By Savannah Baker
At its heart, the act of playing brings meaningful experiences and sentiments to the gaming community. Unravel is a game that was created in the spirit of rich, emotional gameplay. It explores the world in a way that makes the mundane look larger than life. While Unravel tells a story about love and loss, there is more depth to the emotional intelligence behind the game. Unravel takes players on a journey through the five stages of grief by using visual design, sound design, and music.
Spinning the Yarn: Overview
Unravel is a single-player, physics-based puzzle game where users play as Yarny, a small creature made of yarn. The game immerses its audience through an emotionally captivating adventure where the players explore the local nature of northern Sweden while reconnecting an elderly lady with the memories of her lost family. Players interact with the environment using Yarny’s thread to solve complex puzzles throughout a series of chapters that each correlate to a family memory. The story is discovered through gameplay, but the events of the story have already been pre-set as the game uses embedded storytelling.
Unravel is defined by its rule-based space due to how the objects in the game move. Players can throw a lasso, tie knots to stakes or trees, climb up and down using thread, swing from branches, push and pull objects, and jump. While solving the puzzles within the game is an important aspect of gameplay, it does not sum up a player’s experience. Unravel is an emotional adventure that comes from the heart. The game does not provide tools for the players to interact together, but Unravel’s heartfelt themes have created a bond between players online who value the game’s meaningful messages.
It Comes from the Heart: Context
Unravel was developed by Coldwood, a small company located in Umeå, Sweden. Coldwood was founded after a game studio called Daydreams in Umeå closed. Six of the employees at Daydreams decided they wanted to keep making games, and so Coldwood was born. After a handful of small demos created on tiny budgets and little time, Coldwood began their journey of creating a game that had something to give. With that came the development of Unravel: “It was born out of the need to make something deeply personal, that came straight from the heart and had something meaningful to say” (Sahlin).
Unravel was then published by Electronic Arts (EA) and released in February 2016 for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One. After the favorable responses to its release, Coldwood created Unravel Two, which was released only two years later in 2018.
Although a small team, Coldwood created a game with so much heart that people all over the world gained meaningful experience from its gameplay. The Creative Director at Coldwood, Martin Sahlin, stated that “the game didn’t have to change the world, or even try, but it had to be genuine, … It had to have heart” (Sahlin). Whether players walk away from Unravel feeling adoration or melancholy, the common factor between players is a heart full of emotions.
Yarny’s Purpose
Before Yarny begins his adventure, players are greeted by an elderly lady who is traveling down memory lane as she looks at the photographs of her family framed around her house. As the woman then walks up the stairs holding her basket full of yarn, a ball of red yarn falls from the basket, unraveling as it rolls down the steps until the player is met by Yarny (see Figure 1).
Yarny is able to explore the main living space of the house which is filled with photographed memories. Each chapter of Yarny’s adventure is correlated with a family adventure that can be accessed through these framed photos, although the order in which Yarny explores these memories is pre-determined.
Yarny collects memories, secrets, and crocheted badges in his travels to bring back home. As he returns home from each journey, he unlocks a series of photographs and a handwritten note inside an old, run-down scrapbook (see Figure 2). His adventures are what ultimately reconnects the elderly lady’s lost memories and broken bonds as he ties everything back together.
Denial: What Could Go Wrong?
Yarny’s first adventure, “Thistle and Weeds”, begins close to home in the comfort of his backyard. Nothing seems to be astray as the sun is shining, flowers are flourishing, and birds are chirping (see Figure 3). The music is calming and exudes peacefulness. This chapter is deceptive as it makes players think they are in for an adventure of “cuteness”.
Figure 3: Yarny stands at the edge of an empty fountain, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
Chapter two, “The Sea”, follows this similar pattern as Yarny explores a beautiful park close to the water on a bright and sunny day. The music is still lighthearted and creates a sense of serenity. Players can hear the water slash against the rocks as the waves come in and out. There is no true harm or danger for players to be concerned about—other than Yarny not being able to swim of course.
The visual design choice of having the beginning chapters well-lit with a clear sky and bright sun allows players to be in denial that Unravel will be anything more than a lean-back game filled with joy, cuteness, and peaceful adventure. The sun commonly symbolizes positivity and clarity, and the music in these chapters correlates with the visual mood.
Yarny’s body language even plays a factor in how the game represents emotion. In these early chapters, Yarny has this joyful prance as he walks about, arms swinging side to side (see Figure 4). This is important to note as “consistency in nonverbal cues is associated with honesty and trustworthiness” (Isbister 22).
Figure 4: Yarny reaches to touch a butterfly, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
As players move into chapter three, “Berry Mire”, the mood shifts ever so slightly—so slightly that players may not even notice the mood change at first. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who first coined the five stages of grief, noted that people “often reject the reality of the new information” (Tyrrell et al.). So, while the mood and atmosphere of Unravel has changed, players are not fully taking in the new information that is given through the visual and sound elements of the game. Yarny still maintains his joyful prance, although the sun is no longer high and bright in the sky. While the sun may be out of sight, the local nature remains vivid with color which is what causes the deception of mood change.
Anger: Creating Frustration Through Gameplay Design
As Yarny continues to move through “Berry Mire” the local nature slowly darkens, the music’s tone deepens, and Yarny’s body language shifts. This begins the game’s shift in mood, leading players into frustration and anger. The first signs of frustration appear when Yarn is circled by mosquitos on his travels. As the mosquitos surround him, Yarny is seen attempting to swat them away. This is not effective and Yarny is unable to get rid of the bugs on his own, therefore players must throw the lasso into the air to gain any type of relief (see Figure 5). The relief is always short-lived as they come right back. This impacts the players’ ability to complete the chapter’s puzzles as Yarny begins to walk slower and struggles to grab onto objects creating deep frustration for the players.
