The day Electronic Arts announced Unravel on the E3, which is made by the swedish Studio Coldwood Interactive, was a big surprise for everybody. This game seems a little bit not typical for the californien company. With a small budget they released a game with the main character Yarny which is sympathetic animated boy made of wool. We have the great opportunity to test Unravel for you.

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We think that Unravel is one of these games that players just like or not. There are no voices to hear in this game. This means that the cryptic story about the red boy is told by the great landscape, atmospheric music and great animations. Yarny searches for his memoirs which are shown to the player at the end of every section in a photo album. To get this memories you have to play through each section which is full of puzzles and hazards. These puzzles and hazards are looking very dangerous because of the great photorealistic art design. If you see Yarny stamping through the fantastic looking scandinavian snow, trying to keep himself warm with his small arms made of wool, we would like to take him out of this game and sit him down in front of a warming oven.

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The games begins in an old furnished house. Players climb on some furnishings and are using Yarnys skills. That means that players use Yarnys wool as a lasso or attach his wool somewhere to climb with it. The framed images are the entrance for each section. At the end of the section you are going back to the living room where you can find the album with the memories on a table. Unfortunately, we do not understand why players have to climb the same known ways in this living room to the next framed image. Each of these scenarios takes 15 up to 30 minutes. What we love is that the respawn points are set fairly. The ways in the living room just extend the gameplay time unreasonably.

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There is a lot of space for interpretation why Yarny do this journey through all this great looking forests, ports, nuclear waste landfills, junkyards and similar hazardous areas which are inspired by the north scandinavian landscape. What we also liked is, that it is important as a player to get a connection with Yarny. This helps to enjoy the emotional final of this game. We do not know why Yarny gets alive, but we think that players will always care about the main character. This sweet boy made of wool shakes himself when it is wet or snowy, he fights against the wind and weather, slips with small realistic looking animation on small ice. He has to deal with crabs, to stand against attacking ravens or to flee from subterranean rodents.

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Along his way he has to dodge falling rocks, try to survive in a storm, cope in a big snowstorm, to fend off violent backwashes, escape electric shocks, and much more. Over the ten sections players have a lot of work to keep Yarny alive. In addition to that players have to deal with the clever built puzzles that for example open doors, start engines or players have to use discarded cans as a ladder to rescue yourself to the next checkpoint. The special feature: Yarny always leaves a red thread which rolls away from his body. And that means that Yarny wool is limited. If this happens you have to go back to fill up his body again. This is only possible at one of the checkpoints. What we like is that it is comfortably to back when you should have entangled yourself.

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And this can happen more than once. Not because the puzzles are complicated, but it happens if you want to find all five secrets of every section. For this you need great skills to combinate all your platform skills and skills to solve the puzzles. The standard puzzles are not yet in great number. Everything you can interact with is marked with a coat or shimmers as soon as you come closer to it. So you can for example eject the wool as a Lasso. After using it you can use the rope to pull yourself up or swing on it. Of course there are passages in which you have to use it like Spider-Man without taching the ground. You also need the lasso to use specific switches.

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However, you can tie the yarn at a few points to lower oneself down yourself. It is also possible to attach it on the mobile objects. Another option can be a result of the nodes. You can built ramps of the rope to pull or push objects to reach higher ground or to go out of the way of hazard objects.

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This ramps or bridges are also useful to use it as a ramp for yourself. This can catapult Yarny dangerously high. But you have to pay attention. A lot of knots and ramps means that you may not have enough wool available to reach the next checkpoint. One of the option that players have is to use the reset function to start a new and better planed try. Or you go all the way back and solve the unneeded knots, bridges and ramps so that you have not ruined your way to the target. It is a very huge problem if you just before the level ends find out what you actually have to do and you have to throw your entire puzzle strategy away. Unfortunately, on the one hand this happens not often, but if it happens, it is really frustrating. But then you take a look at Yarny and how he stays lost and freezing in the landscape and you just only want to help him as fast as you can.

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The game looks fantastic. But not only the look, but also the sounds are great. We also used our Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum 7.1 Surround Gaming-Headset that has played the sounds really great. For more about the Headset take a look at jadoRendr’s REVIEW or take a look at the official homepage HERE.

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Whoever at Electronic Arts Studios was responsible for taking this charmed puzzle platformer under contract, had the right flair about this game. It seems that this indie project does not fit in the game portfolio of this industry giant, because other games are focused on action. This game is something totally different. With its calm, the leisurely narrative pace, the power of images and the wonderfully Yarny as a suffering enabled protagonists it is something for young and old. In addition to that, Unravel is a game with varied landscapes, compelling animations and realistic looking physics anytime. That is why players can enjoy here a visually clean and atmospheric impression. The mechanically reduction on only a few elements is a pleasant variation from monotony platformers. The path to the goal is not reached by logic from time to time. It happens that you have to use the try-or-loose tactic. As a player you just only want to help this cute boy of wool through his emotional journey into the past. We think that swedish Studio Coldwood Interactive made a great game for everybody. Thumbs Up!

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