A puzzle platformer built around the yarn-based abilities of its doll protagonist.

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In Unravel, you traverse a linear series of levels, with the core gameplay being run-of-the mill platforming and puzzles requiring you to push around boxes, activate levers etc. What sets the game apart from its peers, is the protagonist doll’s ability to use the yarn he is made of as a lasso to pull objects or attach the yarn to them in order to create bridges, pull themselves up and more.

With all of this going on, you also must keep track of the amount of yarn available to you, as each bit used further unravels you, eventually preventing you from going any further. To prevent this, you’ll have to regularly stock up using spools spread through the levels, which also act as the game’s checkpoints. Sadly, I found this particular mechanic to be mostly unfun, with the available amount of yarn feeling very inconsistent and rarely coming into play anyway. If it does, it usually means that you must backtrack to make slight adjustments to the way you connected things up, mostly just wasting time.

As for the levels, each one uses a different theme, featuring unique gimmicks and hazards. Sadly, I found many of the new mechanics each level introduces to be rather annoying, serving mostly to annoy instead of varying gameplay in interesting ways. The puzzles presented by the game don’t get much more complex over its course, similarly to the move set, which barely evolves. In fact, I’m quite certain that only a single collectible requires tech that wasn't taught within Unravel’s first levels.

As such, the core gameplay remains mostly trivial, with basic platforming and simple puzzles. That being said, the game’s difficulty does change, though I found the variation to be quite random, with a strange difficulty spike in the mid game followed by some levels that are a breeze to get through. Some puzzle solutions are also quite obscure, which isn’t helped by the player guiding feeling lacking in some areas.

Adding to these problems, most puzzles the game presents you with are physics-based, which is problematic due to the physics simulation being rather janky at times. This led to quite a few unearned deaths throughout my playthrough thanks to unpredictable movement in response to interactions. In a similar vein, many set pieces have sections in which you can do everything right but may die by random chance because an object moved a hair to close to you. This is especially egregious in spots where all you have to do is hug a corner to avoid an object rolling over you and even though you couldn’t get closer if you wanted to, the game sometimes kills you anyway.

Beyond finishing the levels, Unravel also tasks you with finding 5 collectibles per level, some of which are hidden quite neatly, though most aren’t too interesting. You’re also challenged to complete each level without dying, which I found quite annoying due to the inconsistencies outlined above.

As for its visuals, Unravel goes for a mostly realistic look, which is fine but at times felt a bit uncanny to me. I also felt the differentiation between interactable foreground objects and the background to be lacking, leading to confusion about where I could walk. The game’s sound design is rather basic but functional, while its soundtrack is quite good, featuring many tracks that are quite expressive and work well to convey the respective scene’s vibe.

Theres a small narrative woven throughout the game, laying out a life story with all its ups and downs. Said life story is likely more interesting than most but also didn’t feel all that exciting for me. As such, I didn’t have much interest in the story beats, though that experience may very well differ if you have a soft spot for this sort of stuff.

Sadly, I’ve also got some more problems concerning Unravel’s technical state, which played a huge part in me giving it a negative rating. First up, I had numerous issues with just controlling the game. My DualShock controller wasn’t properly recognized, leading to buttons being switched around, with the button remapping menu crashing upon opening it. Steam Input seems to be completely disabled for the game, so I eventually, had to use a third-party application just to get my controller working. I’d also like to point out that Unravel doesn’t support mouse input at all, with the keyboard navigation also feeling like a complete afterthought.

The game also forces you to install the EA app, as far as I can tell for no reason at all, given that there isn’t any integration with it. Essentially this forces a bunch of useless bloatware apps on you and then demands you create a similarly useless EA account before you can even start the bloody game. With all of this out of the way, I also quickly noticed that about 80% of the time Unravel would start with its Steam integration being broken, thus not allowing me to access the Steam overlay.

Considering all these issues, simply getting to the point where I was able to properly play Unravel felt like a massive chore and very much tainted the whole experience. While I had some fun playing through the game, there were even more times when I just wanted to be done with this technical mess.

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All in all, I honestly can’t recommend playing Unravel owing to the myriad of technical issues and its gameplay sadly feeling quite rough at many points.

READ FOR HONEST REVIEW

Contents:
THE TROUBLE
REVIEW
BUTTONS
UNRAVEL 2
LONG STORY SHORT

THE TROUBLE:
We were forced to make an EA account and then still even after that it had difficulty opening and showed a loading screen then said to check my internet and that it wasn't working. If you push play let it load and then push it again then wait awhile (around 15-30 minutes) it should work. I was in the middle of shopping on Amazon after I had given up on trying to open it and then it magically opened itself and finally worked. After that it should work from now on. However you do need to push play, wait, then push play again for it to open.

REVIEW:
Even after all of this, I still think Unravel is an AWESOME game for people who love Adventure, Puzzles, and Adorable Yarn Buddy's! There are multiple world and HOURS of game play. Even if you finish beating all the worlds, it is fun to go back in and try to find all the secrets!

BUTTONS:
D-Launch string, S-Hold on to yarn, Arrow keys- Move side to side, Holding S and up/down arrow key-Climb up/down yarn slowly, Space-Jump, Esc key-For leaving the game and changing settings, and Enter-Tying knots. Those are the buttons I can remember. It does teach you the all the keys and buttons to push at the beginning of the game, so that's helpful.

UNRAVEL 2:
I have Unravel 1 and 2 and I saw that Unravel 2 was Co-op so I cannot wait to play with my sister. For Unravel 1 and Unravel 2 --1 player-- you can use your keyboard, but on Unravel 2 --2 player-- you need to have a Backbone One, on PS Remote Play, Xbox, GeForce Now, or a Steam Link controller. Looks fun though!

LONG STORY SHORT:
Awesome game! I had a little bit of trouble trying to open it. But once it was open we loved it! Would strongly recommend!

A very fun platformer about discovering exploring the memories of the past, enjoyed it a lot with some environmental themes!