Actress Anya Chalotra, known for her role as Yennefer in Netflix’s The Witcher series, recently discussed her character and role as Haroona in Unknown 9: Awakening, and claimed that she’s never seen a game as diverse as it.
Anya Chalotra as Yennefer in The Witcher: Season 3 (2023), Netflix
Speaking with YouTube channel CG Magazine, Chalotra discussed her character saying, “Haroona lead you through this game, this world. And she is on a quest to avenge her mentor Raker whose life has been taken by Vincent. And find out more about the Unknown 9.”
Chalotra added, “She has an innate power, a kind of like calling that’s outside of herself. It’s internal, but it’s about something bigger than herself that she can rely on. She’s not selfish. She’s always thinking about something greater. She also possesses incredible supernatural powers that only through her choices are as powerful as they are.”
In another portion of the interview, Chalotra discussed the game’s diversity. She said, “I’m excited for people to hopefully feel empowered by this character who is so, so grounded, so inspired by like things that are outside of herself, bigger than her.”
She then added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that connection to—a game as diverse as this with that many voices and that kind of exploration.”
As for why she took on the role, Chalotra stated, “Why wouldn’t I want to play this character? Especially lend my culture and that part of myself, the Indian heritage, that part of myself to this woman of Indian descent.”
She continued, “But not only that, there’s a real sense of groundedness and authenticity that she has that I feel from my family, that I feel because of my family. I hope that’s what gives her, grounds her.”
The game appears to be a massive commercial flop following given the concurrent player counts on Steam. SteamDB reports that within the game’s first 24 hours, which is still ongoing, it only hit a peak concurrent player count of just 240.
Unknown 9: Awakening SteamDB peak concurrent player charts
The low player numbers are not surprising given the game was added to the Sweet Baby Inc. detected Steam curator list as well as DEIDetected.com by Brazilian gamer KabrutusRambo. It was added to the list, which effectively serves as a boycott list for games that push divisive progressive themes, after The Shorty Awards revealed that Sweet Baby Inc. co-founded David Bedard and Kim Belair both worked on the game.
Bédard is credited as the Brand Content Manager at Reflector Entertainment Ltd., the game’s developer, while Belair is credited as Story Architect at Sweet Baby Inc.
Screenshot from The Shorty Awards website
Bédard’s LinkedIn page also confirmed he worked for the game’s developer Reflector Entertainment Ltd. as a Brand Content Manager from April 2018 to March 2019.
David Bédard’s LinkedIn
What do you make of Chalotra’s comments about the game?
