Although the past few generations of gaming have been strong in a lot of ways and given us plenty of memorable, top-tier releases, it’s also been undeniably exhausting. Live-services, battle passes, steadily rising development times, and oh so much more haveirreversibly changed the landscape of the medium as we know it.
As someone who first fell in love with video games as a strictly solo player,the tidal wave of multiplayer-focused releaseshas made finding linear triple-A titles akin to looking for a needle in a microtransaction-filled haystack. I’ve spent a lot of time lately wishing that we could go back to the PS3 and Xbox 360 days of solo campaigns and, as luck would have it, that’s whereUnknown 9: Awakeningcomes in.
While itispart of a multimedia world comprising comics, novels, and podcasts, for the most part Unknown 9 gave me exactly what I’ve been looking for - a classic, story-focused single-player adventure that doesn’t even glance in the direction of most modern games. While technical issues and repetitiveness hold it back from greatness, its strong story and unique mechanics make it a journey worth taking.
A Story That’s Full Of Soul
Unknown 9: Awakening has you stepping (you’ll get that in a minute) into the shoes of Haroona, a young Queastor who can draw energy from another world called the Fold and use it for a variety of powers, such as going invisible and taking control of other people’s bodies by stepping (told you) into them. While exploring ruins with her mentor, Reika, a nefarious society known as the Ascendants forces Haroona to go it alone and sends her down a path for revenge.
Once you get past the thesaurus’ worth of lore and in-universe terms - Queastors are basically adventurers, if you were wondering - Unknown 9’s story is a heartfelt tale of learning to be your own person, dealing with grief, and finding your place in the universe. Although some of its late-game twists are predictable, the wonderfully performed and human-feeling characters elevate a somewhat cliched story into one of the game’s best elements.
Haroona, as portrayed by Anya Chalotra, in particular, stands out as one of my favourite characters of 2024due to her never-say-die witty attitude and unflinching confidence, despite the loss that drives her every move. There are shades of both Lara Croft and Nathan Drake in her and she makes for a wonderful protagonist who is held up by an equally great supporting cast that stops Unknown 9 from getting bogged down when it drifts into exposition.
Haroona’s main companions, Luther and Buchra, also make their mark on the story and had me invested at nearly every turn.
Channelling Uncharted
The comparisons toUncharteddon’t just stop at Haroona being as talkative as Nate during her globe-trotting adventure, though. The core gameplay loop of active stealth, hand-to-hand combat, and light platforming (all mixed in with a healthy serving of collectible finding and helping companions reach higher ledges) rang a very familiarNaughty Dogbell in my head.
Unknown 9’s major ace up its sleeve and the main thing that separates it from other third-person action games is Haroona’s suite of Umbric abilities. While in combat, she can push and pull enemies, deflect bullets with a magic shield, trigger objects in the environment to blow up or crumble, and even send out her spirit for a long-ranged attack that builds up a high-damage takedown move.
Things get really interesting when you mix all of the above with Haroona’s main body-stealing power, which lets you pause time and take over an enemy to use their attacks against themselves and their unsuspecting friends. At first, I mainly used this to walk an enemy over to me and stealthily take them down, but I quickly mastered it and started orchestrating pure chaos.
You initially can only possess one person at a time, but eventually get to jump between three people in one go.
By the end of the game, I was leaping into a brute to cause a massive shockwave before diving into one of his mates and triggering a nearby explosive canister to explode everyone else around them. At its best, Unknown 9: Awakening’s soul-stepping can look like an E3 demo that’s been practised a million times over, and even when the adventure felt like it was dragging, the gleefully wicked ways you can use Haroona’s powers never failed to make me smile.
As much fun as it is to set up a domino effect of murders using helpless villains, the powerless hand-to-hand combat is serviceable but can feel a little clumsy and weightless at times. The same can be said of the stealth, which is very basic when you’re not turning invisible or stepping into enemies to walk them over to you for a cheeky takedown. It’s a shame that you can’t possess people for longer or make them do more involved things like deactivating traps, as that would bring the stealth up to par with the moment-to-moment combat.
The Last-Gen Vibes Aren’t Always Appreciated
Although Unknown 9’s last-gen approach to delivering a linear adventure mostly made me very happy, its frequent technical issues make it feel dated in a less purposeful way. On PS5, my playthrough was plagued with frame-rate drops, characters getting stuck in the environment, and bugged collectibles that all made me a little less nostalgic for the old days.
Unknown 9 also gave me my first “PS5 is too hot” warning notice, which surprised me considering its graphics aren’t exactly pushing the system.
Beyond some stunning environments, Unknown 9 also isn’t much of a looker thanks to its dated character models and blurry textures. I’ve never really cared much about graphics and would prefer a little less shine if it means more unique mechanics and gameplay depth, but it’s clear that Haroona’s adventure could have used a little more time in the oven.
Even when my time leaping into enemies was interrupted by these technical issues, Unknown 9: Awakening’s excellent cast of characters and inventive soul-hopping combat mechanics kept me invested all the way through its gloriously last-gen adventure. With how depressing this generation has been at times, that is absolutely meant as a compliment.