Figure 5: Yarny jumps from a swarm of mosquitoes, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
Chapter four, “Mountain Trek”, and chapter five, “Off the Rails” continue the emotional portrayal of anger as Yarny comes face to face with an array of things that easily kill him, pushing players back to where the game was last saved automatically. Deep in the dark caves of the “Mountain Trek”, Yarny meets a mole twice his size (see Figure 6). This mole chases Yarny through the caves to a fast-paced, anxiety inducing melody and if players aren’t quick enough Yarny becomes the mole’s afternoon snack.
“Off the Rails” provides players with no relaxation after their run-in with the deadly mole as it only offers more harm to Yarny. The number of ways Yarny can die equates to the amount of frustration and anger the game has to offer—from train gears to big boulders, Yarny is never safe. “The anger [is] generalized and undirected, manifesting as a shorter temper or a loss of patience” (Tyrrell et al.). Unravel is no longer a happy-go-lucky adventure at this stage in the game. The more obstacles that prevent players from moving forward, the more anger there is to feel.
Bargaining: Actions Have Consequences
In Unravel, bargaining is portrayed through neglect of environmental preservation. Bargaining is commonly associated with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and insecurity. The visual design of chapter six, “Down in a Hole”, and chapter seven, “How much is enough?” sets the anxious mood. Players begin this stage of grief by exploring a trashed, toxic wasteland filled with abandoned construction equipment (see Figure 7). Yarny walks around sluggishly with his arms crossed. The environment is dull and dreary and as the rain falls, Yarny is spooked by random bursts of thunder.
Figure 7: Yarny swings over a puddle of toxic chemicals, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
At the end of the chapter, the note revealed in the family scrapbook asks: “How can you save a place by destroying it” (Unravel). Although this may not be a “what if…” question that is commonly asked during the bargaining stage of grief, this question embodies guilt and anxiety. Seeing the state that humans have left the once beautiful nature of Sweden in Unravel creates a sensation of guilt for the way humanity has contributed to our current climate crisis. This leads to individuals believing that they may have been able to control and prevent environmental damage.
Depression: Long, Cold, and Dry
While the stage of bargaining may be short-lived with only two chapters, depression comes and stays for a lengthy part of the game. This stage is defined by northern Sweden’s long, cold, and dry winters that last several months. These long dreary winters are represented through four chapters in Unravel, making depression the game’s longest stage of grief.
Chapter eight, “The Letter,” introduces players to the beginning stage of depression as the environment is dull and washed out in color. The ground is just beginning to freeze with a light layer of frost covering the surface as the winter months creep in (see Figure 8). The music’s tempo has slowed, and it has a low sound level as it is not as noticeable to players as it once was in previous chapters.
Figure 8: Yarny walks through open land, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
As the winter months get colder and the snow gets deeper, Yarny begins to freeze and shiver as he walks about. By chapter eleven, “Last Leaf”, it is so cold that he must push and drag a light with him to keep him warm. The music at this point in the game has a low pitch filled with darkness, encapsulating depression.
“Last Leaf” begins with the memory of a funeral, and the design of the game is made to match the sadness associated with death. Yarny walks around with his shoulders hunched and arms crossed as he braves the winter storm in darkness. Yarny struggles to venture through this chapter as the storm’s strong winds push him back (see Figure 9). It feels as if players may never be able to get out of the darkness as they take two steps forward, and three steps back. The blizzard is a symbol of death.
Figure 9: Yanry pulls light through a blizzard, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
Once Yarny reaches the end of his journey through the blizzard, he comes to an unfortunate end. As he jumps reaching for the second half of a crocheted heart, Yarny falls off a cliff resulting in him completely unraveling until there is nothing left of him (see Figure 10). This cut scene is played in slow motion with sad instrumental music playing in the background causing a dramatic effect that produces an abundance of sadness as players assume Yarny has died.
Acceptance: Pain Will Ease
After a series of tragic events and cold winter days in northern Sweden, Yarny returns to the warm, sunny version of Sweden. He can swing from light orbs floating in the air, each of which represents the memories he collected along his journey (see Figure 11). As birds chirp and the music lightens, Yarny returns to his joyful prance.
Figure 11: Yarny swings from light orbs, © 2015 Electronic Arts Inc.
Next thing you know, Yarny is back home tying up the loose ends of the once-lost family memories. “Love forms bonds, like strands of yarn. Like yarn, those bonds can be fragile or get all tangled. But when they are kept and cared for, they can bridge any distance” (Unravel).
Despite the rollercoaster of emotions, Unravel takes players on, it ends with renewal and acceptance. It teaches players about the importance of holding onto the memories of those who have been lost and with that, pain will ease.
Works Cited
Isbister, Katherine. How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design. The MIT Press, 2016.
Sahlin, Martin. “Welcome to Unravel.” Unravel, Electronic Arts, 2016, www.ea.com/games/unravel/news/welcome-to-unravel.
Tyrrell, Patrick, et al. “Kubler-Ross Stages of Dying and Subsequent Models of Grief.” U.S. National Library of Medicine, StatPearls Publishing, 26 Feb. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507885/.
Unravel. Directed by Martin Sahlin, Coldwood Interactive, Electronic Arts, 2016.
