Adventure Gamers - Forums

I thought it was good. I would agree with Kurufinwe’s 3.5 out of 5 score. The story was solid with a few interesting though stereotypical characters, but ultimately the plot didn’t come to much in the end or give me anything to think about. I didn’t really see the point of having so many main characters who were developed so little during the game - I was looking forward to seeing some resolution or progression in the cop’s and alcoholic’s stories but it never happened.  Puzzles on the whole were too easy but at least they were logical and not frustrating. Production values were the strongest point of the game.

Not as good as Technobabylon or Blackwell but better than Resonance and Gemini Rue.

Luhr28 - 17 August 2018 10:14 AM

Not as good as Technobabylon or Blackwell but better than Resonance and Gemini Rue.

You just listed 3.5 of my favourite adventures of all time so that’s high praise to me.

I’m half-way through re-playing the game as a male police officer after completing the game as a female actor.
I found the game compelling on 1st playing it but 2nd time around apart from a few variations for some of the puzzles & one different location it’s mostly repetitive & the interest in trying different combinations of people has waned a little.
But, the artwork is beautiful & the voice-acting is top-notch. 
 

Doom - 21 August 2018 07:32 AM

chrissie - 17 August 2018 06:15 PM

I’m half-way through re-playing the game as a male police officer after completing the game as a female actor.
I found the game compelling on 1st playing it but 2nd time around apart from a few variations for some of the puzzles & one different location it’s mostly repetitive & the interest in trying different combinations of people has waned a little.

Tried doing that too. There is indeed little variety in puzzle solutions and little replay value. The game is not an RPG, no matter how it was advertised, it’s a straight-up linear adventure, so replaying it means solving same old puzzles. I wish they just made them more complex instead of the whole “multiple solutions” bait. Or at least added some superpowers and subplots to the original cast.

See, I think this is where the whole “multiple paths” thing is a fad. If they had eliminated the choice of which characters to take on a mission, they could have developed the stories of each of the cast. Mandana, Logan and Vicki’s stories could have been explored in more depth because limited resources wouldn’t have been spread over all content we don’t see in a single playthrough.

People (outside the adventure scene) want “replay value” but what they are getting is less depth. You can’t have both, at least not without a budget far bigger than Unavowed’s.

Oscar - 21 August 2018 07:52 AM

Doom - 21 August 2018 07:32 AM

chrissie - 17 August 2018 06:15 PM

I’m half-way through re-playing the game as a male police officer after completing the game as a female actor.
I found the game compelling on 1st playing it but 2nd time around apart from a few variations for some of the puzzles & one different location it’s mostly repetitive & the interest in trying different combinations of people has waned a little.

Tried doing that too. There is indeed little variety in puzzle solutions and little replay value. The game is not an RPG, no matter how it was advertised, it’s a straight-up linear adventure, so replaying it means solving same old puzzles. I wish they just made them more complex instead of the whole “multiple solutions” bait. Or at least added some superpowers and subplots to the original cast.

See, I think this is where the whole “multiple paths” thing is a fad. If they had eliminated the choice of which characters to take on a mission, they could have developed the stories of each of the cast. Mandana, Logan and Vicki’s stories could have been explored in more depth because limited resources wouldn’t have been spread over all content we don’t see in a single playthrough.

People (outside the adventure scene) want “replay value” but what they are getting is less depth. You can’t have both, at least not without a budget far bigger than Unavowed’s.

I couldnt agree more. the replay value for adventure games comes from good puzzle design, characters, and story. I feel with unavowed the goal was more to see if they could make a telltale type game more so than making a completely satisfying adventure game. The results ring hollow and the characters suffer from it. I played the game once and a half nd I still think the only character that gets any real meaningful development was Eli.

and as the other poster said this game really has no rpg elements at all, it is to me misleadingly labeled on steam and other sites.

