[1] In addition, the game offers more modern elements, such as choosing teammates for certain missions and a story that is influenced by the player's choices.

[3] The game plays out in an episodic fashion similar to television shows with the player choosing which site to visit and which characters to bring with them at the beginning of each mission.

[5] Instead of engaging in combat, players are tasked to defend themselves against enemies by solving puzzles that range from deciphering code to releasing creatures before they can cause more harm.

During the events of the game, Logan, a recovering alcoholic and medium who travels with KayKay, the spirit of a dead ten-year old who helps him connect with other ghosts, and Vicki, a former police officer who also was the protagonist's former partner if they chose the cop background, join Unavowed.

[9] After the exorcism, the player's character joins Unavowed's New York branch and learns that supernatural threats have increased within the last year.

When researching on Staten Island, the team encounters Vicki Santina who was suspended after questioning supernatural occurrences within the NYPD's 120th precinct.

There the team finds a closed portal and notes previously written by the protagonist indicating a total of six sites they had been interfering with.

On Wall Street, the team discovers that the protagonist conspired with fae folk to kidnap Eli's great-grandson and manage to rescue him.

In Chinatown, they find out that a ba jiao gui (banana ghost from Chinese folklore) haunts the neighborhood, and deal with it.

The player's character confronts the soul of the protagonist on top of the Empire State Building who pleads with them to willingly merge into one being again to create a new world based on their beliefs.

[10] Gilbert noted that he was inspired by remarks made by former BioWare senior writer Jennifer Hepler in a 2006 interview to develop a role-playing game which offers a branching, party-based narrative, but without combat mechanics or level progression of the player characters' abilities.

[citation needed] Unavowed was built using the Adventure Game Studio engine, modified to allow fully voiced dialogue and groups of characters appearing at once.

[24] The game's visual design was praised by multiple reviewers as atmospheric and making good use of lighting and colors to paint a believable world where the supernatural exists.

[14] In a 2017 preview, PC World claimed that Ben Chandler, the game's artist, "has really outdone himself" and that the design helps to strengthen the idea of New York City "as this mystical place where the supernatural hides in the shadows".

[6] PC Gamer's Jody Macgregor wrote a separate feature article just focusing on the background art, positively comparing the artwork to scenes from classical adventures, such as the carnival in Sam & Max Hit the Road or the city of Ankh-Morpork from the Discworld game.

[14] GameSpot noted that "getting drawn into a lengthy conversation is a joy" because of "well-rounded characters, complete with their own fears, desires, and vexes" and credits this to "incredible" voice acting and writing.

[6] Multiple critics praised the game's replay value due to using different companions unlocking previously unknown interactions.

[6][9][14][22] However, Rock, Paper, Shotgun also remarked that puzzles become better in the second half of the game[6] and GameSpot found the quests "varied and often unpredictable".

Club called Unavowed Gilbert's best work to date, especially praising the design and the writing and comparing it favorably to the Quest games and the Monkey Island series.

[1] Rock, Paper, Shotgun was equally impressed, especially lauding the BioWare-style story that offers many complex and complicating features successfully "in a way the genre has genuinely never seen before".