Unravel Review

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Unravel is another game that I wrote a review for last year. Please check it out and let me know what you think. 

Unravel, unveiled at E3 2015 by a nervous Martin Sahlin from Coldwood Interactive, oozes with emotion throughout its twelve-stage journey. With colorful landscapes, exciting antagonists, and a heartwarming soundtrack, Unravel defines how a modern puzzle-platformer should look and feel. Unfortunately, the puzzles don’t provide much of a challenge, hindering what is an overall excellent experience.

     Yarny, Unravel’s cute anthropomorphic hero made out of yarn, takes a trip down memory lane in order to restore an unfinished photo album. Yarny relives certain memories in order to reclaim lost relics that belong to the photo album cover. These memories range from heartwarming and touching to dark and melancholic. The story feels complete, but lacks any real depth making it hard for the player to care about anything other than Yarny.

Unravel's visuals are stunning to look at. The beautiful view of a

snowy field, a dilapidated hazardous waste ground, and sunny beaches all make for fun and unique levels. The musical score tied to each level adds emphasis, drama, and sometimes urgency, but overall it's emotionally soothing.

Yarny is attached to a string of yarn to keep himself together, which halts the progress if puzzles aren't properly solved with enough remaining slack to reach a checkpoint. Every checkpoint consists of a random ball of red yarn that replenishes Yarny’s supply and they’re frequent enough to make the play-through uncomplicated. Yarny uses string from his own body to swing across gaps, lasso items he can move, and build tight ropes to walk across.

     The use of Yarn as a tool is refreshing and new, however, the puzzles are never overly complex. Occam’s Razor can be applied to every puzzle. Instead of looking for the complicated answer, it’s usually the easiest one that is correct. 

     The unique enemies throughout the game are the highlight of Unravel and serve as nice palate cleansers between puzzles. Yarny flees when an enemy chases him and this pacifist approach makes for some intense escapes. Running from a flock of birds, cockroaches, crabs, and woodchucks really gets the blood flowing.

Unravel’s immersive environment is pleasant to look at while the fantastic soundtrack emphasizes every moment. These set the tone of each level beautifully and traversing through as Yarny will make you feel right at home. The story, albeit lacking in depth, feels heartwarming and fun. Unfortunately, the only thing holding Unravel back is the lack of complicated puzzles that truly test a gamer's will.

+Stunning Visuals

+Heartwarming soundtrack

+Exciting chase sequences

-Lack of depth in story

-Puzzles are too easy