"Lycka blommar ur små enkla ting" - Swedish for "happiness blooms from small, simple things."
I've played a lot of games in my life, and very few have made me feel such strong emotions as Unravel did. In fact, I enjoyed this game so much that it inspired me to come back to Amulets and Ale and write about it after a long period of inactivity. Unravel is a platformer/puzzle game created by Swedish designers Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in February 2016 on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One. For this particular review, I played the Xbox One version of the game.
Unravel features a small creature made completely of yarn aptly named Yarny. Throughout the game, Yarny travels across multiple levels in order to collect memories and mementos. These small, simple things tell the tale of an elderly woman's lifetime as they fill out a scrapbook.
Unravel's gameplay is relatively simple. Yarny can run, jump, climb, and use his yarn in various, interesting ways to solve puzzles in order to continue moving forward in each level. Being made completely of wrapped yarn that is constantly unwinding as he travels, Yarny can only move so far without finding extra yarn spools throughout a level to add to his stock. These spools serve as checkpoints that Yarny will return to should he meet with an untimely ending to his journey. Additionally, the constantly unwinding yarn requires efficiency of use when solving puzzles. There were a few times that I was able to use my length of string in a way that solved the puzzle but I was not able to move onto the next area because I had used too much yarn in my solution. This unwinding of the character adds a unique spin to Unravel's otherwise fairly familiar side-scrolling, puzzle/platformer gameplay.
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| Uh-oh, Yarny's looking a little strung-out! |
It's sort of hard to explain the story presented by Unravel, because there isn't really a story being actively told. Instead, each memory found as well as the levels themselves allow the player to experience the game's narrative. This experiential method of storytelling causes the player to feel more a part of the game's world and more invested in the story as he or she puts together the pieces presented in each level. Not being overtly told what was happening and instead experiencing it is a major part of why this game elicited such strong emotions from me.
Unravel features 12 levels that are inspired by Coldwood Interactive's home, Sweden. These levels vary in their settings such as the countryside or sea and are easily some of the most beautiful settings I have ever experienced in a game. Unravel's graphics augment this beauty as the game's environments appear nearly photo-realistic. Each level comes with surprises and scares which are delightful. I went from feeling genuinely worried as rocks slid from the side of a mountain in one level as I desperately attempted to dodge them to feeling the same joy i felt as a child in another level when I pushed a pine cone onto a snow-covered hill only to see it collect snow into a ball as it went just like when building a snowman.
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| When you're that small, it's more of a nice try-cicle. |
Adding to the game's emotion and beauty, Unravel features a wonderful soundtrack that is inspired by Swedish folk music and traditional instruments. The soundtrack changes dynamically as you work your way through each level in order to best set the mood for Yarny's current situation, which results in some very memorable moments. The game's music fits each level perfectly and quickly became one of my favorite parts of Unravel.
Similarly to other games in this genre, Unravel's story is short and sweet. Most players will be able to finish the game in around 5-6 hours. All but one of the game's levels have 5 secrets hidden in them which, alongside the game's achievements, will stretch playtime out a little longer. After finishing the game 100% I had a playtime of 14 hours logged.
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| Yarny often has existential crises as to why he is alive and yet other yarn creations are not... |
I really only have one complaint about Unravel, and that is the fact that many parts of the game feel impossible to complete on your first attempt. That is, many times a hazard will unexpectedly fly at Yarny out of nowhere leaving you very little time to figure out how to avoid it without repeating the section a few times. I'm really not happy when games rely solely on trial and error to move on with deaths on the line. Luckily Unravel's checkpoints are very fairly distributed, so these instances are a nuisance at worst.
I think it's pretty clear that I really, really loved Unravel. The game's beauty and emotion will make playing this game something that I remember for a long time.
Amulets and Ale Rating:
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