Unravel

Unravel is a physics based puzzle side-scrolling platformer about Yarny, a creature made of red yarn. The game opens with an old woman in her house. When she goes upstairs, a ball of red yarn drops from a basket she is carrying and it turns into the creature Yarny. Players control the creature as it explores the house. The game consists of several levels that are accessed through photographs in the house. These represent memories of the house’s owners, both good and bad, each with a different environment. Through these, as well as additional sequences, the story is gradually revealed.

Yarny needs to travel through levels, solve physics based puzzles and finds ways to progress. The creature is very small, so all everyday objects in the level environments are very large. It is possible to run and jump farther, push objects and hang from ledges. Surfaces that glitter can be climbed. Most of the the mechanics are based around Yarny’s body. As it moves the twine it leaves behind, always stuck at the start of the level, is extended and slowly unspools. This twine can be used in various ways, to pull down objects, use abseiling points and tow ropes, swing across passages, throw lassos, tie it to form bridges and trampolines etc. The yarn can also be hooked to any part of the environment marked with a scrap of red thread. There is another difficulty as the unraveling twine is not endless. If it becomes too long Yarny eventually unravels into a single frame. This can be countered by refilling it with balls of red yarn, also acting as checkpoints, or finding a way to solve puzzles using less yarn. It is possible to return and grab the yard tail to collect it and try again.

During levels scrapbooking motifs are collected. They are is used to fill photos in an album in the house, until it is complete. Environments include the sea shore, mountains, a rural forest, a cemetery and so on, often with different weather conditions. Each level also has five optional secrets. The game is in 3D, but only uses a single, horizontally-scrolling plane. Objects near the front are sharp, while everything in the back of the environment is slightly blurred and out of focus.