Unravel: Making a Grown Man Cry

<p><em>Unravel<&sol;em> commits to an emotionally charged experience&comma; and it had a powerful effect on me that continues to weave a response that won’t fade anytime soon&period; Accustomed to games with overtly masculine tropes and stereotypes&comma; I was pleased to explore different personal emotions while playing as the cuddly red yarn character&comma; aptly named Yarny&period; Instead of explicitly telling a story&comma; <em>Unravel <&sol;em>is imbued with true storytelling greatness—that is&comma; it shows and doesn’t tell&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On more than one occasion during my multiple sessions playing the game&comma; I came very close to breaking out in tears&period; I’m not used to this kind of emotion&semi; games often present their most heart-wrenching moments somewhere around the climax&period; In <em>Unravel<&sol;em>&comma; I felt that every level&comma; every tiny detail in its environment&comma; which led to a downpour of emotions&period; The frequency of emotional moments in <em>Unravel<&sol;em> left me tearing at the seams&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yarny doesn’t speak&comma; and the game never offers voice-acting or text-based storytelling&period; Aside from the well-crafted quotes presented upon completion of each level&comma; the story is told entirely from the interactions Yarny has with his environment&period; Though the game never openly admits to it&comma; we are led to believe that the loving hero is trying to collect yarn badges in the hopes of fastening past memories together so they are not lost forever&period; This method of storytelling—short&comma; emotionally charged quotes and Yarny’s interactions with the environment&&num;8211&semi;means that the story is what you make of it&comma; and to me <em>Unravel<&sol;em> is a story of love&comma; a story of loss&comma; and a story about looking to the future&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;99587" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-99587" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-99587 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;04002136&sol;Unravel-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Unravel 1" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"519" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-99587" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Unravel&comma; Electronic Arts&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Yarny&comma; seemingly a child’s toy&comma; quests through several hazards and puzzles to collect memories to add to an album&period; Every time he completes a mission&comma; blurred photos come into focus—photos of past memories that include what look to be members of a family spending time together in a variety of outings&period; There is something truly melancholic about the whole experience of traveling through side-scrolling environments to recollect pieces of cherished memories&period; Each memory is special in its own way and will be lost forever if not for Yarny and his duty of being the thread that pulls them together again&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re looking for a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;daytonbrickshop&period;com&sol;">toy store Dayton<&sol;a>&comma; call Dayton Brick Shop&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Whether traversing scenic areas in the woods&comma; by the docks&comma; along train tracks&comma; or in a wild snowstorm&comma; <em>Unravel<&sol;em> made me feel like something important was at stake&colon; love and the importance of memory&period; The game reminded me just how important our memories are&period; Memories shape who we are&comma; who we were&comma; and who we want to be&period; These memories nourish our identity and define the people that we love&period; Sometimes this love is broken and we go our separate ways&comma; and the game reminded me of this&period;  Though it is hard to let go&comma; everyone has their own path to take in life—sometimes our paths cross&comma; but in the end&comma; the road we travel is always our own to take&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If it wasn’t for the atmosphere in <em>Unravel<&sol;em>—the music&comma; the view point from a diminutive character&comma; and the natural elements—this reflective and mildly depressing mood I speak of would not come to fruition&period; The violin sounds&comma; the defamiliarizations of everyday objects&comma; and the dangers presented by pools of water or toxic waste led to a certain kind of sadness that can only be explained as nostalgia&period; Nostalgia best defines what the amalgamation of all these storytelling elements create&period; Like Yarny’s quest to collect fragments of past memories and bring them to the present moment&comma; nostalgia is simultaneously a happy and sad emotion&semi; nostalgia includes a rush of fond memories experienced in the past&comma; but it also includes a storm of sadness related to feelings of yearning for the past&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;99588" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-99588" style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-99588 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;04002119&sol;Yarny-2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Yarny 2" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-99588" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Unravel&comma; Electronic Arts&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Perhaps I have extracted too deep a story from <em>Unravel<&sol;em> and its various elements&comma; but I do believe that the emotions I felt while playing were gathered from details that permeated the experience&period; Aside from the dreary melodies and the didactic quotes&comma; the gameplay in Coldwood’s game also added to the sense that Yarny was suffering through a world that had obscured his beloved past memories&period; The journey to collect all the memories was a long and arduous one&period; Like the tricky puzzles and hazardous environments&comma; love is no easy puzzle to solve&period; It takes time and effort&comma; along with deep thought and an abundance of patience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So many reviews have claimed that the gameplay in <em>Unravel<&sol;em> is frustrating&semi; I say it is just right&period; For every fumble Yarny made&comma; which led to him drowning in but a small puddle of water&comma; to being frozen alive&comma; or to being consumed by toxins&comma; there was another layer of emotion added to the game&period; The hazards and troublesome controls gave the game a real sense that there was much to lose and impending failure lurked around every dangerous corner&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I am thankful for such a game like <em>Unravel<&sol;em>&comma; as it took me in and wrapped me in its cuddly arms to <em>unravel<&sol;em> a dreary yet passionate story&period; It is a wonderful reminder of the artistic power that games have&period; No other medium can pull together music&comma; atmosphere&comma; story&comma; and interaction in the same way that a video game can&period; And that engrossing nature of all these constituents put together makes for a delightful storytelling environment&period; In the future&comma; I surely won’t forget the effect <em>Unravel<&sol;em> has had on me in early 2016&period; For today&comma; <em>Unravel<&sol;em> has left me with inspiration to remain courageous in the face of making or severing relationships&comma; to love no matter the harsh challenges everyday life presents&comma; to always cherish past memories both pleasant and unpleasant&comma; and to live before my memories become nothing but blurred remnants of a past that won’t return&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;