Unavowed - IGF nominee!!

[Dave Gilbert]

After three years of development, I am SUPER proud to announce that Unavowed has been released!

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-MMqOakEIs

Story
For six months, you were possessed by a demon. For six months, you unwillingly tore a trail of bloodshed through New York City. Now, finally, you are rescued by the Unavowed - an ancient society dedicated to stopping evil.

You are free, but your world is in tatters. You have no home, no friends, and you are wanted by the police. You can not return to your old life, but perhaps you can start a new one. Join the Unavowed, and learn to fight against the oncoming darkness.

Written & Programmed by: Dave Gilbert
Backgrounds and sprites: Ben Chandler
Music: Thomas Regin
Portraits (not pictured yet): Ivan Ulyanov

Features:
   -Choose a male or female protagonist
   -Choose one of three playable origin stories
   -branching storyline
   -A total of four companion characters to choose from. Each with their own talents and abilities.
   -Double the resolution of a typical Wadjet Eye Game!
   -All the usual guff - voice acting, commentary, original music, etc

Price: $14.99

Buy it: HERE!

Screenshots:

[Miguel R. Fervenza]

Congratulations! Great Work! I enjoyed it a lot. A review in Spanish: http://indiefence.miguelrfervenza.com/2018/08/unavowed-wadjet-eye-games-2018/

[AndyfromVA]

Got it!
Plan to start playing it this evening.  Might be up all night.

[Blondbraid]

Big congratulations on the release, I'll need to get around to playing it once I find the time!

[Hobo]

Congratulations! It's awesome to see that it's finally released and already receiving positive reviews and feedback.
I'm a bit surprised about the price though, expected 20 or more.

[SarahLiz]

Yessss!  Been waiting all summer (year, really) for this one!  I cannot WAIT to get home & purchase.  I foresee some late nights ahead!  Woo-hoo!

...at the risk of getting flogged for this...will there be a walkthrough coming?  I would happily pay for a guide...  I always, always get stuck, lol.

Congratulations on the release of 3 years of hard work!!


Sarah

[SilverSpook]

Super congrats!

[shaun9991]

Massive congratulations Dave! We have a modern classic on our hands

[Dave Gilbert]

So. I am pleased to announce that after eight hours, Unavowed has broken our day 1 sales record.

[Click'd]

Which one was the previous best?

[Mandle]

Congratulations!!! I really enjoyed the portion of the game I saw when attempting to playtest and failing.

Can't wait to play the full game!!!

Which one was the previous best?

Oh, let's all try to guess!!!

My guess would be The Blackwell Epiphany.

[Click'd]

Likely. Now I wonder how my favourite, Technobabylon, did. In comparison to the others, I mean.

[SarahLiz]

Likely. Now I wonder how my favourite, Technobabylon, did. In comparison to the others, I mean.

Congratulations!!! I really enjoyed the portion of the game I saw when attempting to playtest and failing.

Can't wait to play the full game!!!

Which one was the previous best?

Oh, let's all try to guess!!!

My guess would be The Blackwell Epiphany.

My first thought was Technobabylon, but Blackwell Epiphany would make sense.  I think everyone was waiting & salivating for the final one to come out!  Although...Shardlight was amazing too.  I really don't have a clue...

And congrats (again) on beating your record!!

[AnasAbdin]

Congrats Dave and to your awesome team. I can't wait for the weekend to start

[agentbauer]

Congrats Dave,
just bought it on GoG, that game is the best Adventure, I played in years.
Party like in Mass Effect, decisions, different characters for multipe playthroughs.
Graphics are really great, Voice acting is nearly perfect, and to show the "look at" when the cursor is over the object is a great idea.
I can't stop playing and I don't miss that the player character doesn't have voice acting!
And there are..SPOILER... Many story twists....

So everyone BUY THAT GAME... NOW...

[selmiak]

congrats on the release dave

[sawyer]

Awesome, works on my phone...Very nice work David!!

[The Outer Zone]

Huge congrats with the release!

Unavowed sounds like the perfect next step in the evolution of adventure games.
And it looks really good Ben Chandler and Ivan Ulyanov!

Enjoying Shardlight at the moment, but then I will dive into this reportedly acclaimed masterpiece

[Sinitrena]

Very good game! I played through it in three settings, only stopping when I was too tired to continue.