I don’t get how the characters suffered when this is might be the most fleshed out any cast has ever been in a Wadjet Eye game. Despite the fact that you can choose your cast for most levels there are still various points in the game where certain characters need to be there or it’s suggested. Like bringing Mandanna along for the latter half of the Wallstreet mission. You still get the typical character development that way.

When you combine that with each characters intro sequence, the banter they exchange, plus the fact that you still get character moments on the optional missions (Like when Vicki meets Durkin and the security guard in the Chinatown mission) then you literally get some of the most in depth character writing for a Wadjet Eye game.

The only character writing that’s thinner than usual is the main character because (assumedly) in taking inspiration from RPG’s the main character is a cipher for the player. She mostly just chimes in with a reaction rather than fully conversing and is defined more by what’s happens to her than what she does. The approach still allows for a clever twist but she is less memorable than most Wadjet Eye protagonists, I’ll fully admit.

But I don’t mind that approach and in the face of such a great ensemble cast, I don’t think Unavowed suffers for it.

PlanetX - 21 August 2018 06:49 PM

I don’t get how the characters suffered when this is might be the most fleshed out any cast has ever been in a Wadjet Eye game. Despite the fact that you can choose your cast for most levels there are still various points in the game where certain characters need to be there or it’s suggested. Like bringing Mandanna along for the latter half of the Wallstreet mission. You still get the typical character development that way.

When you combine that with each characters intro sequence, the banter they exchange, plus the fact that you still get character moments on the optional missions (Like when Vicki meets Durkin and the security guard in the Chinatown mission) then you literally get some of the most in depth character writing for a Wadjet Eye game.

The only character writing that’s thinner than usual is the main character because (assumedly) in taking inspiration from RPG’s the main character is a cipher for the player. She mostly just chimes in with a reaction rather than fully conversing and is defined more by what’s happens to her than what she does. The approach still allows for a clever twist but she is less memorable than most Wadjet Eye protagonists, I’ll fully admit.

But I don’t mind that approach and in the face of such a great ensemble cast, I don’t think Unavowed suffers for it.

see I used Eli and logan on the wall street mission bc I enjoyed the ghost sub stories never saw mandanna there

Yeah, but the game REALLY heavily hints that you should bring her along. Half way through that mission she shows up and there’s literally a prompt asking if you want to sub her in.

I initially brought Vicki because I figured she’d have some wallstreet hot takes (she did) but I swapped her out once the game made it clear there’d be tailored content for Eli & Mandanna.

In any case that’d add to the replay value for me. I still wanna go back and check out some of those ghost stories I missed. Also I wanna see how Vicki reacts to me if I choose the cop origin / bring her to the Bronx level and see her painting.

PlanetX - 21 August 2018 07:50 PM

In any case that’d add to the replay value for me. I still wanna go back and check out some of those ghost stories I missed. Also I wanna see how Vicki reacts to me if I choose the cop origin / bring her to the Bronx level and see her painting.

Well me too, but am I going to play 6 hours all over again to see it? Not a chance.

I’m not jumping out the window to replay it this second but in a month or something I’ll do another run for sure. Then probably one more time for the commentary.

Right now I’m perfectly content with the 12 hours of game time I got out of it and it’s safely in my number 1 spot for adventure game of the year. All that time really just flew by.

We’ll see what happens with TWD Final Season, Life Is Strange 2, Lamplight City & Strangeland, though. I think Gibbous is supposed to be this year as well? So there’s still a lot of strong competition yet to come.

There are a lot of fans here for the Unavowed game, so I thought I’d post this link. I follow a website called Appunwrapper for its coverage of iOS adventure and puzzle games. Recently, they were blown away by this PC game and had to cover it as well.
https://www.appunwrapper.com/2018/08/24/unavowed-interview/

Oh my. This game has been a special treat so far. I’m particularly fond of adventures that incorporate the scale of rpg settings and lore. And this is one of those games. Building a party to help storytelling? Yes please. I can see that so far the puzzles are on the lite side.. but its also an important reminder on the difference in games between being on the lite side and practically not existing. The puzzles very much exist and help weave a very enjoyable story.