Unravel

As soon as you start playing Unravel, you are met with a message from the development team to say that they have poured their hearts and souls into this game and that they are delighted to be able to share it with players. They go on to say that they wanted it to speak from the heart and to touch on themes such as love, nostalgia and the desire to repair broken ties. Once Unravel has been played at length, this is more than apparent.

You play as Yarny, a character made of red wool. He is all that exists and who you will use for most of the actions carried out. But Yarny’s not like other characters. In spite of his apparent simplicity, he is full of life and – even though he does not utter a single word throughout the adventure – ends up being far more expressive than characters in other video games.

After a cinematic introduction, in which we see an old woman in a house, who appears to be living alone, we get to move around the living room and enter paintings which serve as memories and experiences that the people in this family lived through. The whole world around us has been recreated to gigantic proportions, showing as Yarny as the tiny being he is.

This detail is most striking as we set off on our journey into the outside world, a place in which the love and affection which has gone into the design is glaringly obvious. The landscapes couldn’t look more real, largely thanks to the PhyreEngine tool, which is responsible for achieving such photorealism.

Our character’s goal on this expedition is to explore over ten platform levels solving puzzles. Yarny uses his red wool for any action other than jumping or moving around the different screens.

If there’s one thing that stands out in Unravel, aside from with its impressive graphics, it has to be the soundtrack. An ensemble of instruments, led by violins, really make the environment come to life. The tracks composed for this title are truly wonderful and accompany all the events that take place to perfection.

It doesn't matter that there are no voices or dialogue: they are not missed at all. Everything about the game is fantastic and will not disappoint. Coldwood Interactive are to be congratulated for the great job they have done and for taking us on this breathtaking journey that will be unforgettable. As we mentioned at the beginning, they said they wanted to make a game that came from the heart – and Unravel has a big impact on our hearts, proving that even in cases like this, where a game costs 70 euros, it couldn’t have been done any better.