Unknown 9: Awakening Dev Reflector Entertainment Confirms Round of Layoffs

18% of staff impacted

The Bandai Namco-published Unknown 9: Awakening was released last month on PS5 and PS4, and as is sadly commonplace these days, developer Reflector Entertainment has since confirmed a round of layoffs. The decisions will affect 18% of employees "who aren’t assigned to roles that our active projects require".

The news broke on Bluesky, with developers impacted spreading the word on LinkedIn. Reflector, whose total headcount is "between 50 and 200", confirmed the decision in a post on its website. It noted: "We are doing all we can to help [affected staff] through this difficult time, providing them with severance packages and access to medical, emotional, and career planning support."

We gave Unknown 9 a 7 in our review, praising its voice acting talent and strong writing. However, we weren't alone in noting the limited enemy variety and predictable level design. It seems we liked it more than most, with the game settling at a fairly dire 59 on Metacritic. At least on Steam, the game didn't manage to break 300 concurrents at launch, so we can't imagine it set the world on fire in terms of sales, either, despite a multi-platform release on Xbox and PC.

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Step into the Unknown

Did you pick up Unknown 9: Awakening, and if so, what did you think? As always, our best to all those affected, and we hope you land on your feet soon.

[source reflectorentertainment.com, via gamesindustry.biz]

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About Khayl Adam

Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the richest, most succulent PlayStation stories. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.

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Comments 24

• 1
• Amnesiac
• 2:08am

Yes, I did pick up Unknown 9, partly because of the PushSquare review (this site has cost me a fortune over the years), and partly because it looked like a nice AA palette cleanser between other games. Hope to get to it before year’s end.

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• dskatter
• 2:25am

Unsurprised at this news, this game seemed completely uninteresting, sadly.

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• LuXifer
• 2:28am

I'm sure the extended universe and lore must be good, at least good enough to get the money-people excited enough to back them.

But as for the game, I thought it looked like an uninspired action game with the chick from The Witcher tv-show. It gave off a "Forspoken at home" vibe to me. 🤷‍♂️

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• Savage_Joe
• 2:30am

When will the industry realize that they should stop making games for an audience that will never buy video games?

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• crossbit
• 2:40am

I might have tried it if not for (a) it being dropped into a month with so, so much competition, and (b) the whole "part of an expanded media universe" part. I'm sure someone thought that would function as a selling point, but...no. No.

The price point was/is pretty reasonable though, and almost made me reconsider at one point.

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• tselliot
• 3:09am

Announced on Bluesky. That checks.

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• RudeAnimat0r
• 3:15am

I'd already forgotten the game came out, tbh. The fact your review called it old school was pretty appealing, but I'm still unlikely to buy almost any game at launch, even if it's not asking for full price.

I think the market is so over saturated that games like this will always struggle to find an audience. It doesn't help that it has a very generic name, the art design isn't particularly eye catching and has the added complexity of explaining itself a cross media property no one has heard of.

With all that said, layoffs suck. Sorry to see people let go over years of work.

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• Lavishturtle
• 3:24am

Removed - unconstructive

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• LikelySatan
• 3:26am

Removed - inappropriate language

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• nessisonett
• 3:49am

I just had zero interest in it. Nothing it did seemed to stand out in any way.

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• PuppetMaster
• 4:07am

I just watched Mortismal review after 100%
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aO5bhnmYoIw&pp=ygUadW5rbm93biA5IGF3YWtlbmluZyByZXZpZXc%3D

Mort seems kinda enjoyed the game despite all the jank and tech error although he didn't reccomend it or big big sale. For me it looks kinda eh. I mean, for a new IP, i think it lacks of flare or unique stuff unlike Slitterhead and Kunitsu Gami that can hooked me at 1st impression.

My sympathy for the devs getting layoff one month before holiday / new year...

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• Drago201
• 4:14am

An announcement on bluesky to whom there very lacking in user's and the majority of the gaming audience is not there

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• nessisonett
• 4:35am

@Drago201 People are moving. Not for me, it’s corny as hell, but there’s enough people and businesses going for it to make sense. Someone has to be the first to announce things on another platform after all.

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• RedRiot193
• 4:45am

Forgot this was a thing.

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• Drago201
• 4:46am

@nessisonett if I remember correctly there user base is under 20 million and compare that to twitters numbers there pretty much insignificant

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• wiiware
• 6:10am

@Drago201 Nice place to announce failure since most people not on bluesky, of course if the game is successful you want to announce it on twitter since everyone is there lol.

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• Alexface
• 6:12am

I thought this looked really cool and with loads of potential.
I was planning to buy on release to support the developer if the reviews were good enough, but unfortunately the average was just a bit too low. If it was 70-75 I would probably still have got it

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• nessisonett
• 7:03am

@Drago201 These platforms grow exponentially. If more leave Twitter then eventually it’ll take off. Seems to have made way more of an impact than Threads did. Musk being a giant f**king loser literally every day of his pathetic existence does tend to be a motivator.

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• Oram77
• 8:27am

This is what happens when you make a generic game and stil expect people to buy it for being stunning and brave...

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• K1LLEGAL
• 9:48am

Just dropped to £17.99 at smyths 👀

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• naruball
• 10:16am

@wiiware plenty of people have already left Twitter. It has lost most of its value. You can look it up, if you want.

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• Nintendo4Sonic
• 41m ago

Yeah, as expected. Thanks to unprofessional reviews and trolls believing them.
But I also have to admit, it could have been better. It was a solid 7/10, I had fun getting Platin. But I think, I would never return to it.

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• Nintendo4Sonic
• 39m ago

@Alexface it is a 70% game. Better stop paying too much attention for review scores on pages like ign. You can miss great games.

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• Nintendo4Sonic
• 30m ago

Wait a sec!
Pushsquare praised the voice acting in Unknown 9???
What?!?
I played it with English voices and it had the most dull dialoges and bored voice actors ever. 😂
I also think, that it was a good 7 game. But not because of story or voice actors.

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