After playing The Wolf Among Us, I had a yearning to play another point and click indie game. We have many open world AAA games, and games that require meticulous effort to play, which is good. But sometimes you just want to relax and have fun playing a game, a point and click adventure ticks that box for me.

Developed by indie game developer Wadjet Eye Games, with a mere employee strength of 3, Unavowed is not their first outing. Unavowed is a 2D point and click adventure with an interesting premise of fiction with demons, dragons, and possessions the whole nine yards.

Story:

The premise is set around the protagonist, a possessed individual who has been murdering  people for a year for the ulterior motives of the demon within. You have the freedom to choose between an actor, a cop or a bartender to play as the protagonist while being questioned and exorcised by two members of the Unavowed at the beginning of the game. These choices can change certain cutscenes in the beginning and give you different dialogue options as the game progresses.

From there, your job is to unravel the mess you created in the past year, with the help of the two members of the Unavowed namely Mandana and Eli. The Unavowed are peacekeepers who protect the people against supernatural evils. Throughout the game you get flashbacks of your doings under the possession of the demon, these flashbacks uncover certain mysteries.

The story is very well thought out and kept me interested through the end of the game. The option to choose between characters as protagonists adds replayability value to the game.

Sound:

Right from the main menu to the game sounds, I’d say the developers did an extremely good job. The Music suits the supernatural setting of the game along with the neo-noir elements which add to the overall experience.

Voice acting is awesome for the most part, but I heard a couple of irregularities in dialogues where it felt like the recording was of poor quality. It’s very minuscule, but it’s there. Side characters speaking between themselves was hilarious and introduced humour to the otherwise overly serious premise of the game. It did still improve everything by a good bit.

The protagonist doesn’t speak for at least 95% of the game, which is an interesting element for a game. I was not bothered by this, but your tastes may vary.

Graphics:

The 2D graphics are beautiful. It’s nice to take a break from the ultra-realistic 3D graphics that usually come bundled with AAA and shooter games from top studios. This gives it a nostalgic vibe which when paired with the extraordinary music makes the whole gameplay a memorable experience. 

The colours and detailed background display the extraordinary effort put in by the developers. The animations feel very smooth and fluid. Having played a few point and click adventures in my time, this felt right at home.

Gameplay:

For a point and click adventure, the gameplay is surprising. There are no QTEs, you have the option to use inventory items in certain scenarios to progress in that level. 

You can use supporting characters like Manadana and Eli to get past certain barriers in a level. Mandana, a Jinn, for example, can help you open doors and sewers, whereas Eli is a mage who plays with fire. There are other characters you come across as the game progresses, you get to choose which character to take with you at the beginning of every level. Depending on this the gameplay can vary your options. This is really well thought out in my opinion and brings replayability into the picture. 

The inventory system is a mixed bag for me. When you are stuck in certain levels, the puzzle-solving can get tricky with the lack of information given to you. For example, I was in a level where I had to get hot water from a restaurant owner, and talking to her always resulted in her getting angry and telling me to fuck off if I was not buying anything. I had to go back to a house and read a book to unlock the hot water prompt, and this was after a quick Google search. 

When using side characters to interact with objects, there’s a small issue where they don’t get unselected, (you select them with the left mouse button and press right mouse button to unselect), which leads to them saying ‘ i don’t know how that can be of help’, which gets annoying too soon, but they do give hints when you are stuck, so that’s a plus.

If you’re someone used to being handheld in games, this can be a challenge for you, but like all things, you’ll get used to it. 
The levels progress chapter wise, like a novel which is a common trait of the point and click adventure games that I’ve played. This makes for a good flow of the story giving you a break once in a while and letting you choose characters to go with you for certain levels.

I’ve said this before, I’m not a big fan of fantasy but this game, like The Wolf Among Us, does it for me. I started to warm up to the story, although demon, possession, merfolk, elements are usually considered fictional garbage. I give credit to the developers and people in charge of the story.  Not a single boring moment in the entire game for me.

Unavowed is a really well put game, with minute issues like finicky recording in some places and a questionable inventory element.

For fans of point and click adventure games, this is a must-play. In fact, I’d even suggest it to everyone. You will feel relaxed, yet intrigued while you play this game.

Pros	Cons
Story rich gameplay	Very Linear
Audio is very well done	Minor recording quality issues
Replayability value is solid	Inventory system is a hiccup in the gameplay system

Recommended Purchase Price: $20 or ₹1200

Final Score: 9/10