QCF: Unravel

n the modern day of gaming, it isn’t uncommon for new piece of software to be so visually striking for someone upon first glance; the realistic detail that’s produced out of present hardware has delivered some of the sweetest eye candy that our peepers could’ve ever dreamed of glancing upon.

And despite the impressive strides towards such graphical verity, this new age of technical prowess can deliver a great deal of wonder to worlds born out of fantasy, and the whimsical sights that illustrate reality beyond that of our real lives.

Coldwood Interactive’s Unravel is an incredible example of that very sentiment, transporting us into the role of a sentient doll made of wool named Yarny, and his adorable misadventures he leads from the diminutive perspective of enchanted toy living in a human world.

Graphics aren’t everything of course, it’s just not too often that that captivating aesthetic can lend so much to what’s otherwise a familiar, yet solid platforming formula—and the result is a memorably heart-warming one.

As the scene fades into the interior of a humble country home, in front of an embroidered pillow with a Swedish message stitched upon it, you’ll explore what is essentially is the HUB of Unravel, encountering various pictures that represent memories of a family, and each of these memories act as a stage for Yarny to travel through.

The story behind these people and their significance to Yarny is gradually (sigh) unraveled through subtle gesturing, and minimal animation sequences that work to effectively portray an engaging narrative without an exchange of text or dialogue to direct it. Occasions like an early harvest in the home garden, or a weekend trip to the beach not only work to illustrate the story that’s taking place, but as an ingenious tour of how Yarny sees the numerous types of environments and the impression they offer to something of his unique stature, along with creating a plethora of deep puzzles to conquer as well.

Continuing the theme of unraveling, players will navigate Yarny through the stage with the caveat of him leaving behind a strand of himself gradually behind with every step that he takes, until he can’t take another step without being completely undone. The only way that the little knitted toy can persevere on is if direct him to a cache of spooled yarn that he add on to his figure, and assimilating the additional yarn is vital for players to advance further in the stage. This dynamic places an extra precedence upon how a player chooses to navigate the fluffy hero through the various paths available in a given level, as certain obstacles must be tackled in a certain priority in order to give you those crucial inches needed to that red tether of yarn needed to reach the spool on screen.

This structure is unique because while the objective of the puzzle is very clear, the solution to it isn’t, and at times, significantly perplexing to find. The depth of the quandaries are notable because the answers to solving them aren’t as binary as some of the other puzzle platformers that have come before it. For example, one of the abilities that Yarny has is to tie his body leash between certain notches in the stage that can either act as a makeshift bridge to push objects over a great distance, or a trampoline that he can use to boost the height of his jump—or at times both, and the priority which step to complete first, or order of notches to chain, will make all the difference. 

Nothing is ever entirely telegraphed to you at upon first sight simply because the real solution may call for a number of steps and backtracks to complete, making every mental exercise encountered more cerebral than the last. Granted, there are times where the solutions can be a little too cryptic to make the fundamentals of Unravel’s puzzles a bit unintuitive but it doesn’t make the moments where the discover what to do any less satisfying.

The challenges of Unravel’s platforming doesn’t always demand your thinking power, and does facilitate some of the more traditional conventions that will test your reflexes and jumping skills just the same—especially grappling and swinging. There isn’t any direct combat per say, but that doesn’t meant that there aren’t moments where Yarny will have to interact with his surroundings to defend himself, and there’s definitely no shortage of hostile elements that will target the misfit toy with extreme prejudice.

While there are some deceptively difficult puzzles hidden behind its breath-taking exterior, there aren’t too many non-Nintendo games currently available that will deliver the warm and fuzzies quite like Unravel. Coldwood Interactive has created a natural, endearing sense of whimsy and charm that can melt away nearly any heart exposed to it, no matter the age-group or preference, and it’s an experience that I can’t recommend enough to anyone looking to experience a game more than simply just playing one.