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Unknown 9: Awakening
Unknown 9: Awakening is a 2024 action-adventure video game developed by Reflector Entertainment and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S. Set in India in the early 20th century, the game focuses on a woman with magical powers fighting against a mysterious organization that killed her mentor. British actress Anya Chalotra portrays the main character through both body-scanning and motion capture. The game was designed to be part of a multimedia franchise with the Unknown 9 series being referred to as a transmedia series.[1] It received mixed reviews upon release, and due to low sales, the planned sequels were cancelled. StoryThe character Haroona grew up in Kolkata.[2][3] The game is set in Northern India in 1912. The protagonist Haroona who is known as a Quaestor, who has the ability to enter the alternate dimension known as the Fold. An organization known as the Ascendants wish to use the Fold to change the course of history for their benefit.[4] Her mentor is killed by a secret society that she then must set out to face.[5] GameplayUnknown 9: Awakening is a third-person action-adventure video game.[3] The player is allowed to decide to take a combat or to avoid enemies using stealth.[6] A key feature of the game is the ability to body-swap by tapping into the main characters supernatural powers which allows for alternative means of traversing a level.[7] She has a variety of psychic powers as well, referred to as Umbric Ability, which include invisibility, or possession. Through clairvoyance, she can see enemies through obstacles and see where they are on the map.[4] DevelopmentReflector Entertainment was founded by Alexandre Amancio and Canadian businessman and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2017.[8] The company would be a division of Lune Rouge, which was owned by Laliberté and owns a majority share of the company, with Amancio owning a minority share.[9] Amancio was a video game developer who had previously worked as creative director for Assassin's Creed Unity.[10] Preliminary plans for the Unknown 9 series including the earliest announcement of a video game were first revealed in October 2018 at the New York Comic Con.[11] It was later submitted as a nomination for the Best Use of Storytelling in Social Media award at the 11th Shorty Awards in 2019, but was not chosen as a finalist.[12][13] Additionally, Reflector Entertainment opened their studio based in Maison Alcan in 2020, a building that Laliberté purchased for 50 million dollars.[14] In a 2020 profile for the Montreal Gazette, Amancio said: “Reflector is Guy essentially betting on a local creative guy from Montreal and saying, ‘You know what? I’d like to support the next generation of creative companies’, because he wished someone would’ve helped him when he was trying to (found) the Cirque.”[14] The series was described at that time as utilizing a transmedia form of storytelling which uses a multimedia approach to tell its overall story, spanning video games, a scripted podcast, comic books, and other forms of entertainment.[3][15] In 2020, the company had 100 employees.[14] The first planned console game, Unknown 9: Awakening, was formally announced at the 2020 Gamescom trade fair.[16] Developers say they were inspired by other media, such as Indiana Jones, The X-Files, and The Matrix.[3] The following month, Bandai Namco announced it had purchased Reflector Entertainment.[17] Bandai-Namco's plan at the time was to have half of their content produced outside of Japan.[18] The video game consultation firm Sweet Baby also worked on the game.[19] The game was delayed in part because of COVID-19 and "talent war in Montreal" according to the developers.[20] British actress Anya Chalotra plays the main character Haroona including doing motion capture for the character.[5] Charlotra says the motion-capture work for the game was similar to previous work after some adjustments. "We had a director who was directing us like any other scene. And we do take after take after take to try and get the best one. So it wasn't as different as I thought it might be."[21] Reflector and Bandai had planned for sequels, with an additional five games planned out with the combined storyline over the franchise taking a century.[20] ReceptionReception
The game received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[22] IGN said "a few good ideas and can’t save this bland and janky adventure".[23] Eurogamer Portugal reviewed the game, and noted that the game seemed to be ignored on release while lamenting that the setting had potential.[19] IGN Deutschland said the game was middling adventure, neither good nor bad.[25] Several reviewers made reference to the low budget nature of the game. Eurogamer Poland said the game's low budget was obvious from the lack of polish in the final game and that it was too much for the developers to handle.[26] IGN Benelux compared it to a bargain bin game from back in the day.[27] Some reviews were more positive. IGN Italia praised the game's story driven narrative and adventure elements, saying that the problems stemmed from technical issues.[28] GamesRadar+ praised the story but said that gameplay was lacking.[24] Hobby Consolas gave the game a more positive review.[29] Edge gave it a poor review, saying "You could also call it derivative and crudely executed, and no transmedia offering can compensate for that."[30] Release and legacyUnknown 9: Awakening was released on October 18, 2024 for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S.[31] On Steam, the game reached a peak player count of 285 players by a month of the game's release.[32] Additionally, fewer than 100 people had left a review for the game on the platform.[10] A month after the release of the game, 18% of the workforce at Reflector Entertainment was laid off, though sales and reception of the game were denied to be a reason.[32] In January 2025, Bandai-Namco Europe CCO Herve Hoerdt released a statement on the reception of the game saying that there will be no sequels for the game.[33] The statement said in part "This decision correlates directly with the failure of the studio's ambitious and courageous first project, a new IP with a rich transmedia universe," and "The performance of the release didn't come near the company expectations, after numerous timeline adjustments and investments, both financially and other, and didn't warrant any further exploration in this universe."[34] Follow-up series and additional staff that worked on the game were laid off.[35] See alsoReferences
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