This week Bandai Namco released a new video game called Unknown 9: Awakening. The game is a cross between an Indiana Jones film, Tomb Raider. Also, there’s a little of the Brendan Fraser Mummy series thrown in for good measure. So far the game has been getting fairly mixed reviews, on the low end side. But there are some passionate fans that really seem to enjoy it. They are the type who want a little more of the story once they complete their beloved game. And Bandai Namco decided to play into their hands by releasing a series of video shorts that tell another story that takes place shortly afterwards.

Passage takes place in 1914, on board the SS Talaria. The crew slowly descends into madness shortly after departing from Cairo. Emilia Duprey is a stowaway looking only to make her way to to the United States. She is the lone person on board who seems immune to the madness. In order to survive she finds herself having to figure out what is infecting the minds of everyone on board with her. This is true even if the mystery is hundreds of centuries old. Time is running short however. And as the number of crew slowly dwindles down, Emilia finds herself the target of the age old threat.

The problem with Unknown 9: Passage, is that it’s not something everyone will enjoy. Perhaps people who enjoyed the video game will like it. But even then it is questionable. The series of videos really just feel like a bunch of cut scenes between action play of a video game with very little production value. In fact it feels more like a student project, than a polished film. To make matters worse, even though the acting is decent, the characters and script are uninteresting. The biggest problem however is that if you haven’t played the game, you feel lost as to what is going on. Don’t expect the series to give any answers either, except ones that don’t really make a lot of sense. While the genre, a paranormal thriller, is popular at this time of year, there is nothing to really keep an average person interested.

For those who’ve played the game, and are interested in seeing what comes next, all episodes of Unknown 9: Passage are now available online. The average person however should just avoid them, because they won’t get much out of them.