Unravel’s Music: Soundtrack as a Story

Hi everyone, this is Martin Sahlin – Creative Director at Coldwood. With Unravel releasing on February 9, we wanted to share one more short video giving a deeper look into the development of Unravel. In the past we talked about Unravel’s environment, creation of Yarny, and the game’s puzzles. Today, I wanted to share some details on Unravel’s unique approach to music. 

Music is one of our most important storytelling tools, especially since Unravel’s story is told without words. In lieu of dialog or text, music becomes the voice of the game. It sets the tone and inspires you to think and feel. We leaned heavily on the soundtrack, and needed it to be able to carry the weight of some pretty big tasks. It needed to be capable of both breaking and mending your heart, all without spoken words.

Because of this link between story and music (and Unravel’s setting in Sweden) we decided to turn to local composers we could work closely with. They share our roots, and understand what we’re trying to say with our environments. They were also able to dig into local folk music to help make something that feels very distinctly and uniquely Unravel.

The music changes dynamically to match the gameplay, really helping to tell the story of the world and to enhance the atmosphere. It’s deeply integrated with the gameplay, and we’re excited for you to experience it when Unravel releases on February 9, 2016. 

Martin Sahlin

@monkeybeach