Unknown 9: Awakening developers report layoffs

Staff members who worked on Unknown 9: Awakening report layoffs across the team at Canadian outfit Reflector Entertainment.

Jobs lost include roles within Reflector’s art, marketing, narrative and quality assurance (QA) teams, Game Developer reported.

Unknown 9: Awakening launched last month to mixed reviews. On Steam, where it sits with a Mixed rating, less than 100 players have rated the game.

Published by Bandai Namco, Unknown 9: Awakening felt like an attempt to recapture the sci-fi adventure of Assassin’s Creed, in a modern Tomb Raider-style globe-trotting story that featured secret societies vying over the remnants of an ancient civilisation.

First announced in 2020, the project drew interest due to its intriguing debut trailer featuring a younger version of protagonist Haroona (played in the final game by Anya Chalotra, AKA Yennefer in Netflix’s The Witcher). It was the first project from the Montreal-based Reflector, co-founded by former Assassin’s Creed Unity creative director Alexandre Amancio.

The game was also meant to act as a central point for the franchise as a cross-media brand. Just this week, a second season of the Unknown 9: Out of Sight tie-in podcast was launched, while the fourth issue of its graphic novel series Unknown 9: Torment arrived. There’s also a web series, Unknown 9: Passage, which you can go watch on YouTube.

“Unfortunately, I was affected by the layoffs at Reflector Entertainment, which means I’m currently looking for a job as a Narrative Designer or Game Writer. If you hear of any opportunities, please let me know,” one staff member who lost their job wrote.

Eurogamer has contacted Bandai Namco for comment.