Unknown 9: Awakening is just one part of a wider transmedia project, consisting of novels, comic books, and more. Each of these serves as a viable entry point into the franchise, but what Unknown 9: Awakening offers over others is a genuine peek into the studio's vision for the world. It serves as the flagship, in many ways, of the world of Unknown 9, while also obviously being the only platform to offer such in-depth interactions with the world.
At Summer Game Fest, The Best War Games was treated to a hands-off gameplay preview of Unknown 9: Awakening by creative director Christophe Rossignol and art director Christopher Cimbaro, learning a little bit about the lore and watching a combat encounter play out. There are a lot of spinning wheels when it comes to Unknown 9: Awakening's lore, which should be a treat for any who is a fan of deep storytelling. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to sacrifice gameplay to tell a good story, putting the two into a nice balance.
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Unknown 9: Awakening Lore
Unsurprisingly, the most important lore is tied to the Unknown 9. These are believed to be shadowy immortals and guardians of knowledge. They supposedly guide humanity but keep certain knowledge hidden that humanity is not ready for. There have been traces of their involvement throughout history, or at least so it is believed. Either way, Quaestors are seekers of the Unknown 9 who wish to understand who they are, why they watch over humanity, and what their role in day-to-day life is. The opposite end of the spectrum exists too. The enemy faction of Unknown 9: Awakening also seeks these figures, but to end their supposed manipulation of human history, the denial of knowledge, and to allow humanity to guide itself. At the very least, it's clearly not good vs. Evil in terms of concept - humanity guiding itself is noble enough - but the characters also give off completely different vibes.
Many believe that the Unknown 9 and this forbidden knowledge lie in another world, The Fold. What it is exactly is hard to explain, but it is an alternate realm outside reality said to be filled with infinite possibilities. A lot has been sacrificed for a little knowledge about this location - for example, Quaestors know The Fold is not a physical location. To enter it requires someone to sever their own consciousness from their body; anyone who can remotely channel a little of The Fold into reality can utilize Umbric abilities. It requires years and years of training to remotely do so, but perhaps one in a million people can naturally enter The Fold for short stints. No one knows why, but obviously, Unknown 9: Awakening protagonist Haroona is one of these people. Because of this, she is brought into Quaestors as a secret war over The Fold is waged.
Unknown 9: Awakening Gameplay
After an introduction to the lore, we got to see a brief combat demo. It began with a nice look at the surroundings and the art style of Unknown 9: Awakening is interesting. It's a sort of fantasy photorealism with a stylistic depiction because this is supposed to be the real world, if one filled with the supernatural. The developers met up with a friend, showed us the nearby surroundings, and then approached an enemy camp. They chose to crouch and approach it stealthily, pushing an enemy off a nearby ledge with an Umbric ability. There was a generator in the camp that was capable of blocking Umbric abilities, so the devs used an ability that let them see important markers (the generator) as well as enemies in the area. They then threw something to draw enemy attention, jumped over, and turned off the generator, unleashing them for the fight.
The stealth was pretty simple. It's what someone would expect from a third-person action RPG where it's an option but not necessarily the main playstyle. Still, it seems viable - but it's definitely not like Assassin's Creed levels of stealth. Indeed, the approach to gameplay here seems to be to provide players with options. This stealth was an option, whereas players still could have avoided the generator's areas and jumped straight into combat. After all, once that generator was taken out, it was straight into Unknown 9: Awakening's combat, and the ability known as Stepping was the highlight of the demonstration.
Unknown 9: Stepping Makes Adds Another Layer to Combat
There are options for Umbric- and melee-based combat, where certain Umbric abilities require a resource/charge to use. Stepping is an Umbric ability where Haroona separates herself from her physical body, via The Fold, and possesses an enemy. When Haroona has taken over an enemy, time slows down, and she can choose what to do with them, including using their abilities to attack others. What the dev did was Step into an enemy, have them attack the generator with an ability, Step into another, repeat, and then Step into a third enemy and attack the generator again. The result was an explosion that took out three enemies at once, and it was a lot of fun to watch. However, Stepping and Umbric Abilities are balanced by enemies who can resist and push back against them.
For example, once the devs had defeated the basic enemies, a mini-boss came out that had a huge helmet. This prevents them from being possessed by Stepping, but it doesn't stop the player from trying. Watching Haroon separate her consciousness and try to step into the mini-boss, just for her "spirit" to be repulsed back, was an interesting element too. Instead, they relied on other abilities and took advantage of certain weaknesses to take the mini-boss out, bringing the demo to an end.
It remains to be seen what all kinds of Umbric Abilities Haroona can use, but Stepping was a delight to behold. It allows players to find creative solutions to encounters, combat or otherwise, and that creativity (alongside the gameplay options on offer) ought to go a long way for Unknown 9: Awakening.
Unknown 9: Awakening is scheduled to release in 2024 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.