After The Witcher, Anya Chalotra tries her hand at motion capture in Unknown 9 Awakening… to what effect?

First announced during the Gamescom show in 2020, the game Unknown 9 – Awakening Gone off the radar screens, only to reappear last March. Challenging development, also due to the pandemic and the post-Covid period, which led to losses for development studios.

Created by the studio Reflector Entertainment, a structure born in 2017 and acquired by the publisher Bandai Namco in 2020, the game Unknown 9 – Awakening is ambitious. Because it should be the foundation of the transmedia approach.

The experience actually comes complete with a podcast, a comic book, two web series, and a trilogy of books. only that. Each approach can be evaluated independently, but always with the idea of ​​expanding the game and with this logic, they are better to be solid.

The game also marks actress Anna Chalotra’s first foray into the world of video games, trying her hand at motion capture. It is he who gives his qualities to the main character named Haroona.

An experience he seems to have greatly appreciated: “It was amazing not only to meet the expectations of this physical work, but also to capture the emotions of the character. It’s very inspiring. It feels more free to play a video game character.” He trusted Tech & Co at the Mic Show on BFM TV.

Asking him to play this character makes sense at this point. Like him, Harona has Indian origins. A mysterious character with a complicated past, born with the ability to penetrate the opposite, a mysterious dimension parallel to our own.

Ania is in metaversion, or almost

In his quest for powerful secret knowledge, he must learn to master his unique connection to the Reverse (Fold, in the original language), which allows him to channel his power into our world. But such power attracts attention, and he soon becomes the target of the Ascendants, an offshoot of the Leap Year Society, a secret organization that wants to use the setback to change the course of human history.

Divided into 13 itself, culminating in about ten hours of (unhurried) adventure, the story follows unhappily, but still struggles enough to convince and hold attention.

The fault lies in the rambling and clumsy writing, which struggles to flesh out its issues enough and, above all, give its characters enough flesh. The story, which is ultimately quite confusing, becomes clearer, paradoxically, when reading the travel notebook that Haruna takes with her, in which she records all her observations.

The main feature and strength of Unknown 9 – Awakening is its art direction, often with very “unknown” inspiration, without genius (or budget). With a touch of early 20th century steampunk, the game world expands its canvas with truly diverse and visually successful environments.

From the Indian city of Chamir, full of details and truly magnificent, to the lush jungles of Suknasar, huge airship passages or the semi-desert spaces of Anatolia, the artistic direction is inspired. However, there is no question of walking in all directions: the whole adventure takes place on ultra-marked and linear rails. An observation which, however, is not a criticism.

Messy and unnecessary encounters

The game’s biggest problem, in our eyes, remains the game’s structure, which involves too much systematic confrontation and, ultimately, very, very little exploration. Of course it would make more sense to get more doses instead of more riddles/puzzles for example. There are a few, but very, very few, and they’re surprisingly easy and never block.

Not only are the encounters redundant, but the enemies, about ten in number, from snipers to sub-bosses to thick melee, are always the same. We often found ourselves in a confusing battle between a free-for-all camera that worked and ergonomics that weren’t well thought out.

Haruona is helped by an ability unlocked in the skill tree, which won’t be much, since she’s ultimately quite vulnerable and can be knocked to the ground quickly. Special mention also to the very nice power that allows you to take control of an enemy and turn him against his smaller comrades to help clean up the opposing ranks a bit.

Ultimately, the sum of the complaints listed above can make Unknown 9 – Awakening look like a bad game, which it isn’t. But it lacks polish (eg bug blocking, save reset). And with the price positioning at 50 euros (in the standard edition), the competition is especially fierce in trying to establish itself.