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AlthoughUnknown 9: Awakening’s protagonist, Haroona, is plenty capable at the start of her journey for revenge, players will have the option to upgrade her abilities over time and even unlock new powers altogether.
Once you’ve made your way through the game’s first chapter, you’ll unlock the ability to upgrade Haroona,which is done by finding collectibles known as Anomalies and spending them on three distinct skill trees. Each skill tree has a lot of upgrades, but these are the ones to aim for first.
Umbric Ability Upgrades
By far the most important upgrade tree in Unknown 9: Awakening is the Umbric Abilities, whichfocus on the many unique powers that Haroona has, such as Stepping, Pushing, and Crushing. There are a lot of good upgrades in this tree, but a few stand out among the rest as being particularly useful.
Stepping Dilation
An obvious one here but an upgrade that’s worth getting as soon as you can.Stepping Dilation increases the amount of time you can spend in another character’s body, which gives you more time to plan your attacks or walk them over to you for an easy stealth kill. It’s an early unlock too, so it won’t cost too many Anomalies.
Perfect Pull Strike
This upgrade is essential for turning the Pull ability into something that’s actually worth using. By getting this early unlock,you’ll be able to perform an extra-powerful attack if you use a heavy strikeas an enemy reaches you. It’s not the most powerful, but it makes Pull worthwhile so it’s a win.
Shade Overload
This late-game upgrade is one that turns an already powerful ability into an even more helpful one - Stepping. By unlocking this,the final enemy in a Stepping chain will receive damage, with that damage increasing depending on how many enemies you step into. It comes a bit late in the game to be too helpful, but it’s still worth getting even as a more expensive upgrade.
Magnified Umbric Attacks
A few chapters into Unknown 9: Awakening, you’ll unlock the Umbric Attacks, which build up a bar that can lead to a powerful Burst Attack. Think Batman Arkham’s takedowns and you’re in the right ballpark. These are super helpful as it is,but this upgrade makes the attacks have more Faze damage and builds the bar up quickly. It’s not an expensive upgrade, either, making it essential.
Combat Upgrades
When you’re not using your powers in Unknown 9,there’s a good chance that you’ll be fighting enemies with melee combat. That’s what the second upgrade tree is all about, as its unlocks will push Haroona’s hand-to-hand fighting to another level. Here’s the best ones to spend your Anomalies on first.
Parry
I almost can’t believe this is an upgrade you have to purchase but it’s one that makes use of the Umbric Shield power you get in chapter two. While it’s mainly used for blocking bullets,unlocking the parry and using it at the right time will let you deflect melee attacks altogetherand open enemies up to attack.
The Riposte upgrade is also worth unlocking, but I wouldn’t say it’s as essential as the Pary.
Double Dodge
One of the most essential skills to learn in all of Unknown 9: Awakening is the Double Dodge,which lets you dodge twice in quick succession. The first dodge is a little weak and not all that helpful, so turning it into two and making it cover a longer distance is absolutely worth getting as soon as you can.
Bracer Overdrive
You’ll be spending a lot of time fighting enemies in hand-to-hand combat in Unknown 9, and this upgrade makes it so thatyour attack damage and movement speed are boosted if you manage to avoid being hit. It’s not the biggest boost, especially with how easy it is to be hit, but it is a helpful one.
Quaestor’s Grace
The final upgrade that’s worth getting as soon as you may in Unknown 9: Awakening is Quaestor’s Grace,which stops you from being killed by a fatal blow and makes you invulnerable for a short amount of timeafter nearly being killed. Unknown 9 isn’t a tough game for most of the adventure, but it’s always handy to cheat death.
Stealth Upgrades
The final part of Unknown 9’s core gameplay loop is its stealth combat, whichlets Haroona sneak around and quietly take down enemies by using her various abilities. It’s a very important part of most enemy encounters, and a few of the upgrades make it a lot easier to manage.
Elite Takedown
While most of the enemies Haroona comes up against can be instantly killed with a stealth takedown, there are a select few called Elites that you initially won’t be able to stealthily deal with.This essential upgrade lets you take Elites down like any other enemyand stops them from completely ruining your stealh runs.
Blind Spot
Although this upgrade isn’t particularly unique or exciting, it is one that makes stealth a lot more viable as a way of dealing with enemies. Once you purchase this upgrade,it’ll take longer for enemies to spot you and raise the alarm, which pairs well with the Shroud for keeping you in stealth mode for as long as possible.
Swiftness
Another fairly generic upgrade but one that makes a big difference to the moment-to-moment gameplay,Swiftness increases your movement speed while crouched and also reduces the noise that sprinting makes, which is, say it with me, an essential upgrade and well worth getting as soon as possible.
Improved Shroud
The final upgrade on the Stealth tree is one that’ll take you a lot of time and Anomalies but is still worth getting. As the name implies,Improved Shroud increases the amount of time you’re able to stay in the Shroudby reducing how much Am it costs. It takes some time, but it’s worth aiming for since the rest of the Stealth upgrades are helpful anyway.
