Now as an adult who has moved out of home, I find such peace and calm in having an organised space to live in (sorry mum – you were right!). Unpacking is a very special game, and one I think anyone with an interest in unconventional storytelling should play.Growing up, the biggest chore for me was having to tidy my room – no matter how many times my mum would ask me, I would constantly put it off and despise having to keep everything neat and organised. Alongside these emotional moments, there’s also some of the most impressive and detailed pixel art I’ve ever seen. Not only is arranging items and emptying boxes incredibly rewarding, but the story of these charming possessions and their significance in your character’s life made me remember the important events in my own life centred around moving house. Unpacking is an incredibly satisfying experience with an unexpected narrative, told in a truly unique way. ![]() I won’t spoil any of the more memorable moments, but I almost got a bit teary while playing a game without a single spoken word or character. Each stage has a year ascribed to it, and as you progress forward in time you’ll witness life events, relationships and even melancholy moments all through the window of your possessions and where you live. Like moving into a house with a roommate who loves pets, then in the next stage having a pet of your own thanks to their influence. Other times it’ll be an insight into the life of the nameless and faceless protagonist. Sometimes it’ll just be the mug you put your toothbrush in having a chip in it, or your childhood teddy getting torn then eventually patched up. Solely through the items and locations a story is told. If all Unpacking entailed was moving random items out of boxes it’d be a fun distraction people would enjoy, but it is so much more than that. It’s usually just common sense stuff, and it was never too taxing to move the few objects I’d placed incorrectly. This might be because you’ve left a pile of books on the floor, or a printer in a room other than the office. There’s plenty of opportunity to position possessions however you want, but if they’re somewhere entirely incorrect then once all the boxes are empty they’ll flash red and need repositioning. There is exactly one thing that can stop you from completing a stage, and that’s if you don’t place your items correctly. At the end of each stage the house you’ve now filled with possessions feels like a home, ready for your protagonist to enjoy life there. Finding the perfect spot for an item brings a level of satisfaction I just wasn’t prepared for, and emptying a box and poofing it away carries with it such a feeling of accomplishment. The idea that Aussie developers Witch Beam decided that a game about taking items out of boxes and arranging them would be enjoyable is utterly ridiculous, but they were bang on the money. When arranging DVDs and video games I actually spotted movies and Gamecube games I recognised solely from the box art. From stuffed toys to sanitary pads, everything is flawlessly realised in this lo-fi art style. Without any way of knowing what’s coming next, you’ll be greeted by all manner of perfectly crafted pixel art items as you go. When you open a moving box all you see is the packing material on top, and every time you click on it you’ll be given a surprise item. Maybe you want a feature shelf for all your fancy figurines, or perhaps they’d be better off in a cupboard so you have more room for books. ![]() Each room you move into has storage to explore, with plenty of options of where to house your prized possessions. ![]() There’s no twitch reactions or in-depth mechanics to worry about here, all you need to do is move items out of cardboard moving boxes and put them in your new beautiful pixel art house. Unpacking is one of the simplest games I’ve played in quite a while. Instead of spending my time dealing with this clutter though, I’ve been Unpacking in video game form. Although the stress is somewhat less intense at this stage, I must admit that downstairs is fairly stacked with boxes full of our possessions yet to emerge. After dealing with the pure hell that was our own real life relocation last month, I reviewed the frantic party game Get Packed. I’m not sure if it’s just a bizarre coincidence or punishment from our editor-in-chief, but I just can’t seem to stop playing games about moving house.
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