Highlights
- Growing new IP in gaming is hard with excessive prices and fan loyalty to acquainted franchises.
- Unknown 9 Awakening’s multi-medium universe is formidable, however dangers spreading itself skinny too quickly.
- Recreation mechanics like stepping and umbral powers present promise, however gameplay might lack originality and problem.
In at the moment’s gaming market, launching a brand new IP have to be troublesome. Recreation improvement 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 inclined to steer to what they know finest.
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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
Throughout the roughly 30-minute presentation I had for Unknown 9 Awakening, the event group 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 duty” and these 9 guardians are hunted for his or her information. Two forces, The Leap Yr Society and The Ascendants, need this data for various functions — The Leap Yr Society really feel the information ought to be shared sooner and The Ascendants need the facility 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.
You must commend the group for backing themselves to create a multi-medium universe.
It is peak sci-fi storytelling and feeds into Reflector Leisure’s wider imaginative and prescient. The group has launched, or is within the means 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 must commend the group for backing themselves to create a multi-medium universe. Nevertheless, the skeptic in me worries that it will want an enormous advertising push. Creating no less than 4 tales, throughout 4 totally different mediums, is quite a bit 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 massive of a priority as I believe.
Unknown 9 Awakening The Recreation
Whereas I love Reflector Leisure’s massive plan, even when I’ve some considerations about it, my greater fear is about how the sport shall be acquired. Constructed on a core gameplay loop of fight, energetic stealth and stepping (the power to regulate different individuals), Haroona must journey throughout varied stunning real-world areas 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 gaggle of enemies guarding a generator she wanted to succeed in. The fight situation was introduced nearly 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, particularly stepping.
Stepping apart, there was nothing that I hadn’t seen dozens of instances earlier than.
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 believe Haroona as a personality has the potential to be extremely fascinating. She’s from a background hardly ever seen in video video games, and her position within the wider story is intriguing, however all the pieces I noticed urged the gameplay will not essentially do her justice. Seeing the eagerness and perception from the builders genuinely makes me hope the sport, and sequence as an entire, 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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