Unsighted launched onto Xbox Game Pass a few weeks ago and amongst the huge releases such as Back 4 Blood, it's sort of slipped under the radar. Thankfully, following a tweet from one of the development team at Studio Pixel Punk, players are discovering what seems to be a hidden gem on the service.
Twitter user Tiani Pixel spoke about the game on Twitter and how little people are talking about it - despite some reviews claiming it's the "best/most original Metroidvania of the year". The callout appears to have worked, with thousands of players now diving into the game and enjoying their time with it.
https://twitter.com/TianiPixel/status/1447865431394508801?s=20
Many are discussing how beautiful the art style looks, while others have commented on the influences of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with the game's hookshot and spinning disk for traversal. The consensus for those who have dived in seems to be insanely positive.
For those who are unaware, here's a quick description of the game from the Microsoft Store:
EXPLORE YOUR WAY. Awoken to a world ruined by war, Alma must traverse the vast city of Arcadia before the life force of her friends and herself withers away. Time is ticking, and every moment matters. Who will you save, and who will you leave to turn UNSIGHTED?
At the time of writing, the tweet has been shared over 5,000 times, accompanied by roughly 17,000 likes, so it certainly seems to be making an impression. If you haven't checked out Unsighted on Xbox Game Pass, it sounds as though it's not one you want to allow to slip by.
Have you checked out Unsighted on Xbox Game Pass? Let us know in the comments below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 22
The game is solid, but “best Metroidvania?” No dice. Not with Dread hanging around. Dread’s destroying the high water mark that Hollow Knight reestablished for the genre. More people should play Unsighted though.
Unlike back4blood i bet the game works offline solo and you can PAUSE the game.
I'll add it to my wishlist! The game certainly looks cool, but how in hell is this a Metroidvania? Looks like an isometric action adventure to me.
Liked what I was seeing in the trailer until the timer feature appeared, then it was a big nope. If I had nothing to play, maybe but it’s sure isn’t the case right now
Bought it on switch after testing on gamepass. Will put some time in today.
It looks interesting and I'll likely play it when I'm done with Metroid Dread (which is the actual best Metroidvania of the year). The whining on Twitter and flashing the LGBT/Minority victim card is a pretty bad look on them though...
I mean, you named it Unsighted and you are wondering why you are Unseen?!?!? Amirite, amirite?!?!
@somnambulance that's my problem with them tweeting saying big media is ignoring it. They are dropping a metroidvania.. within the launch window is Metroid.. I wonder where they are gonna put there resources, and even for a gamepass game. It's in with back 4 blood and the battlefield beta so just for free time to sink into something this isn't close to the top of my list, but I will get to it eventually.
My rant is more releasing a indie game (even with gamepass) at this timeframe in that genre would also play second or third fiddle to other games
"Competition is so unfair."
Um, you're on Game Pass. That's about as much as two people from Brazil who made a videogame could've dreamed for. Stop playing victim.
Looks good, and slipped the radar, thanks for brining it to attention
I have Unsighted in my Game Pass queue. I’ll still try it but this tweet is a huge turnoff.
1) “The competition is unfair...” umm, who released this game into the maw of the game the genre you’re in is named after!!! Totally agree with @somnambulance here. They should have tried a more humble, deferential posture, congratulated the Metroid Dread team — congratulations on making 2021’s Game of the Year, or something factual like that — maybe done some crossover fan-art or something to catch the wave of positive buzz around the genre.
2). The “two trans people from Brazil” comment is so cynical. I hate the term “snowflake”, but I think it’s appropriate here because it’s just not that special today to be a two person trans developer from Brazil — good for the world and the industry that that is the case — but bad for these two trying to cash in in late 2021.
Half of me wants to roll my eyes like, “aren’t they all?” after Celeste and other exemplary titles from small teams of trans developers, but the other half believes this is cynical playing of the kotaku/resetera kind of hobbyist media like a free PR fiddle.
Hopefully I forget this pathetic tweet by the time I’m ready to queue up the game.
@somnambulance. You really think Dread is better than Hollow Knight? If you asked me a week ago I would say Hollow Knight is best game in the genre of all-time with a bullet, and I just finished Dread last night and am basking in the afterglow, smoking the proverbial cigarette, and firing up a new file on Hard Mode.
I’m not ready to make that call without another play through of both. What makes you feel that way? Looking back a couple of years out from Hollow Knight, I think it’s biggest strength compared to Dread is also it’s biggest weakness... it is massive and very long. I quit my second replay after being unable to play for a few days and felt completely lost and overwhelmed, and even the idea of starting another playthrough is daunting.
@Terrin @Spiders It just makes absolutely no sense to me why they would get giant press going against Metroid Dread. Even if there was no Metroid Dread, it was still an incredibly populated gaming week, one of the densest release weeks I’ve ever seen. And not to discredit the game, but it is nearly a Crosscode-like in visual aesthetic. A fair amount of people will play it, but it will be lucky to even hit 10% of the player base that picks up Dread or any of the other AAA games this past week or so. I definitely think the comments they made are purely for the sake of grabbing attention and, for that, I think it makes me less interested in what the studio will do in the future. I mean, it’s maybe a 8/10-ish tier game from what I’ve played and seen.
