix's adaptation), a warrior disciple and truth-seeker known as a “Quaester” trained to invoke Umbric abilities linked to the parallel ghostly realm of The Fold. An intro level sees her exploring and battling thugs alongside elder mentor Reika, channeling The Fold into melee combat, even wielding it to momentarily control their bodies.
Umbric powers are the primary hook in and empower Haroona with a temporary invisible cloak, a wall-hack-like «peering» ability, and other basic tricks. Haroona can eventually control three hypnotized enemies sequentially, setting up cascades of damage as they attack each other or trigger nearby environmental hazards.
Actress Anya Chalotra discusses her first foray into video game acting with Unknown 9: Awakening and playing Yennefer in Netflix's The Witcher.
After Reika disappears during a Quaester mission, Haroona sets off on a globetrotting quest to liberate her, eventually teaming up with a
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