Unravel (video game)
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''Unravel'' is a
puzzle-platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...
developed by the Swedish company Coldwood Interactive and published by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
. It was announced on 15 June 2015 and released in February 2016 for
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
,
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, and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
. The game centers on Yarny, a small
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
creature made of
yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufact ...
the player navigates through the environment, utilizing the unraveling yarn which makes up Yarny to solve puzzles, avoid dangerous creatures, and traverse obstacles. ''Unravel'' received a favourable reception upon release, with many critics in agreement that the game's visuals, protagonist, soundtrack, and overall tone were among its strong suits. Some raised criticisms concerning the controls, variety of puzzles, and platforming. A sequel, ''
Unravel Two ''Unravel Two'' is a 2018 puzzle-platform game developed by Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. The game is centered around two 'Yarnys', small anthropomorphic creatures made of yarn. It is the sequel to the 2016 game '' Unrave ...
'', was released in June 2018.


Gameplay

The game centres around its protagonist Yarny, an apple-sized creature made of red yarn. It explores the world around it that makes small everyday things look large due to its small size. By using the yarn from its body, Yarny creates rope to form bridges, pull things, and swing from items. Yarn is the main medium used to solve complex puzzles. As Yarny moves, the twine which it is made of unravels, creating lines that the player must use to solve puzzles to progress. This also serves as a challenge because walking Yarny too far will unravel it into a slim frame, unable to reach further. This frame can be refilled by interacting with balls of red yarn in the game environment. On this mechanic, Sahlin has stated, "It's always fun to play with physics. It's not just about solving puzzles. It's also a big part of how you move. Sometimes it's just traversing, navigating. Since you always leave this trail behind you, you can always grab it and climb on it and swing on it. You can do these really cool things when you combine stuff."


Story

During the game's introduction, an old woman is seen looking out her window, before she adjusts a picture of a baby and picks up a ball of yarn. As she proceeds upstairs, a lone ball of yarn rolls out of shot. Yarny, an anthropomorphic creature made of red yarn, and the game's protagonist, then walks into shot, and is looking around in wonder at the environment. Through various picture frames in the house, Yarny can visit environments that were significant in the home owners' lives, and discover their memories about the places; the initial memories are happy, such as visiting the sea shore, or hiking in the mountains, but eventually darker memories are revealed: the rural forest area is industrialized, which in turn causes accidents with toxic waste, and people start moving to the city. A memory also reveals that the old woman's husband died from a heart attack. At the end of each level, Yarny finds a red yarn badge it collects on the cover of a photo album in the house, which then fills with photos of the memories encountered along the way. On the final two levels, however, Yarny only finds one half each of a heart-shaped badge. On the final level, played in a cemetery, Yarny struggles its way through a snow storm to find the final half of the badge, but it slips from its hands, and jumping after it, Yarny unravels completely, with only a red thread of yarn remaining in its place. The badge piece is then picked up by a human hand. Yarny awakens in a camping backpack, holding the missing piece; it quickly runs home to place it on the photo album. Startled by a child entering the room, Yarny feigns to be inanimate again, and once the child leaves, it places the missing piece on to its final place on the photo album cover, which it then opens up to reveal the final passage and the end credits. According to Sahlin, the yarn that makes up Yarny represents love, and that the character unravels as they travel away from what they love.


Development and release

Although developer Coldwood's previous works received unfavorable critical reception, ''Unravel'' reportedly showed enough promise for EA's
DICE Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...
to arrange a publishing deal with EA. Subsequently, ''Unravel'' was announced at EA's E3 2015 conference by the game's developer and creative director, Martin Sahlin. During the game's presentation, Sahlin was noted to have "reacted to his on-stage appearance like most of us would: with shaking hands and a warbling voice." Sahlin's nervous and excited presentation of ''Unravel'' was met with a positive reception from the conference's audience. Following the announcement, Sahlin became the focus of well-circulated appreciative posts and
fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work. They are usually done by amateur artists, semi-professionals or professionals. As fan labor, fan art refers to ...
on social media website such as
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and
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. The game itself, especially its aesthetic, was also well received after its announcement; ''
VG247 ''VG247'' is a video game blog published in the United Kingdom, founded in February 2008 by industry veteran Patrick Garratt. In 2009, CNET ranked it as the third best gaming blog in the world. History Founded in collaboration on 1 February 2 ...
'' claimed ''Unravel'' was, "the most visually-impressive game EA showed". Initial reactions to the game also drew comparisons to ''
Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...
'' and
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
's ''
LittleBigPlanet ''LittleBigPlanet'' (stylized as ''LittleBIGPlanet''; abbreviated ''LBP'') is a puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in the series ...
'' series. On 14 December 2015, EA announced that the game would launch worldwide on 9 February 2016. The game's backgrounds and puzzles are inspired by the landscape of
Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeà ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
; Sahlin drew inspiration for the game after creating a Yarny doll out of tire wire and yarn during a family camping trip in northern Sweden. Sahlin has elaborated, "We live in the sticks. It's a very small town, very far north, close to the Arctic circle. There's not a lot of people, but a whole lot of countryside. I wanted to share some of that, some of the places that I love. I think you don't really see enough of that in video games. You tend to see more fantastical stuff." The game was developed on Sony's
PhyreEngine PhyreEngine is a license-only free to use game engine from Sony Interactive Entertainment, compatible with PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation VR, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Wi ...
. On 21 January 2016, EA abandoned the ''Unravel'' trademark after their application was rejected by the
United States Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
. Despite this, the company confirmed that the game would retain the title ''Unravel''.


