Unravel celebrated its 10-year anniversary on February 9, 2025. Beneath, we glance again on the tiny ardour challenge and converse with a developer about the way it got here collectively.
Throughout EA’s E3 2015 press convention, Coldwood Studios’ Martin Sahlin got here out on stage and revealed a cute platformer known as Unravel. As he revealed Yarny’s handcrafted origins and spoke concerning the coronary heart and fervour Coldwood had in creating this new expertise, you might hear and see him rising extra emotional. It wasn’t an E3 flub, however a reminder that the trade is at its greatest when builders have house to make video games they love.
Unravel turned 10 years outdated on February 9. I nonetheless bear in mind the sport’s impassioned reveal and the way I had such a beautiful time enjoying. Revisiting Unravel at its surprisingly distinct sequel forward of this anniversary, I used to be greatly surprised by how refreshing these yarn-filled adventures have been. I used to be much more excited to study that a number of the group is reuniting to work on a brand new sport launching later this 12 months.
Unravel was the results of a small studio making one thing that it was passionately and personally linked to throughout a tough time for the online game trade. In 2026, we may definitely use extra video games prefer it.
Talking with certainly one of Unravel’s former builders, I discovered that the sport was created by a group burned out by the trade. Coldwood was based by excited builders in 2003, however had primarily labored on low-budget, short-development-timeline video games like The Combat: Lights Out that have been extremely annoying for the event group.
“Regardless that it was enjoyable, it was not maybe the dream of our lives to try this,” Jakob Marklund, former Technical Director at Coldwood Interactive, informed me.
By 2013, Coldwood had downsized its group and was low on money. Round that point, the story Sahlin shared at E3 occurred. He crafted Yarny on a visit into the Scandinavian wilderness and seen that there was potential for a yarn-based puzzle platformer. From there, Coldwood iterated on the thought and employed an agent who helped them promote it to EA, with Worldwide Studios Govt VP Patrick Soderlund particularly changing into enamored with it.
This led to the sport’s susceptible reveal at E3 2015, which garnered optimistic reactions on-line. “We have been squeezed between these sports activities giants, after which a man from Northern Sweden got here up on stage and simply needed to inform you about that small sport that we’re doing. I feel that was so key to the success of the sport,” Marklund mirrored.
Unravel is a platformer wherein Yarny ventures via an outdated lady’s recollections, exploring idyllic Swedish landscapes and fixing puzzle-platforming challenges typically tied to yarn. They’re cozy platformers the place you utilize yarn to resolve puzzles: swinging throughout lengthy distances, pulling levers or objects, and creating yarn bridges to stroll throughout or bounce on.
There isn’t any dialogue, however a transferring story about how love bonds us via thick and skinny shines due to lovely visuals that also maintain up immediately and a very good soundtrack. Trying again on the challenge, Marklund tells me he is proudest of the small particulars, like Yarny’s procedural animation and the way in which Coldwood performed with feelings in stage design: “We’re not pushing the story into folks’s minds; we’re telling it with gameplay. And that is fairly cool.”
Unravel
Coldwood and EA thought-about Unravel successful, and Unravel helped encourage the EA Originals label that has given us video games like Cut up Fiction. In the meantime, Coldwood went to work on a sequel, a physics-based co-op platformer Marklund tells me constructed on the truth that folks appreciated enjoying Unravel with family members.
Unravel Two provides a unique type of enjoyable, someplace between the quaintness of Unravel and the co-op thrills of It Takes Two. Trying again, Marklund sees the unique Unravel as a sport that “nailed it when it comes to feelings and character” over gameplay, whereas Unravel Two is a “tremendous tight platformer” that “did not nail the feelings as a lot as we did within the first sport.”
Coldwood Interactive would in the end go darkish after Unravel Two. Marklund informed me that builders on the studio started performing like “a grumpy outdated couple” after working collectively for thus lengthy and that the studio began trying into “unusual free-to-play stuff” that did not jive with some builders who had thrived making premium, private, indie-level experiences.
The eagerness and coronary heart that birthed Unravel have been gone.
By 2022, most of Coldwood’s builders had moved on. Martin Sahlin and Jakob Marklund based Windup Video games and, as of 2026, about half of Unravel’s growth group is working at Windup alongside some new hires who’re extra various in age and gender. Windup Video games is presently creating a 3D puzzle-platformer starring mice known as Hela.
Marklund nonetheless sees some connective tissue between Hela and the Unravel video games, significantly within the Scandinavian setting and the methods it builds on the co-op puzzle-platforming parts launched in Unravel Two. That is a testomony to how Unravel’s affect continues to be being felt immediately. Its legacy isn’t just EA Originals, however a brand-new sport launching this 12 months. The online game trade may additionally study quite a bit from the circumstances that created Unravel.
Unravel
“We had a lot enjoyable doing [Unravel],” Marklund informed me. “We had full inventive freedom from EA, so we may do the sport that they knew we have been able to doing. We had remaining say and will do no matter we thought was appropriate. I feel that was key to the success of the sport.”
If you first boot up Unravel, and whenever you beat it, you are met with variety messages thanking you for taking part in the sport and reiterating that it was artwork made out of affection by Coldwood. Unravel nonetheless exudes the emotional power of its E3 2015 reveal. In 2026, the brand new video games that resonate with me essentially the most are those the place that love and fervour for the gaming medium shines via, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Unravel was delicately handcrafted by builders who cherished what they have been engaged on and got the liberty to take action by a significant writer. Artwork that is this private can change into timeless and depart behind a legacy. At a time when some firms deal with video games extra like merchandise than artwork, replaying Unravel is a reminder that love and fervour are key to creating improbable video games. Builders who’ve the house to faucet into these feelings make unforgettable experiences.