Montreal-based Canadian studio Reflector Entertainment – and a wholly-owned in-house developer for Bandai Namco – today unveiled gameplay to their first project: a third-person, narrative-focused, action-adventure by the name of Unknown 9: Awakening. While the project has been teasedas far back as 2020(and had originally been slated to release at some point in 2021), today marks the first time that Reflector’s debut work has been shown running in what appears to be as close to an in-game state as one might expect. Unknown centers around the adventures of Haroona, a girl with mysterious powers that grant her access to a realm known simply as the Fold. The Fold serving as a dimension that, when harnessed, allows Haroona to wield numerous offensive and defensive skills such as deflecting bullets, hurling energy, extracting a person’s very soul from their body and more.
Whether or not the Fold serves any other mechanics-led purpose beyond this however, remains unclear. However its presence does serve as the means by which the plot of the game progresses; The Fold becoming the target of what the game’s presser describes as the Ascendants, a splinter faction of a much larger secret organization known as the Leap Year Society, who want to use the Fold to alter the course of human history.
Reflector Entertainment Unveil Debut Game Unknown 9: Awakening
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In so far as the main gameplay loop of the game goes, it’s a question of whether players go about tackling scenarios and locales in a purely stealth-focused, non-lethal run or set about implementing these aforementioned powers during combat. A fairly recognizable base for those who’ve experienced their fair share of first-person or third-person action games over the past decade or so. The question then is whether Reflector Entertainment can bring anything new or original to this established and well-trodden sub-genre.
Awakening will also serve as the first release in what is described as an expansive narrative universe, which includes stand-alone tales told across comic books, podcasts, novels and more. Unknown 9: Awakening is planned to release this summer across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One & PC. you may check out the game’s reveal trailerhere.