Soundtrack

The ''Unravel'' soundtrack was composed by Frida Johansson and Henrik Oja. It was inspired by
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
and traditional instruments. It was released on June 24, 2016.


Reception

''Unravel'' received "favorable" reviews according to the aggregating review website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. Caitlin Cooke of ''
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'' scored the game a 10 out of 10, summarizing her review with: "''Unravel'' cherishes the best moments in life while recognizing the hard battles we sometimes face as families, all wrapped up within delightful gameplay and stunning scenery. The atmosphere is so compelling that I couldn’t help but feel like a piece of my own story was wrapped up in the game with the rest of the photo album. It’s rare but a special thing when a game manages to impart a story that touches strings deep in the heart, and ''Unravel'' manages to meet and exceed this feat." In awarding the game an 8.5 out of 10, ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...
''s Spencer Campbell commended the developer's ability to create a story that intertwines with the gameplay without compromising in quality, and called the game "a surprisingly deep puzzler with an unmeasurable amount of charm." He specifically praised the puzzles for making use of real-world objects and the story for feeling emotional. Campbell acknowledged the game's short length but said that those who judge the game only on length are missing out. ''
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''s Jeff Marchiafava scored the game a 7.75 out of 10 and wrote: "The satisfying platforming, thoughtful story, and adorable protagonist make 'Unravel''a worthwhile journey." Marchiafava commended the game's visuals and overall aesthetics for giving the player motivation to finish the game, even if the gameplay becomes repetitive. He also praised the soundtrack for wonderfully bolstering the game's themes.
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's Peter Paras gave the game a 3 out of 5. He praised the protagonist Yarny for being "loveable" all throughout the game and called the visuals "top-notch". Paras disliked the inconsistent design of the puzzles, the "clunky" controls, and the need to backtrack after running out of yarn, which he described as the game's "worst aspect". Rob Crossley of
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
praised the overall presentation of the game, which he thought was its defining feature, but criticized the amount of depth to the actual gameplay mechanics. He scored the game a 7 out of 10 and summarized his review with: "''Unravel''s wonderful sights and sounds won’t escape your own memory so soon. But assessed purely on gameplay, it’s everything I tend to fear about indie projects; Beautiful, heartfelt, but like Yarny himself, not robust enough." Louise Blain for
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
scored the game a 4.5 out of 5, saying: "''Unravel''s appeal goes far beyond pretty levels. Beautiful, poignant and with an iron grip on your heart, Yarny manages to effortlessly deliver a wonderful platformer and a bittersweet message." Even though she criticized the later levels for not being as robust as other levels, Blain praised the puzzle mechanics, soundtrack, protagonist, and the visuals.
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's Daniel Krupa scored the game an 8.3 out of 10, writing: "''Unravel'' took me on a surprisingly thoughtful and reflective journey, which encouraged me to appreciate the small and the insignificant with every step. As a puzzler it has charm due to Yarny’s engaging skills, but as a platforming experience it’s less remarkable. But to judge it solely on these mechanical aspects would be to overlook its greater achievement: the way it provokes subtle and complex emotions through the use of nature and nostalgia. It all makes for a sincere, warm-hearted, and extremely likeable adventure." Arthur Gies of ''
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'' scored the game a 6 out of 10 and wrote: "There's an emotional core to ''Unravel'' that's difficult to overstate, and it's hard to ignore how strong a character the little red spool of textiles manages to become despite not speaking at all. ''Unravel'' wants to say something, and I admire it for that. But it can be hard to shine a light on the bigger-picture things ''Unravel'' does well when it gets so many basic things fundamentally tangled up." Tom Sorry from VideoGamer.com scored the game a 7 out of 10 and wrote: "''Unravel'' is thoroughly enjoyable, lovely game, but it falls short of being something to be truly cherished. It's smart but not often enough, gorgeous but emotionally distant, and at times feels a tad unfair with how it dishes out frustration. There's a lot of love here, but also a fair chunk that is simply just OK."


Sequel

In May 2016, EA Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund announced that they had extended their contract with Coldwood Interactive, and that they would be involved in publishing their next project. EA later confirmed that the development team was working on a sequel set within the ''Unravel'' universe. On June 9, 2018, ''
Unravel Two ''Unravel Two'' is a 2018 puzzle-platform game developed by Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. The game is centered around two 'Yarnys', small anthropomorphic creatures made of yarn. It is the sequel to the 2016 game '' Unrave ...
'' was formally announced at the EA Play Presentation; the game was released the same day.


References


External links

* {{Official website, http://www.unravelgame.com/ 2016 video games Electronic Arts franchises Electronic Arts games PhyreEngine games PlayStation 4 games Puzzle-platform games Single-player video games Video games about toys Video games developed in Sweden Video games set in forests Windows games Xbox One games ColdWood Interactive games