Board 8 > More people should play Unsighted [Zeldalike] [pseudo-Metroidvania] [minireview]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hope I'm not late to the party but this game feels highly overlooked - I see it pop up in some year-end lists here and there but not really a lot of discussion. That's weird to me, because this game is doing a lot of super cool things! And I think it's the sort of thing a lot of people would enjoy. Quick pitch: Unsighted is an action-adventure based on 2D Zelda games, with map design taking cues from Metroidvanias, and combat reminiscent of Supergiant games. Also some light Soulslike elements because why the hell not. Plotwise, it's about android lesbians trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

If any of that sounds good to you, then great! There's one more thing you should know going in but I'll get to that later. Skip to the bolded sentence if you're already sold. First let me break down that description in more detail, because it's a lot of vague comparisons to different things. But all these inspirations come together in a way that's very satisfying to me.

Getting it out of the way first: many articles and reviews call it a Metroidvania, which is what initially got my attention, but it's not even a platformer. Not to spark a genre debate but this probably disqualifies it for a lot of people. HOWEVER, it's got stuff that obviously would appeal to fans of the genre. On the surface level, it is a 2D top-down action game with a big overworld map like Zelda. There are monsters to fight, puzzles to solve, items to collect, and dungeons to beat. Where the "search action" elements come in is how the map design intersects with the gameplay. The map is generally very open, though there are lots of one-way gates or obstacles requiring an item puzzle to progress. However, there are plenty of sequence breaks built in. Different items will open up alternate routes, and as you collect loot, learn the map, and master the game mechanics, you discover alternate solutions. There's a clear set of objectives and a recommended order to do them in, but there is potential for nonlinearity if you wish. Put this all together and it feels a lot like A Link Between Worlds but without the dark world and 2d gimmick.

Combat-wise, you can equip two weapons at a time. Typically you'll have a melee weapon and a ranged weapon that you control with the right stick, which makes Supergiant (specifically Hades) my point of comparison. Melee weapons don't have a ton of variety (there are swords and axes) but ranged weapons do. You can swap between loadouts. Then for the Soulslike bits: you have a jump/dodge and a block button. Perfectly timed blocks become parries which allow you to riposte for bonus damage. There's a stamina system but it's not too awful. You've got an estus flask for HP that recharges by dealing damage. Overall this makes for simple, but snappy and fast-paced combat. Honestly the Soulslike elements are light and just normal game mechanic stuff by now - die and you have to recover money you dropped, resting at a checkpoint revives enemies, "game hard." Except for one of the major thematic elements.

Here is what is probably the most controversial mechanic: the whole game is on a timer. You and all of the fellow robots you meet run on a limited resource called Anima. When someone's Anima runs out, they go Unsighted, losing consciousness and becoming a mindless killing machine (so, it's Dark Souls). There's an in-game time cycle (I think 1 real second =1 ingame minute) and everyone has a different amount of hours to live, which you can see when you talk to them. You start running into these deadlines a few realtime hours into the game. There's a resource you can use to extend someone's timer, but it's limited. So depending on your speed of exploration and combat skill, you might have to choose between NPCs to live or let die. IMO most NPCs aren't deep enough to make this as heart-wrenching as it could be, but there's still enough to create an interesting tension that rewards mastery. And if timers are a dealbreaker, don't worry - there is both an easier difficulty setting that also increases the timer and an accessibility option to turn them off completely regardless of difficulty.

Overall I find it to be very tightly designed. It's a love letter to a lot of games that reconfigures them into something new but familiar. The pixel art is gorgeous and has a lot of personality. The game's length is reasonably compact, but still manages to feel like a full experience that encourages replay. That said, I really hope they expand on this formula because there is so much more room to build on and flesh out. But that requires the game to be a success so I'm out here talking it up! Give it a shot or let me know how you felt about it if you already have.

Also: spoilers for items if you care about that sort of thing, but one of the things you get is the Spinner from Twilight Princess and that just fucking owns.

the timer mechanic is what keeps me from checking it out honestly

I've had it downloaded from Game Pass for like two months or so. I can assure you that it will get played eventually

Good game! It's a shame Death's Door got more attention than this

colliding posted...

the timer mechanic is what keeps me from checking it out honestly

I'd hazard a guess that it's still worth playing even if you disable the timers - the rest of the game is still great!

Honestly, while I adore it on a conceptual level, the NPC timer is one of my biggest criticisms. Mechanically, it's just not fleshed out enough for me. But that's good news if you're not into it! I don't think the game would lose too much. I think the devs must have recognized it would be a divisive thing to include.

Sounds interesting

KCF0107 posted...

Game Pass

sounds even more interesting

It's on my shortlist though I didn't know much about it, glad to hear it's worthwhile.

Mac Arrowny posted...

Good game! It's a shame Death's Door got more attention than this

Lol I considered downloading Unsighted from Game Pass a few days ago but picked Death's Door instead! I'm really loving Death's Door though.

Still haven't played Death's Door (will probably get around to it soon) but I can see how they'd kinda compete for the same audience. And of course Metroidvania fans were all about Dread. Pretty unfortunate timing!

ok so yacht club announced THEIR cool zelda inspired game this week but it's not out until 2023 so might as well play this one in the meantime

One of my favourite games last year, and I really liked the timer thematically and for the tension of having to weigh your actions. I agree that the NPCs aren't terribly deep, though I did get a bit attached to a few, mostly the ones you run into out in the world because you see them more often than the ones in town. I actually had a moment where the fishing automaton that shows up all over was running low and I was going to let it happen since it's not like I ever need them for anything. Then as it drew near I suddenly felt like I would miss seeing them around, but since I never needed them I didn't actually know their usual spots, so I blew some time scrambling to track them down.

Also worth noting for anyone hesitant that you can toggle the timer on and off at any time, so I tried to keep it on mostly, but did stop it a few times like when I'm struggling with a boss and didn't want the additional stress.

I kept it on the whole time. Thought I'd turn it off at first, but I enjoyed the emotional hit of having people die.