Unknown 9: Awakening introduces a new hero to a growing sci-fi universe

There was once an ancient human civilization with the ability to tap into incredible, otherworldly powers. These powers stem from another dimension known only as the Fold. Knowledge of this power is lost to all with the exception of nine people. Those nine must keep that knowledge to themselves, safe from those who could potentially use that knowledge to bring about humanity's end. This is the premise of the Unknown 9 universe, a growing sci-fi property that's currently in the hands of Bandai Namco and developer Reflector Studios. Over the past several years, the story of Unknown 9 has been told across novels, comics, and podcasts. Soon, it will be told in video games through the upcoming Unknown 9: Awakening.

First revealed all the way back at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2020, Unknown 9: Awakening is a third-person action game that follows the story of Haroona. Played by Anya Chalotra (Yennefer in Netflix's The Witcher), Haroona is able to tap into the power of the Fold, but hasn't quite mastered those skills. She's out for revenge for the death of her mentor many years ago, but over the course of Awakening's story, she'll learn that the stakes of her journey are much higher than a mere quest for vengeance. Her ability to tap into the Fold is growing, allowing her to use a variety of Umbric abilities, and she may hold the key to humanity's future.

With her skills continuing to develop, Haroona has become the target of a dangerous faction known as the Ascendants. While the Leap Year Society is a secret organization dedicated to learning the secrets of humanity in order to advance it, the Ascendants are a much more sinister offshoot with more dire machinations. Their intent is to use the power of the Fold to alter the course of humanity's history and they plan to claim it by any means.

Players will use Haroona's connection to the Fold to defend themselves against organized numbers of the Ascendants. Umbric abilities take on many forms, giving more stealth and strategy components to Unknown 9: Awakening's action formula. The primary ability that players will learn is Stepping. Stepping allows for Haroona to essentially put her essence into the body of any enemy for a short period, allowing her to do whatever she wants with them. There's always the basic route of simply turning an enemy's gun on their comrades, but Unknown 9 is encouraging a little more creativity than that. Combat environments are filled with combustible objects, so Haroona can direct a foe towards an explosive barrel and take out all enemies caught in its blast. Over time, usually by finding collectible objects called Anomalies, Haroona's Stepping ability will get stronger and allow players to control up to four enemies sequentially. This can lead to some fun situations with enemy attacks strung together to wreak the maximum amount of havoc.

Of course, enemies will eventually catch on to Haroona's Stepping skills. Anti-Stepping devices will sometimes be placed in combat areas, so players will have to sneak around and use some of her other abilities. The Fold also gives Haroona the power to telekinetically push, pull, or crush objects. She can also peek beyond certain objects to scope out any danger that lies ahead. If she needs to sneak around, she can cloak herself for a short period and give herself the time needed to take down a foe from behind. If she can get rid of the Anti-Stepping devices, she can go right back to stringing together enemy attacks, maybe even finding foes with skills unique only to them and use those to her advantage. Studio reps showed off a powerful Bruiser enemy type, one that doesn't go down so easy. While it's possible to Step into other foes to take him out, it's also possible to Step into the Bruiser, too, and go on a hulking rampage.

There was a lot of promise in the short Unknown 9: Awakening gameplay sequences demonstrated to me by Reflector Head of Production Jean-François Deschamps. Beyond the potential for player creativity, Reflector wants to nail some of the smaller things that make for an engaging single-player experience. One thing to note, for example, is that the HUD is reduced to the bottom-left corner, purposely meant to be as non-intrusive as possible.

Bandai Namco and Reflector have high hopes on Unknown 9: Awakening continuing to further establish this sci-fi property. Many of those hopes could be answered by Chalotra's portrayal of Haroona, but we'll have to wait and see how the rest of the story unfolds. Unknown 9: Awakening is coming to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox later this summer.

This preview is based on a live hands-off demonstration played by the game's developers during a private session. It may not be representative of the final product.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?