I finished this game last week, and I've been listening to the soundtrack ever since. Never before was there such a game so quietly nostalgic, a pet project realized by a gifted team of developers and visionaries.
As soon as I heard about this game, I knew that I wanted to play it. Most of you now know that I'm a craft blogger and content creator in my other life (known as GamerCrafting), and my house is equal parts yarn and music. I heard a snippet of the official Unravel score, and I knew that I needed this game in my life.
When the game was released, I didn't have a PS4, an XBoxOne, or a PC. I had two Macs, a PS3, a Wii, a GameCube, and two Nintendo DS's. My PC had crashed back in December, and was replaced with a Mac for music-making and photography purposes.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I went and bought a refurbed gaming PC so that I could buy this game. After two weeks of fighting with the unbelievably EA required launcher Origin (seriously, it's terrible), I finally got to play. I stretched it out for a couple months, because I didn't want the game to end. Just look at these gorgeous graphics:
Gorgeous. Stunning. Life-affirming.
But pristine graphics aside, there is no dialogue in this game. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Instead, the game developers decided to lean on the Unravel score to translate sound into emotion, and it's safe to say, they succeeded. With a storyline based in the creators' homeland of Sweden, they wisely decided to use local musicians Frida Johanson (violin) and Henrik Oja (piano) to compose the Unravel score. Along with their admirable musicianship, they brought with them an authenticity to the central themes of Unravel, using traditional Swedish folk music as a base.
I could listen to this score for hours. I have listened to it for hours. It's the kind of beautiful ambient music to provide a calm soundtrack for life. This year I've been edging into the field of photography (too many creative pursuits, party of one), and in the mornings when I'm setting up shoots, I listen to the Unravel score. It's beautiful, it's calm, and it's just the right blend of heart-rending melodies and uplifting harmonies.
I think I join the rest of the Unravel fandom in begging, "Can we please have an official Unravel score soundtrack release?"
For now, all we have is some audio rips hanging around on YouTube, but most of the ones with all of the tracks included are just smushed into one massively long video - so I can't obsessively listen to the part where the weasel (mole?) chases Yarny - but if you skip ahead to 54:58, you'll hear my favorite part.
To hear creator and director of Coldwood Studios Martin Sahlin talk about the music in Unravel, check out this video (don't worry, it's short):
In short, if you haven't played this game, you should. It's a gentle, puzzle based game with a beautiful and uplifting message, and the Unravel score is seriously good. Even if you won't play the game, you should listen to the score and remember what love feels like.
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