Unavowed Review (PC)

excellent
key review info
  • Game: Unavowed
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Unavowed poster

Developer Wadjet Eye is well-known among adventure games fans for its stellar titles that are just a pretext to discuss some of the humanity's biggest problems. The Blackwell series, Primordia, Shardlight, and Technobabylon are some of the studio's best games to date, but come August 8 another title will join Wadjet Eye's solid portfolio: Unavowed.

Unavowed is a point and click adventure game with a twist. When you start the game, you get to choose a male or female protagonist, and three playable origin stories (or professions). Also, four companions will help you throughout the game, but you'll only be able to take two with you at all times. The catch is that all puzzles in the game can be solved with any party combination, so there's no wrong choice when you decide who's going to help you solve your next case.

Although the game tackles a theme that Wadjet Eye is very comfortable with – the supernatural, Unavowed offers players an in-depth look at the underworld. The Unavowed is an ancient society that struggles to protect the humanity against the evil lurking in the dark.

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However, the evil is not your everyday corrupt politician, but powerful creatures that are unseen to the mundane until it's too late. Unavowed is a story about demons, Fae, dragons, golems, elementals and other fantasy creatures (no unicorns, sorry) that you only meet in fantasy books.

As a matter fact, I had a strong feeling that I'm reading one of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files book while playing the game. The Dresden Files novels star private eye and wizard Harry Dresden, as he investigates the supernatural disturbances in modern-day Chicago.

In Unavowed, you've just been freed from the clutches of a demon that possessed for more than a year, and forced you to do some gruesome things. Since you have no recollection of what happened to you while you were possessed, your only chance to undo the wrongs that have been done in your name, is to join the Unavowed.

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After meeting your first companions, a Fire Mage and a Jinn, a plan to found out the motives behind you being possessed by a demon is put in motion. The story in Unavowed unfolds as you solve cases and meet fantastic creatures that are not necessary evil. It's atypical for a point and click adventure game to allow players to make choices that will influence the story, but Unavowed does that very naturally. Of course, these choice will only have a moral impact on the outcome, so you'll be able to finish the game no matter what.

Since each of your companion has different skills, all cases can be solved differently depending on your party's composition. You can talk to ghosts and learn information about your case that you wouldn't have been able to obtain otherwise. Also, you can simply use detective skills to find out clues or just brute force when nothing else works.

Solving these cases and following the trail that the demon that possessed you left behind will get you closer to your objective: revealing the identity of the demon and its motives. Over the span of around 10 hours, you'll fight to save humans and fantastic creatures alike while solving puzzles and taking major decisions.

After the final credits, I realized that it's the journey that matters most and not the destination, so now I'm waiting patiently for another Unavowed game that will tell other stories about fantasy creatures, ancient societies and secret orders.

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If you've played any of Wadjet Eye's games, you're probably used to the pixel art and the low resolution, but Unavowed is an exception since it has twice the resolution of a typical game released by the studio.

Moreover, the jazzy and blues accords perfectly fit the supernatural theme and the New York City landscapes. Also, once again, the voice acting is top-notch, but wouldn't even expect less from Wadjet Eye.


The Good

  • Enthralling story with major twists
  • Innovative gameplay concept
  • Great visuals and voice acting
  • Moral choices
  • Meaningful puzzles
  • Strong fleshed out characters

The Bad

  • The uncertainty of a sequel

Conclusion

Unavowed plays and feels like a typical fantasy novel where the protagonist and his/her companions solve cases that involve the supernatural. I'd like to think that Unavowed will become a series like Blackwell since it's so well-written and totally unusual (in the most positive way) for the point and click adventure genre.

If modern-day Chicago has its own private investigator and the only wizard in the yellow pages, Harry Dresden, I strongly believe that New York City deserves its own secret society to fight against the oncoming darkness.

The thing with Unavowed is that not only it's got a solid story, but there are a few major twists that left me open-mouthed in awe. Unavowed wickedly prepares players for a certain outcome, but then delivers something else totally unexpected.

Having played most of Wadjet Eye's games, I'm convinced that Unavowed is the studio's best product hands down. The branching storyline, the moral choices, the characterization of the protagonists and the overall atmosphere make Unavowed a great candidate for the best adventure game of the year.

story 9
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 9
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 9
Editor's review
excellent
 
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Unavowed screenshots (36 Images)

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