The Unspoken - Game review

About The Unspoken

The Unspoken is an action-adventure shooter, yet another VR masterpiece developed by Insomniac Games for the Oculus Rift and Rift S. The game fully supports Oculus touch controllers. The game is rated for players aged 7+.

Game Modes: Multiplayer, Single User

Supported Languages: English (US), French (Canada), German, Korean, Spanish (Mexico)

Game duration: Expect about 10 - 15 hours of gameplay (replayable)

Synopsis

The Unspoken pulls players into a hidden world of spellcasting and magical duels. Manipulate the environment around you with the powerful forces that flow through your own fingertips and summon monstrosities with your bare hands. The game  challenges you to target your enemies with precision, decide which spells to cast, and where in the urban jungle you’ll cast them from.

Since The Unspoken was built from the ground up as a multiplayer battler, you won’t get much from the single-player mode here. There’s no single-player campaign as such, but at least you can duel Lenore who has a pretty decent AI. These one-on-one duels can get kinda boring after a while - but hey, practice makes perfect, right?

Gameplay

After a short interactive presentation from the narrator, you answer a phone call. This triggers further dialogue in regards to some recent magical activities that you performed in public, which is strictly forbidden. You discover that you’ve been marked for termination by a group called the Council. Now, in alliance with your mentor, you must struggle to survive. 

With assistance from your mentor, you undergo some basic training before you’re let loose into the arena. It’s very straightforward play and good fun. The basic training involves destroying floating orbs with fireballs, using your shield, teleporting from pedestal to pedestal and casting spells.

The basic premise of The Unspoken, is that you get into loads of wizardry battles. Unsurprisingly, the more you battle, the more powerful you become. As you progress, you’ll unlock more powerful spells and fight even more challenging opponents. 

The Unspoken has some fantastic game mechanics, but you don’t have free run of the environment. Instead, you're basically perched on a column as you battle it out with other sorcerers. 

You can still move around to a certain degree, but only by teleporting from column to column, as long as they’re unoccupied. Zipping around definitely has its advantages - like suddenly appearing on a column behind your opponent. I love that!

Spells are cast with gestures using the controller grips. You hold down the grip buttons, followed by either a push (hands together), a volley (hands apart), or hands crossed to form a shield. It doesn’t take long to master these magical moves and when you do, you’ll feel nothing short of invincible.

Although many of the movements are very instinctive, it took a little while to get used to the throwing action. Unfortunately for me, The Unspoken isn’t like other VR games, where you’d occasionally throw a hand grenade or the odd rock. Beyond, of course, throwing things, you need to throw in order to cast a destructive spell. 

So - that involves releasing the grip button. However, in doing so, you’ll end up launching your controllers across the room. Luckily, help is quite literally at hand. You could try using a rubber band to secure the controller to your wrist, but that does get a little uncomfortable after a while. Alternatively, you can purchase a compatible strap for your Oculus controllers from Amazon. The more expensive alternative, yet the far more immersive choice, would be a decent set of VR gloves.

Your apartment is where you can check out the spells and artifacts that you’ve unlocked and the available classes. It was handy to see what I could use in the way of new abilities.

There's also a fantastic interactive map system, where you can choose your next fight destination. I found this pretty cool and intuitive.

In The Unspoken, the VR IS the reason that you're playing the game. It makes it a very different gaming experience altogether. You'll spend a lot of time whiplashing , as you try to locate your opponent. VR absolutely enhances the experience, as you have to be constantly hypervigilant of your surroundings.

I packed it in after over an hour of gameplay. After removing my headset, I felt rather chirpy. I’m sure it had something to do with the workout I had whilst playing, nothing too strenuous, but my arms and shoulders certainly felt it. Some light exercise is always a good thing.

Watch the Video Trailer

The Verdict

First, I'd like to say that when playing The Unspoken, even after well over an hour, I felt completely comfortable the entire time. It was so much fun. I was fully immersed and wasn't nauseous in the slightest.

The graphics were awe-inspiring, the storyline was pretty good and the narration was well-executed. The scenes are very detailed, so much so that you really believe that you’re there. It’s a nice change from the standard shooter. The multiplayer battles were also really fun. Overall, it was a very enjoyable, immersive experience. So much so, that I truly felt a sense of magical power.

However, the game felt a little... dead, in that I could hardly ever find any matches. When I could and the match ended, I searched for other players, only to find that I’d been paired with the same one over and over which was extremely annoying.

The game also does get repetitive, as there’s not a great deal of depth once you’ve mastered all the game mechanics. Although The Unspoken is short-lived, it’s addictively fun to play. Should you buy it? Hell yes!

What do you think of The Unspoken? Share your thoughts, comments and opinions with me using the comment box below.