The reveal of Unravel at E3 2015 was one of my personal favorite moments from any E3 press conference over that last few years.We saw nervous game developer Martin Sahlin come on stage and tell us of his dream game and introduced us to Unravel's protagonist Yarny in the form of a handmade doll he held in his trembling hands tearfully telling us how much love and effort went into his game. The trailer showed Yarny going on an epic adventure using his own yarn as a tool. When the game finally released I was sad to discover that the game had a lot of problems. Its puzzles were confusing and hard to understand and its central mechanic of Yarny string unraveling is criminally underused. This lead to the game getting middling reviews with some journalists like Jim Sterling being pretty harsh towards it. But in spite of its many issues, there is no denying that Unravel is a labor of love from Coldwood Interactive and that alone save it for many people. I still plan on picking it up one of these days when I have the time and money. If love and passion is enough to for you to forgive a few bad design decisions I recommend it as well.
Firewatch
The debut title of Campo Santo and the brain child of former Telltale developers Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, who helped make the critically lauded first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead. Firewatch follows the story of Henry who works as fire lookout in the middle of Shoshone National Forest during the summer of 1989. His only regular human contact during this time is his supervisor Delilah who Henry only ever talks to via walkie-talkie. Together they get to know each other and learn of each others mysterious pasts while also trying to solve a series of mysterious events happening around the park. General consensus is that Firewatch is really good with fantastic writing and excellent chemistry between the two main characters. The only major issues of note are some technical hurdles on Playstation 4 with frame shuddering and other minor glitches and an anticlimax of an ending. However, some critics such as Laura Kate Dale have defended the anticlimactic ending of the game as a culmination of the games main themes of loss and missed opportunity. It's best to go into Firewatch with as little knowledge as possible to get the most out of it. If you are a fan of narrative focused games then give it a go. I know I'm going to once I get the cash to obtain the game.
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