Unravel Two is such a charming game, I have few real complaints. These challenge levels increase Unravel Two’s content a ton, and successfully manage to balance hard and fun. These levels are usually based on the same encounters and puzzles from the normal levels on that same floor, but their difficulty is amped up considerably.
Each floor of the lighthouse also has a series of challenge levels. Screenshot: Unravel TwoĮach of the levels you can play is accessible through a lighthouse that serves as a central hub and means of going back and replaying older levels. Some of the environments hint at something more sinister, but what that is was never made clear and seems open to interpretation. Though the gameplay centers on the yarn duo, the background will sometimes show two kids who appear to be running from evil people. There is a sort of story to Unravel Two, but it remains a mystery to me. Each level is packed with details in such a convincing manner that it gives you that feels of navigating fragile yarn people through sometimes dangerous, but always visually interesting environments. Except for a slightly odd looking (and hostile) turkey, everything from the animations to the backgrounds looks great. Unravel Two is a very pretty game that sometimes borders on photorealism. Too bad two player mode is only local-you can’t play with friends online. In fact, it seems like Unravel Two is intended to be played cooperatively. In solo mode you have to constantly switch between yarn people to get puzzles solved, instead of naturally working with a partner. While it’s serviceable and fun alone, playing solo can sometimes feel tedious. While you can play Unravel Two solo, I definitely recommend playing this with someone else. The way the yarn works is able to be set in the options menu to allow greater flexibility in its usage at the cost of increased partner coordination. This can be done to help a friend who can’t complete a puzzle, or even save a falling friend from certain death.
Yarn length is adjustable, and you can also use it as a rope to pull your partner up. Puzzles, of course, are deliberately designed to tangle up the yarn duo, so care must be taken. This opens up not only a bunch of different ways to interact with the world’s puzzles, but it also makes navigating without getting tangled sometimes tricky. The thing that sets Unravel Two apart from most other puzzle platformers is the fact that Yarny is attached to his partner via a set length of yarn. While Unravel Two works great as a platformer, it’s at its best when using the yarn mechanic in interesting ways-like tying a stick down to use as a catapult, or having to hold your dangling partner over certain death as you navigate them to safety. Others require precision jumping and timing. Some require you to push your partner onto a higher ledge while they pull you up using the yarn afterwards. Most of them are physics based, and require cooperation between the two yarn people.
Yarn people, luckily, can use their yarn appendages like grappling hooks to climb or swing at designated locations. There isn’t combat-Yarny and friend are total pacifists (being made of yarn also makes them pretty fragile), and can only run from danger, or avoid it entirely. Each beautiful, almost photo realistic level contains a multitude of platforming situations, puzzles, hazards and sometimes even enemies to avoid. In Unravel Two your goal is to jump, lasso, and swing Yarny and friend through each level to reach the end goal.