In in the present day’s gaming market, launching a brand new IP should be tough. Recreation growth prices have ballooned and audiences have develop into accustomed to a slurry of sequels, remakes and remasters. Plus, there are such a lot of video games to play, followers are likely to steer to what they know finest.
That hasn’t stopped Reflector Leisure and Bandai Namco from going all in on Unknown 9 Awakening, a brand new, multi-medium franchise set on a sci-fi model of earth. I obtained to see a presentation with the builders and a few hands-off gameplay, and whereas it did not do a lot for me, I respect their aspirations.
Grand Ambitions
In the course of the roughly 30-minute presentation I had for Unknown 9 Awakening, the event workforce shared their grand plans for the franchise.
With civilization vanishing from Earth, 9 immortal guardians have been left with the information to slowly redevelop and assist the world. Sadly, as Voltaire as soon as stated, “With nice energy comes nice accountability” and these 9 guardians are hunted for his or her information. Two forces, The Leap 12 months Society and The Ascendants, need this data for various functions — The Leap 12 months Society really feel the information ought to be shared sooner and The Ascendants need the ability for their very own, egocentric functions. It is right down to protagonist Haroona to cease these teams, utilizing powers from a parallel dimension known as the Fold.
It is peak sci-fi storytelling and feeds into Reflector Leisure’s wider imaginative and prescient. The workforce has launched, or is within the technique of releasing, the Unknown 9 Awakening sport, Unknown 9 Torment, a comic book e-book, Unknown 9 Out of Sight, a scripted podcast, and Unknown 9 Genesis, a novel trilogy, with the tease of extra “coming quickly” on the web site.
You need to commend the workforce for backing themselves to create a multi-medium universe. Nonetheless, the skeptic in me worries that it will want an enormous advertising and marketing push. Creating not less than 4 tales, throughout 4 totally different mediums, is so much and depends on issues catching fireplace. I could also be oblivious to the franchise, nevertheless, this was the primary I might heard about it, and I fear that Unknown 9 Awakening won’t get the push it wants. That being stated, with the load of Bandai Namco behind it, it is probably not as large of a priority as I feel.
Unknown 9 Awakening The Recreation
Whereas I love Reflector Leisure’s large plan, even when I’ve some issues about it, my greater fear is about how the sport shall be obtained. Constructed on a core gameplay loop of fight, lively stealth and stepping (the power to manage different individuals), Haroona should journey throughout numerous stunning real-world places to thwart The Ascendants.
Within the transient gameplay demo I obtained to see, there was some delicate exploration earlier than Haroona was confronted with a bunch of enemies guarding a generator she wanted to achieve. The fight state of affairs was introduced virtually as a puzzle, with enemies patrolling totally different areas. Whereas Haroona might head in all weapons blazing, it would not have been smart, and as a substitute, she showcased her umbral powers, specifically stepping.
Stepping as a mechanic is super-interesting, the power to take management of enemies to show the tide in fight is a sport changer, the remainder of what I noticed was only a bit… vanilla. Provided that this explicit part was late within the sport, there gave the impression to be very restricted problem, and it struck me as one thing that you simply’d encounter a lot earlier on. It might simply be as a result of the devs had performed that part numerous instances and made it look simple, however even nonetheless, stepping apart, there was nothing that I hadn’t seen dozens of instances earlier than.
I feel Haroona as a personality has the potential to be extremely attention-grabbing. She’s from a background hardly ever seen in video video games, and her function within the wider story is intriguing, however the whole lot I noticed recommended the gameplay will not essentially do her justice. Seeing the fervour and perception from the builders genuinely makes me hope the sport, and sequence as a complete, carry out, however I am unable to assist however fear that Unknown 9 Awakening will face an analogous destiny to the likes of Immortals of Aveum or Forspoken.
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