Gamers: Here is an Awesome Video Game to Play with your Girlfriend

Unravel Two: Girlfriend-Friendly Split Screen Review

It is hard for gamers, even filthy casuals like me, to enjoy playing a split screen game with our girlfriends; especially if your girlfriend isn’t a gamer (animal crossing doesn’t count).

There are very few split screen games these days, which can balance difficulty and fun, when two people of differing experience are playing, but; this game is one of them. With a few clever game mechanics in place, Unravel 2 makes playing with your game-challenged girlfriend highly enjoyable. Unravel Two is a one to two player, 2018, EA game available on all the big platforms. EA are no indie developer, they know how to make silky-smooth gameplay and it shows in this game.

This game is executed extremely well, much more than I was expecting when my girlfriend downloaded it for her Switch. It reminded me of playing Portal, fun, challenging, and you’re not too likely to fall out as usually the deaths and fails are quite comical. Also, instead of endlessly watching your girlfriend plummet to her death – due to a lack relevant gaming synapses – the game throws you a bone with it’s clever gameplay.

Characters

As previously mentioned this is a split screen game; consisting of characters made of yarn ‘Yarny’ living in our human world – which look stunning. Before you start you can customize your genderless Yarny to be whatever color and shape you want, which is fun. My girlfriend spent a while doing this…

Gameplay

The game is a platformer set on a backdrop of beautifully designed landscapes. The characters feel responsive and fluid. There was a loose kind of story theme, something to do with a child and a family, which I kind of ignored, but my girlfriend seemed to enjoy it. Rather than provide just a jump and run platform game, Unravel Two has several fun puzzle-like obstacles which require you to work as a team in order to swing each other, throw one another, take turns jumping, catapulting, repelling, lassoing, climbing, bouncing and leveraging yourselves to the end of the level.

The game is challenging in places, which is a good thing for us gamers, with sections requiring well timed jumps, rope throws and swings for example. You may be thinking ‘but what about my non-gaming GF’ well have no fear because this game has a brilliant crutch for when it gets too difficult – the crutch is you. You can carry your girlfriend’s Yarny and take over at any point in the game to complete a difficult section on your own.

The main game includes seven 20-30 minute levels (I think me and my girlfriend took nearly an hour for one level!). Unlike in Call of Duty Warzone, carrying someone in this game does not require the reflexes and hand-eye coordination of Shroud, but sometimes it will take quite a few fails before you dial it in. This game was not a cake walk – and I defeated Ornstein and Smough in Dark Souls in under 100 attempts… But it certainly wasn’t frustrating for 90% of the playthrough.

If you are in a part of the world which is being forced to do nothing at the weekend due to Covid-19, then this game is a decent few hours of respite. Since apparently, playing video games is (all of a sudden) good for your wellbeing according to this Oxford University study. You may be thinking its extremely convenient that an establishment which has manufactured a Covid-19 vaccine would want us all to stay indoors mindlessly playing video games until the government vaccinates us with their vaccines (tin hat time). What? you weren’t thinking that? Oh… None the less this game is an easy win for a lockdown weekend.

By James

Thanks for reading, check out some of our other articles below.