I got stuck twice, once when my brain just couldn't understand the meaning of the word "legs" and once when I missed an exit and consequently some characters to talk to.

I love the story, the graphics, the voice-acting, basically everything, except for one thing: Why am I only allowed to take two side-kicks on missions? It just feels so arbitrary, especially because I can't go back and take someone else when it feels like he or she would be better suited for the mission. But props for the design making every mission possible to solve with the different combinations of characters.

By the way

For six months, you were possessed by a demon. For six months, you unwillingly tore a trail of bloodshed through New York City. Now, finally, you are rescued by the Unavowed - an ancient society dedicated to stopping evil.

The game says it's been a year, not six months, doesn't it?

[AndyfromVA]

Fantastic game.  Great story, visuals, voice acting, music.  Played through with

Spoiler

the actor

[close]

and looking forward to playing with

Spoiler

the bartender

[close]

and

Spoiler

the cop

[close]

.

[eri0o]

OMG so many doors! Also this is so so beautiful. A loooot of details, a fantastic way to create the playable character at the start. And fantastic voice acting! I still haven't finished (I just need some more free time!!!!) Also I needed a game to gift my family members who got me into Blackwell and now I have a perfect one :]

Sawyer, how did you play on the phone?  Edit: Oh the directly from Wadjet Eye version!

[KyriakosCH]

You know, that cop's moves were something out of a Bruce Lee movie!

Very good work! I saw a let's play of the first chapter. I hope the game becomes very well known and loved.

[sawyer]

Thats every Wadjeteye on my phone works . Thanks Dave for making this powerhouse!!

[sawyer]

OMG so many doors! Also this is so so beautiful. A loooot of details, a fantastic way to create the playable character at the start. And fantastic voice acting! I still haven't finished (I just need some more free time!!!!) Also I needed a game to gift my family members who got me into Blackwell and now I have a perfect one :]

Sawyer, how did you play on the phone?  Edit: Oh the directly from Wadjet Eye version!

Exagear Strategies finds it and runs Unavowed along with other ags games also...GOG version I got, I just delete not needed gog files within game and keep only necessary files to lighten the load. Everything runs great!! Without worring about linkscript fail...You would think ags android wouldnt be passes by ExaGear, but it works, Maybe now AGS.apk will eventually run these awesome games as well....

[paolo]

Wow, amazing, amazing, amazing! Well done on releasing this! I'm putting this on my to-play list.

[Andail]

Congrats on the release! I shall check it out shortly.

[Monsieur OUXX]

The game is great. Seriously. But if there's ever a version 1.1, I'd recommend changing the facial expression of the two characters in the opening sequence (the one where you pick your character and the exorcist holds you at gun point with a staff). At the moment it looks like they're both smiling and having a good laugh. the game is supposed to be dark and start right in the action, but it totally ruins the tension for me. All I'm thinking is : "what are laughing at?"

[Dave Gilbert]

I went through the exchange and I see no version of anyone's smiling expression being used at any point, so I am not sure what you are referring to.

[Stupot]

Have you released the soundtrack yet? If not, you ought to use this as the album cover.

[Mandle]

Hahaha Stupot.... That's genius!

[Monsieur OUXX]

I went through the exchange and I see no version of anyone's smiling expression being used at any point, so I am not sure what you are referring to.

Spoiler

This :

*giggle giggle*

[close]

[Mandle]

Looks more to me like they are gritting their teeth than smiling. I can see why Mandala might be seen as smiling though, but maybe she is, considering having just tracked down a demon?

[Rincewind]

Jeez, can't believe this is my first forum post in eight(!) years, hah. I've become so terribly tired of social media recently, and just got the urge to check in here again a couple of days ago. Made me realize how much I've missed the forums, so I might just stick around again. Anyway, </off-topic>. Unavowed looks truly amazing, Dave, been looking forward to it for ages! Gonna buy it on Steam and start playing as soon as my paycheck arrives on friday!

[xandmatt]

Amazing game. On my third play through now with the developer's commentary. It's quite a fascinating insight to hear how the game was developed; especially after hearing the commentaries for most of the other WadjetEye Games. It's a documented history of how Dave develops as a game developer (pun intended).

