What's weird about Unravel is that it was actually one of the first games that I had gotten for my PS4, as I bought it way back in December of 2016, and yet I never played anything past the first level until now. All I remember about the game was thinking that it looked great and that it felt very pleasant and sweet, but I've been meaning to beat the game since then. My thoughts on this game are admittedly a bit all over the place, but I want to start off with what Unravel does right first.
From a technical standpoint, Unravel is incredible. The photorealistic visuals, detailed sound design, and gorgeous score by Frida Johansson and Henrik Oja do an excellent job of bringing the game's Northern Scandinavian setting to life, as the levels go from being set in the lush woods to frigid snowstorms to even machine-filled factories and industrial areas. Yarny is an adorable protagonist, and having him use his yarn to make bridges, swing from objects, and more is a really interesting idea. The atmosphere in Unravel is heartfelt, charming, and occasionally melancholic, and at the core of it all is a beautifully told and emotional story about love, memories, nostalgia, and how the passage of time affects these things.
As pleasant as this game was in terms of its story and ambience, Unravel did have a number of shortcomings that ultimately dragged the experience down for me. For starters, Yarny himself is really janky to control, as the physics of both him and the objects he interacts with emphasize realism above all else, which makes certain puzzles frustrating in how unresponsive and unreliable the game feels to play. Speaking of which, the "Aha!" moments of many of the game's puzzles never really feel all that satisfying, and that's mostly because their solutions tend to be hidden in some obscure, barely visible place that you'd barely be able to figure out on your own. There were also some really cheap split-second deaths where the game would throw something at you that you can't actually react to without knowing they were there in the first place, and this leads to a lot of tedious trial-&-error gameplay that ends up feeling even worse when combined with the wonky physics. The only two levels that I really enjoyed from start to finish were the first level, "Thistle and Weeds", and the ninth level, "Winter Sun", and I really wish that the rest of the game took cues from those two great levels. Despite those glaring issues, the investment and immersion that I had felt while playing Unravel still made it win me over in the end, and I felt pretty satisfied by the time the credits rolled, even if I'm not all that interested in checking out Unravel Two.
From a technical standpoint, Unravel is incredible. The photorealistic visuals, detailed sound design, and gorgeous score by Frida Johansson and Henrik Oja do an excellent job of bringing the game's Northern Scandinavian setting to life, as the levels go from being set in the lush woods to frigid snowstorms to even machine-filled factories and industrial areas. Yarny is an adorable protagonist, and having him use his yarn to make bridges, swing from objects, and more is a really interesting idea. The atmosphere in Unravel is heartfelt, charming, and occasionally melancholic, and at the core of it all is a beautifully told and emotional story about love, memories, nostalgia, and how the passage of time affects these things.
As pleasant as this game was in terms of its story and ambience, Unravel did have a number of shortcomings that ultimately dragged the experience down for me. For starters, Yarny himself is really janky to control, as the physics of both him and the objects he interacts with emphasize realism above all else, which makes certain puzzles frustrating in how unresponsive and unreliable the game feels to play. Speaking of which, the "Aha!" moments of many of the game's puzzles never really feel all that satisfying, and that's mostly because their solutions tend to be hidden in some obscure, barely visible place that you'd barely be able to figure out on your own. There were also some really cheap split-second deaths where the game would throw something at you that you can't actually react to without knowing they were there in the first place, and this leads to a lot of tedious trial-&-error gameplay that ends up feeling even worse when combined with the wonky physics. The only two levels that I really enjoyed from start to finish were the first level, "Thistle and Weeds", and the ninth level, "Winter Sun", and I really wish that the rest of the game took cues from those two great levels. Despite those glaring issues, the investment and immersion that I had felt while playing Unravel still made it win me over in the end, and I felt pretty satisfied by the time the credits rolled, even if I'm not all that interested in checking out Unravel Two.