Unravel is one of those games that, from the first moment they are presented, attract attention. The world of indies and downloadable games has not stopped growing for years and one of the most successful formulas has been without doubt that of 2D platforms.
Through this proposal rescued from past times but with the current technology available, great titles have been built that have demonstrated a huge playable potential or that, in other cases, have been able to transmit messages and tell stories in a very special and unique way. We all come to the head names like Braid or Limbo. Challenges playable asSplosion Man ,
or a mix of explosive narrative and gameplay like Ori and the Blind Forest. Unravel, on the other hand, manages to enter through the eyes and ears like several of these mentioned, but it is not consumed as something memorable through command. And that, without being a bad game at all, ends up weighing in the global calculation.
The work of Coldwood Interactive -EA as editor- gives off a special aura from the first of the screens. In it, a text by the creators that explain to the player that they have been working for years on the game, which highlights the care and love that they have dedicated to him.
The subsequent sequence puts us squarely in what Unravel represents. An elderly lady looks out the window, nostalgically touches one of the photos she has in her house and picks up a ball of wool. That’s where our protagonist comes from, representative according to Coldwood “of love and who seeks the things he loves”. We start to control this nice character, we approach some of the photos that are near us and the adventure begins.
Everything that the game transmits at an audiovisual level perfectly combines the feeling of well-being with that of nostalgia. Coldwood puts the focus on a simple character but able to show emotions with small gestures. You see him stumble or
get scared by the flight of a bird and it is impossible not to sketch a slight smile. In addition, it is so tiny and fragile that it makes the scenarios we walk shine brighter. It’s like putting a magnifying glass in the middle of a garden: we’ll see details, movementsand elements that we did not know and that transmit life. Bucolic by concept, the contrasts that we find between levels –
there is a moment in which we cross a train line presumably abandoned that is pure visual force- help our trip to have that, the sensation of a journey: from one point to another, remembering moments and situations lived by that old woman who has given us life.
And it is what we see, at the same time with what we hear with quiet melodies, unfriendly friends – except for some cases – of the tension of critical moments,
and with string instruments to the head, which make us forget in many cases what Unravel proposes playable . Because the experience through the command, being entertaining and correct, ends up not being as polished and complete as it is its audiovisual section. The title offers platform mechanics and also puzzles, but its development is somewhat irregular too many times.