It's a brilliant technical achievement, and well worth waiting for. It expands on the Blackwell Universe (is there an actual name for it?) a lot and the characters are very well defined.

I also love:

Spoiler

the whole Chinatown breakout section; it's brilliantly conceived and the game's standout "set piece" for me. It was nice to have a section where you could interact with KayKay; who is just as much a member of the team as everyone else. She's tied with Vicki as my favourite character.

[close]

[Mandle]

It expands on the Blackwell Universe (is there an actual name for it?)

I'm not sure, but I can think of an adjective:

Blackwellian.

[Dave Gilbert]

Zero Punctuation just reviewed Unavowed!

He liked it, insofar as he likes anything.

[Tigrou]

Zero Punctuation just reviewed Unavowed!

He liked it, insofar as he likes anything.

Is there a transcript? I can't make out half of what this guy's saying.

[Click'd]

Is there a transcript? I can't make out half of what this guy's saying.

There is:
http://zeropunctuation.wikia.com/wiki/Unavowed

[Mandle]

Zero Punctuation just reviewed Unavowed!

He liked it, insofar as he likes anything.

Hilarious review!

Wow, he even refers to whatever happened during his split with the AGS community, which was a bit before my time. I remember someone (possibly me) asking what happened once and there were only vague replies like "Trust me. You don't want to know." and "He got a bit too big for his britches."

Anyway, he mentions it so I'm guessing it still bugs him a bit as well. Maybe someone who knew him back then could reach out? I love the dude's games and it would be cool to see him around here now and then.

[Danvzare]

Wow, he even refers to whatever happened during his split with the AGS community, which was a bit before my time. I remember someone (possibly me) asking what happened once and there were only vague replies like "Trust me. You don't want to know." and "He got a bit too big for his britches."

As far as I can tell from the searching I did, he was simply egotistical and overly critical, and he eventually proclaimed he was too good for the forum and left. Apparently he still lurks around these forums as well. The best non-dead link I could find detailing it, is in the AGS Wiki: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/Yahtzee
I also found this thread which shed a lot more light on the situation: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=1682.msg18819#msg18819
With that all being said, it seems like everything has been forgiven and forgotten (within reason).

Back on topic though, Unavowed is an absolutely great game. I've not completed it yet, but it's every bit as good as I thought it was going to be.

[Mandle]

One interesting point, for me at least, that he brought up was the way adventure game characters often maintain the same pose no matter what is going on around them, and/or flash in and out of "action" poses when needed, but then go back to the same rigid pose as before.

I actually kind of prefer this to the twitchy random body language that a lot of triple-A games try to do fluidly: like rolling backwards and forwards on the feet slightly while stationary and inactive.

It's a game. They are game characters. I don't really want them to be constantly swaying around. I find that more distracting and offputting than just staying still until I need them to do something.

An occasional brief idle view is nice, like brushing hair out of their face, but the constant body language that a lot of games try to do often just reminds me more that they are not real people.

It's like in a book if the author attempted to describe to me every second sentence exactly what the character was doing with every limb on their body.

There's probably a balance somewhere in the middle as well, but for now I prefer stationary (with occasional idle view) characters way more than hyperactive constantly swaying ones.

[TheFrighter]

Very good game, Dave! Just one thing: I hate New York. Next time set the game in Vancouver.

_

[Dave Gilbert]

New York is my home! You write what you know, as they say.

[Mandle]

New York is my home! You write what you know, as they say.

After The Blackwell Series I almost felt like I had been to New York so, job very well done.

[Mandle]

Pity Eli missed a chance for a great line when

Spoiler

Mandala gets drunk from the wine bottle

[close]

It would have been awesome if he had said

Spoiler

"Geez... Talk about yer Djinn Rummy."

[close]

(Not my own work, unfortunately. I saw it in a YouTube video's comments and couldn't resist posting it in here)

[LimboJimbo84]

Dave, I played this last week, it's an amazing game. Kudos to you and everyone on the team, I thought the whole experience was fantastic.

My girlfriend is playing the game through at the moment, and I'm loving watching her playing in a different way. I'll be playing it through again to see how the different missions are affected by different characters too once she's finished.

