In Defense of Unknown 9 - A Deeply Misunderstood Gem

I've just discovered Unknown 9: Awakening, and I felt the need to speak up from someone genuinely enjoying the game.

In summary, this game is awesome, but that's just my personal impression.

In short, I just wanted to say: this game is worth the time. It offers hours of entertainment, plenty of thoughtful content, and a surprising lens through which to view humanity, memory, and the hidden forces that shape our world.

Regarding the gameplay, it is great, simple and effective, neither too basic nor too complex, just right, as far as I am concerned, being nowadays a user of story modes.

Despite the mass smear campaign it seems to be facing, I find it just as engaging and well-made as Rise of the Tomb Raider, or even the Horizon saga which is to this day my favorite game of all time in all genres, and many other games in this narrative action-adventure genre like A Plague Tale, Deliver Us Mars... not to mention Dead Island, Dying Light, State of Decay, Syberia and many more. You obviously have to like the core genre.

It's precisely because of the majority of negative reviews despite having watched a few videos that I hesitated and delayed buying this game, despite suspecting its value. Thus I waited for the super promo. But frankly, this game is worth its price considering the work accomplished. It's worth the same price as an episode of Horizon.

Sure, the graphics aren't jaw-dropping by today's hyperrealistic standards. However, I find it above the general average and they're still beautiful, atmospheric, coherent. The art direction holds up, and in many ways, it supports the philosophical and mysterious tone of the story better than over-saturated realism ever could.

Yes, the facial expressions of the characters may lack the polish of someone like Aloy in Horizon: Forbidden West, but their body movements are realistic, fluid, believable, and not like mannequins as we still find even in the biggest recent games. More importantly, the characters themselves are charismatic and emotionally compelling. They're not just avatars, they grow on you, and they carry weight in the narrative.

And there are some minor companion AI bugs, sure, nothing worse than what we've seen in countless beloved AAA titles. Let's be honest: those small issues don't matter when a game delivers a meaningful experience.

As for optimization and performance, the game runs super well at max with a Ryzen 5800X 32 GiB, RX6600 8 GiB, NVMe Gen4, 60Hz display, Win10.

As for crashes and rendering issues, it's common knowledge and recognized by Nvidia for months and even years, and they're working on it, blaming the games is no longer useful, unless it's due to the game obviously.

What really surprises me is how little attention is being given to the story, which is remarkably well told. The narrative structure, the lore, the pacing, it's clear that the developers put a lot of thought into world-building and thematic depth. And maybe that's precisely why some people are reacting so strongly: because it challenges them intellectually. The hate feels less like a genuine critique and more like a subconscious or conscious rejection of the game's symbolic layers that are against bad cults, thus being against the semiosis against criminal cults. In other words, the game dares to mean something, and some people aren't comfortable with that.

On the other hand, it's a little annoying that in story mode the boss fights, and attacks by a large group without the possibility of escape, are so difficult, because it's no longer the kind of thing that fascinates me like it did as a teenager.

That's it. Just wanted to share that here and thanks the creators.