4/5 ★ – Hill417's review of Unsighted.

Do you enjoy speed running, but wish there was more at stake? Like say, the fate of an entire race of sentient machines? Well let me tell you about Unsighted. You take the role of Alma, an amnesiac automaton who sets out on a quest to free the worlds supply of Anima. Anima is the material that allows all automatons their sentience and individuality, but it is currently blocked off by the humans. Now all of the machines, including yourself, have a timer that displays how many hours they have left. Some have 110 hours, 90 hours, 550 hours, 320 hours. When their timers hit zero then they become Unsighted, where they become mindless and will attack anything they see. So let’s say one of the shopkeeper has run out of time, then they’re gone forever. You can’t buy items from them anymore. If the timer for your companion Iris runs out then you’ll miss out on her side story and won’t get to see how it ends. There is an item called Meteor Dust that can add an additional twenty four hours to whoever consumes it, but it is very rare so deciding who gets it isn’t an easy choice. Should I give it to the weapons shopkeeper or to myself? We’re all familiar with the “end of the world” plot line, but the fact that we are constantly reminded what Is at stake, there is a lot more pressure. Should I take a detour to find new materials or hidden weapons instead of heading straight to my objective? If I’m taking to long to solve a puzzle then I am wasting precious minutes that could cost someone their life. I would’ve just gone straight to the story missions, but some areas will be blocked off until you acquire the right gadget to access them. So now I backtracked so that I could see what was hidden from me like materials for a new weapon. Luckily for me when I had enough money I immediately bought the fire sword so I didn’t feel the need to use an axe or a gun. Every time you slash an Unsighted it will consume your stamina, as will running, so there are times where you will have to stand your ground and parry at the right moment. Trust me you’ll have to learn how to parry and fast because this game can be unforgiving at times, but there is a way to get stronger. Assuming you have the right chips equipped then you can boost your attacks, stamina consumption, and health recovery. Again, should you go the extra mile to try to find them or get good enough so that they are not a necessity? If the timer mechanic sounds intimidating, but you want to play the game for its pixelated art style, then you can set the difficulty to explorer mode. It allows you to enable certain features like invincibility, less challenging combat, and the ability to disable the timer all together so you can play without the stress that is the impending demise of everyone around you. Now I will never judge someone base on how they choose to play, but to disable the timer completely takes away that the experience that the developers intended. Without it then Unsighted is just another game. By all means play it however you want, but rest assure that at times it can get hard, but with enough practice, there is no obstacle thrown at you that you cannot overcome.