Congratulations on the release, the art, music, voice acting, mission structure and puzzles are all top drawer. You can feel the passion and love in every pixel. Keep up the amazing work

[Dave Gilbert]

\o/ THank you so much!

[cat]

Dave, please don't forget to add the game to the AGS database. I'm sure you don't want to miss out on the next awards because of an oversight.

[Dave Gilbert]

Haha. Why break tradition? I'll make sure to add it.

[Monsieur OUXX]

French magazine Canard PC gave it an 8/10, if I recall. Or at least 7.
They have a tendancy to be merciless with lazy games, and always take the selling price in account. Therefore, this 8 is good news. I always use Canard PC as a reference because they're the only French magazine (whether on paper or online) that does not bend over backwards for ads from large publishers in order to stay alive (unlike jeuxvideo.com, etc.)

[Dave Gilbert]

Added it to the database. And several months before Dec 31st, too!

[cat]

Yay!

[Blondbraid]

I just bought the game off Steam, I'll play it when I find the time!

[Cogliostro]

I've been meaning to ask, any surprises with how the steam achievements played out?  Were you expecting everyone to toast the dryad?  Were you expecting the actor background to be the least popular option?

- Cogliostro

[Dave Gilbert]

UNAVOWED IS AN IGF NOMINEE!!†¬

†ªIt's nominated for “Excellence in Narrative” and got an honorable mention for the grand prize.

I've been dreaming of getting into the IGF since I started this silly company. It's taken 13 years and over a dozen games, but we got here.

Now I'm going to freak out for a bit.

[Bavolis]

That's awesome - huge congrats!

[Kweepa]

It's ridiculous it's taken so long.
You should tell them they can keep it!

[Monsieur OUXX]

UNAVOWED IS AN IGF NOMINEE!!†¬

†ªIt's nominated for “Excellence in Narrative” and got an honorable mention for the grand prize.

I've been dreaming of getting into the IGF since I started this silly company. It's taken 13 years and over a dozen games, but we got here.

Now I'm going to freak out for a bit.

Congrats

[Snarky]

<Mod hat>

There was originally a post in this thread:

I've been playing the game and I loved it so far, but when it came to the Bronx and the player gets a vision that shows

Spoiler

that the player had an affair with a guy while they were possessed by a demon and couldn't control their own body, and a picture taken of them together is used for a puzzle afterwards.

[close]

and I just felt terrible after seeing that. Am I the only one that feels that this scene was massively inappropriate for the game? I get that it's a way of showing how evil the demon is, but I can't help but feel like sexual abuse is an overused trope whenever people want to make a story dark and it feels unfair to have that sprung up on you without warning, especially since you are meant to create your own protagonist and identify with them.

And I wish to say that these sort of things can be extremely stressful to survivors with PTSD or people suffering from anxiety or depression, and I don't think this kind of subject should be included without a content warning.
For me personally, it took all the enjoyment out of the game and if I had known it was going to be a plot point I probably wouldn't have bought it.

As this led to an extended discussion, it has been split out into a separate thread. Further discussion should go there.

Also, so as not to lose this here:

(Also, congrats to Dave on the recent nomination / world domination.)

[Blondbraid]

I recently finished playing Unavowed, and while I maintain that a content warning would have been necessary
and I think the lack of knowing about those themes beforehand really dragged the experience down for me,
it still is an otherwise well crafted and impressive game, and I can see why Yahtzee put it on his list of the top
five games of the year. The story has some great twists and turns, and the graphics and voice acting is top-notch.

My only complaint gameplay-wise was that the puzzles could feel both too easy and too obscure at times since it was
hard for me to tell exactly how I was supposed to use the abilities of the companions I chose, and choosing the cop origin
meant that Vicki often felt redundant to me as my player character already had cop-related dialogue options, plus I ended up
liking her personality less than the other followers in the game.

But other than that, it is an incredibly well made game that pushes the boundaries of what could be made in the AGS engine.

[Snarky]

I'm playing Unavowed on Mac through Steam, and I was wondering about the highlight hotspots function I seem to remember from last time I played. There are some mentions online about using right-click to reveal hotspots, but that doesn't seem to do anything. (I can still use right-click, or to be precise, two-finger tap on the touchpad, to deselect an inventory item, so clearly the interaction is detected.) Is there a different way to bring up the hotspots?