And the jury is still out on if Dread is better than Hollow Knight. I just got to the Green Teleporter, so I’ve still got some time left with it. Not sure how much more time, since it sort of feels like I’m hitting that home stretch, but who knows? Well, people who have played it know, but not me. Lol. Hollow Knight has been the best Metroidvania I’ve ever played since it came out. It just toppled over the classics with its world building and satisfying challenge. It’s one of the few pure 10/10 games for me in the most recent passed generation. For me, however, I prefer my games short now, for the most part (says the person that completed six jrpgs last year… but eh 2020, was laid off, why not?) and I’ll be honest I’m both excited and daunted by the thought of Silksong, whereas if another Metroid game was out next year (fingers crossed), I’m already ready. Metroid Dread has no fat. The level design is tight and clever. The combat is fast and exciting. It’s got that right amount of challenge and sometimes I don’t know where I’m going to progress the game. And it sure helps that the game is so polished and has cinematics. Metroid makes the genre feel AAA in scope. Unless the game really bombs at the end for some reason, it’s my GotY for sure, and makes a compelling case of competing for the best game on the Switch altogether. I’m loving every moment of the game. It just does everything so well.
Metroid Dread is overpriced imo. I'm not touching it til it drops to $40 or less.
I agree with the comments above, this kind of tweets is counterproductive, at least in my eyes. Perhaps do what @Spiders suggests, it's classier.
@XxEvilAshxX They should feel happy indeed. What would they have done in the nineties or noughties with no publisher and money to release their game? Nowadays almost everyone can publish a game and that's the reason why you can't expect everyone to play every game. My backlog is big like for everyone who has an Xbox but there are some games that I'd happily replay instead of trying to play every single game available. Yes, sorry, I'm like that.
@NotoriousWhiz Every game is overpriced if you're not interested. I can't imagine paying more than $20 for a game where you "just drive cars", yet Gran Turismo and Forza have huge followings. For Dread I love the series and the genre at is finest — knowing how I feel about it now, I'd have paid $100 if I had too.
I also try and look at things like Gamepass as, rather than devaluing games... i.e. why pay 60 for Metroid Dread when I can get Unsighted or other Metroidvania for pennies on the dollar, I look at is an offset.
@Spiders The game takes less than 10 hours to 100% and costs full price. I'm not a huge stickler for the dollars per hour value of a game, but to me, that's a bit excessive.
That said you're absolutely correct that a game is only worth what you're willing to play.
Anyhow, I still have Axiom Verge sitting in my backlog.
That tweet was pure cringe.
What a shame. The game looks pretty good but the victim complex, identity politics, sour ass tweet really sours my opinion of the studio.
No one cares what's between your legs. No one cares if your trans or gay or black or white or straight or even French. The vast majority of gamers care about talent and whether the game is good or not.
But no, let's roll out the woe is me sympathy card and alienate a large portion of people who are sick to death with politics and agendas in gaming.
As has been said, the time to release a metroidvania wasn't ideal with Dread as competition. Getting onto gamepass is an accomplishment too.
Exposure can be a problem for indie devs, of course, but it's got nothing to do with these Devs being Brazilian or trans. I know they didn't claim this outright, but it's the impression I get from their tweet.
Have some grace, decorum and humility for goodness sake.
Yeah I felt like pointing out the game was a great move, but sharing the original tweet makes it controversial for whatever reason. Glad to see a game like this, looks a lot like hyper light drifter at first glance, will wishlist it
@NotoriousWhiz That's one way to look at it, for sure, and if I wasn't saving a ton of money "dollar-per-hour" with Gamepass, it might be a harder bullet to bite.
That said, I look it at as the difference between going to, for example, Gordon Ramsay's "Burger" restaurant, and Burger King. I'm getting the same calories, and I enjoy both, but I enjoy both enough that when I have the chance to get something really special — which thankfully I'm finding Metroid Dread to be — it's so worth it to me. Could I financially afford to go to "Burger" every day? Nope. Could I afford to go to Burger King everyday health-wise because I can afford it financially? I have tried it and proved I cannot haha.
I am using the "dollar-per-hour" formula for other purchases like Wario GIT (I cannot justify the price for myself, as much as I love the series), for considering Advance Wars 1+2 (it's the ONLY way I can justify buying it again at that price is that I can drop 100+ hours in that game easily... but I might just try and get into Wargroove again), and to try and convince myself to get Shin Megami Tensei V... definitely worth it on the dollar-per-hour scale, but "am I going to find the time to stick with it?" is the number one consideration for me for RPGs.
It took me 13 hours to clear (maybe 85-90% completion rate) and I'm really enjoying my second playthrough on Hard Mode, so I imagine it'll be closer to 20-25 hours before I move on. It's one of the rare games I've actually wanted to start playing again immediately after finishing... (Resident Evil 4, Bayonetta, Metroid: Other M, Vanquish, Sekiro, now Dread)
Also, if I look at my gaming budget in aggregate on dollar-per-hour — which I have, and it's a deadly way to do it but highly justifiable — I've put 1,200 hours into Splatoon 2 and 1,100 hours into Smash... so, including Nintendo Switch Online — I've got a less than 0.08 cents an hour return on those two games plus the service for 3 years. That's a better return for me than Gamepass! If I plug in Switch only games like Dread, Astral Chain, Mario x Rabbids, Fire Emblem, Odyssey, Zelda, etc, even the cost of the hardware... I'm still just crushing it in aggregate dollars-per-hour on the platform.
I think dollar-per-hour is a way to look at it, but it's one way, and one of many personal value propositions and we should be careful not only judging other people's methodology, but also trying not to make our metrics for decision making into facts about a game or service.
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