🤠 Unavowed | Nintendo Switch | Review | 9.5/10 | "Taking The Crown" 🤠 @WadjetEyeGames #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

I was asked, “do you want to review a game called Primordia?” -which I did, and it was a great game – and then I had a message that read, “I got excited and grabbed an Unavowed code for you as well.” - so this game was a complete surprise for me, I knew it was one of my brother's favourite adventure games, which meant it had lofty expectations.

Having huge expectations is always a double-edged sword, it’s great that a game is held in such high esteem, but if you don’t enjoy it as others have, there is a huge let-down and that sometimes creates a bigger negative feeling towards the game - anyone who is on Twitter can attest to this.

Luckily, Unavowed is an absolutely amazing game, and now holds the crown of being my favourite graphic adventure game of all time, sorry The Secret of Monkey Island, it has been a good 31-year streak.

Right from the very first few minutes this game grabs you, shakes you about and loudly shouts, “YOU ARE IN FOR A HELL OF A RIDE!”. The opening is amazing and gripped me so quickly, in fact - it may be the quickest any game has ever got me completely on board with the story.

You start the game on a rooftop during a storm in the midst of a stand-off between three people, one is holding a staff and shouting about exorcising a demon whilst shooting lightning at a person who is being restrained by a woman - its intriguing. While that is happening, you are asked to pick your backstory; are you male, female or demon? Your job title; actor, police officer or bar worker?

This was the first time in a point-and-click game where I had experienced being given choices for my character, I think it’s a cool little touch, and though it doesn't have major implications to the story, it does alter some dialogue choices later in the game.

I'm not going to delve much further into the unfolding narrative as it has some wonderful and shocking twists and turns that I think should be experienced for yourself as you play, what I will talk about is how grounded and real the characters feel.

Throughout the game, you spend time with this stunning cast that all have very defined and engrossing backstories. Hearing about their lives and what got them to this point is just so engaging, the plot overall is magnificent, but the characters themselves are so charming and enthralling that it just made the game so much better.

In-between missions were some of my favourite parts of the game, moments where you get some downtime and can talk to your team and find out their histories, thoughts on the last case and the current situation. Now, in some games I've skipped past dialogue as it's not always that interesting - I'm looking at you, Dying Light 2 - but here, I couldn’t wait to get their thoughts and converse about their past lives.

The companions aren't the only engaging people though, the people you meet during the individual cases are also massively compelling. I was constantly amazed at how engrossing every situation and character was, the game takes about eight to ten hours to finish and at no point does the game dip in quality.

The look of the game is also a massive plus. Even though each area is only a few screens in size, they really manage to capture the essence of the place. You visit Chinatown, The Bronx, and Wall Street and all are delightfully realised, in just a few screens the spirit of the places are brought alive and were a joy, visually.

The gameplay is your standard point-and-click affair. the Switch controls are used well and as with Primordia, it felt more natural in handheld mode, where I could take advantage of the touch screen. One of the criticisms I've seen for Unavowed is relating to the simplicity of the puzzles, and I want to give my take on this. 

Now, you can put me firmly in the camp of easiness and simplicity - I play these types of games for reasons such as dialogue and a great story. Whether it’s The Secret of Monkey Island’s charm and humour, The Cat Lady’s brilliant - yet haunting - depiction of pain and loneliness, or Unavowed’s compelling characters and a story full of twists and turns.

To me, this genre of game is a conduit for storytelling. I'm not saying that ‘if you enjoy the difficult puzzles in the point and click genre, that’s wrong, not at all! I understand that we all play and enjoy games for different reasons, but I for one am glad that there are adventure games now that are straying away from the ‘old way’ of having to try to combine every item, whilst walking back and forth through every screen, hovering over every pixel for hours on end. I understand that won't be everyone's take, but I wanted to put it out there that having more simplistic puzzles or having a button highlighting the interactive objects on screen has its supporters.