Unravel is a puzzle-platformer where you play as a little creature named Yarny who can use his yarn to traverse beautiful, photo-realistic environments as we explore an old lady’s memories.  The whole mechanics of the game are extremely unique, with Yarny being able to make rope bridges and trampolines and lasso his yarn onto objects to either grab and pull them or swing from them.  Along the way, you must find more yarn before Yarny, well, unravels and can proceed no further.  The game is not perfect, and yet all the positives elevated it to a truly special experience.

As I had just mentioned, the gameplay feels very unique and unlike any other game I’ve ever played before, though the platforming can be, admittedly, rather clunky at times.  Swinging from one point to another can be frustrating when Yarny misses the next thing you need to latch onto, and how close you need to be to lasso onto the next point seems inconsistent.  Sometimes, he manages to grab onto something from far away, and then you’ll be certain you’re very close to the next spot, and he’ll completely miss.

The puzzles in this game are usually pretty fun, as well, with the exception of two horrible ones in level 3 and level 11.  I needed serious help overcoming these two particular challenges, and I was definitely not the only one.  This game could have also benefited from more variety, as many of the puzzles simply consist of making a yarn bridge and pulling objects across it, and a lot of your platforming consists of making trampolines out of yarn to jump higher.  There were also times that puzzles were frustrating simply because I couldn’t tell what objects I could interact with and which I couldn’t.  For example, I was struggling with getting past a rusty old tractor in level 3 until I realized that I could push a certain object that had not seemed like something I could move just moments prior.

The game’s presentation, however, is top tier, with beautiful graphics and music, and I even appreciated the way that you enter levels through framed photos that can be found throughout the old lady’s house, which helps to make the whole experience feel more natural and creative.  I love when games go the extra mile instead of just giving us another lazy level-select screen or whatnot.  (An example is Psychonauts, where you choose a save file by selecting a different bunk bed for Raz inside one of the summer camp’s cabins.  This felt so much more immersive than a static screen with a list of save files just sitting there.)

As for the story, Yarny travels through the memories of the old woman whose house we explore between levels.  On the most part, I actually kind of struggled with following the story, as I didn’t think the fuzzy people we see in the background (seen more clearly in the photo album accessible in the old lady’s house) gave me enough context to know much about these people.  I mean, most of the story seemed to be simply: some people go pick berries, some people visit the beach, some people play in the snow.  On one hand, I suppose most people’s lives don’t follow one grand adventure with a consistent plot that flows from childhood into old age.  As our lives progress, we collect a whole plethora of disjointed memories, with the most impactful being remembered best, whether fondly or reluctantly.  With that said, when the memories turn more negative towards the end of the game, it was difficult for me to feel much of an impact from it because I didn’t feel like I knew these people all that well.  Just because I knew they enjoyed hiking through the woods and going ice fishing didn’t mean I truly knew what kind of people they were.

Despite some flaws, I still really enjoyed my time with Unravel.  This is one of those games that feels so special that the flaws don’t really matter.  Even though I was unable to really connect with the old lady and her family, I really connected with Yarny himself and the whole feeling the game encompassed.  Seriously, the very first level of the game makes me teary-eyed simply because I long for a similar life, a peaceful life spent in nature with a home to call my own and a nice big yard where I can tend to a garden or just enjoy the sounds of birds as the sun sinks below the horizon.  Traveling through these (mostly) natural landscapes in Sweden and watching how Yarny interacts with his environment, from showing wonder at the sight of a butterfly, exhilaration from riding a boat, to shivering at the sound of thunder, was a wonderful experience that I won’t soon forget, and I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for something heartfelt.

Unravel is available on PS4, XBox One, and Steam for $19.99, though I got both this game and its sequel in the Unravel Yarny Bundle on sale for $5.99, which is a great deal for 12 levels (2 are short, though) spanning 6 hours for a casual playthrough and 14 for 100%.