Two small Yarnys wash ashore after a shipwreck and journey together through abandoned houses, dark factories, snowy wilds, burning forests and stormy rapids toward a distant lighthouse. The cutesy, melancholy-cozy atmosphere is Customwood’s signature, dressed in photographic realism that remains a genuine looker on par with its predecessor. Shadowy smoke creatures and the occasional pursuing bird or fish supply the only menace. The closing message about love forming bonds and building anew resonates despite everything around it being slighter than before. As mood and visual craft, the sequel holds its own completely.
Yarn-swinging traversal is the standout: flips, lassos and momentum-based swinging delight from the first chapter to the last. The two-Yarny solo system, one character at a time with a carry option, is surprisingly smooth despite the co-op design, letting a single player split, bridge, knot and swing with themselves in ways few games attempt. Swimming is the biggest mechanical change, with water no longer lethal and fall damage removed entirely, opening route design the first game could never attempt. A built-in three-tier hint system exists for anyone who wants it. The movement feel alone justifies the playthrough.
Chapter variety keeps the momentum honest across the run. A tutorial shoreline gives way to the Hiddenaway house’s domestic puzzles, the machine-filled Night Swimming introduces water as playground rather than threat, and the Ashes to Ashes forest burns behind a chase that finally demands the movement mastery built so far. The rapids finale stitches every skill together at speed. Each chapter’s palette shifts as decisively as its mechanics, from dusty interiors to snowlit wilds, and the photographic environments keep rewarding a second look even during the chases. Pacing is the sequel’s most reliable craft; no chapter overstays, and each hands the next a new toy.
The structural shift from puzzle-platformer to pure platformer is the sequel’s defining change and its main weakness, with actual puzzles few and far between compared to the original. The first game’s linked-environment journey is replaced by warp portals between chapters, which loses the sense of travel that gave the original its shape. The story goes largely over the head entirely, incoherent in a way its predecessor never was. What remains is beautiful, momentum-driven platforming with less underneath it. The trade is real: prettier and smoother, but shallower.
Two collectibles sitting on a single rock in the rapids chapter are dramatically harder than anything else in the game and nearly impenetrable, a difficulty spike divorced from every surrounding challenge. Precision chases through the burning forest and the bird gauntlets test patience with narrow timing windows. Three chapters finish without their full painting sets because of those two outliers alone. Collectible hunting is otherwise reasonable in dose and placement. The spike feels like a different game’s design accidentally shipped inside this one.
Technical friction arrives before play: the EA launcher’s headaches are worst on Linux, an opening cutscene ships silent under Proton until a restart, settings are locked until in-game, and the lasso-radius indicator is hard to see against darker Yarny colours. Once running, the game itself is stable and a full uninterrupted run takes about thirteen minutes by its own timer. Wordless storytelling means the incoherence is stylistic as much as scripted. The ending’s multicoloured gathering lands warmly regardless of the murk before it. Short, pretty, and much easier to love than to follow.
Overall, the yarn-swinging traversal, the two-Yarny solo handling and the genuinely touching closing message make this a lovely, if slighter, sequel that trades puzzle depth and narrative coherence for prettier, smoother platforming. Warp-portal chapter structure loses the journey feel, two rapids collectibles spike brutally, and the story makes little sense. Enjoyed throughout, ranked below the original, and best appreciated for movement and mood rather than depth.
