A muddled adventure awaits…..
I love a good single player game. That is what got me into gaming. Ranging from Sonic and Crash Bandicoot, to the brilliant The Last of Us and Uncharted series, single player gaming has always been at the forefront of my attention whenever I want to sit down and have a few hours onto something. With these live service games, massive multiplayer and others, it feels like single player stories are dwindling down a little. Bandai Namco have tried to entice me with their newest option, Unknown 9: Awakening, and it’s fair to say that I come away from the game scratching my head somewhat.
Why I hear you ask? Well, the story in any game is the the main priority. It’s why Final Fantasy X is the best of all time (It is!) and why games like God of War win so many awards. Unknown 9: Awakening really is the story of the unknown. It’s very complex and hard to follow throughout. Within the first hour I was wondering who someone was or what faction they belonged to. This is a game where you need to keep track of every single word said and keep reading the Journal. You step into the shoes of a young Queastor named Haroona, who is on the hunt for revenge after her Mentor is seemingly killed in action whilst trying to bring peace to an ongoing war. You’re equipped with magical powers from another world – The Fold. The story is around 12 – 15 hours long, so whilst not the longest, I definitely going back in my tracks journal wise to keep up with what is going on. Did I enjoy the story? I’m still not sure on that one.
One thing that I am sure of is the game does look gorgeous in some locations. It shows off the 4K visuals so nice, and I can imagine that this game would be heightened more once more with a PS5 Pro patch in the future, that’s if the developers want to go that way, but it would be a shame not too, as that is one of the biggest draws that Unknown 9: Awakening has. It’s a little vague when it comes to the voice acting, as I felt rather underwhelmed. Certainly not the worst I’ve encountered but the standard that games set these days, the bar could and should have been raised a little more here
With all the abilities at Haroona’s disposal thanks her magical powers, I feel that the game felt a little held back a little. I kind of felt like I was playing earlier iterations of Assassin’s Creed games when I was playing. Whilst that there are attacks that are cool, such as being able ‘Step’ into your enemies for a brief amount of time to control them, I can’t help but feel a more stealthy way was the way the developers wanted you to go in this one. You can improve and unlock new skills along the journey, but I did feel overall I was ‘lacking’ with what I could do. Whether that was a design choice, I’m not so sure.
Unknown 9: Awaking feels like your looking at a next-gen title, but there are aspects where I felt that this may have been at home on the PlayStation 4. There are some wonderful locations you visit, such as towns and forests through the night, yet the game feels rather too ‘linear’ in its approach. I would have really liked the ability to explore more of the location I was in, and get a more feel of the place before I was thrust into yet another battle with a number of enemies
Overall, Unknown 9: Awakening is not a bad game. Far from it. People will enjoy this, but I feel like it lacks that certain punch to make it a truly great game. One that definitely would be worth a look at when it inevitably comes to PS Plus in a few months time, but this game tries, but fails to deliver what I think it was hoping for
Thank you to Bandai Namco for the PlayStation 5 Review Code
