Unpacking Reviews
Offering a beautiful canvas to work with, Unpacking is a calm and tactile little sim about something most of us would usually dislike.
A lot of puzzle games involve finding the right place for things. In Tetris, you try to organize tetrominos to create perfect rows. In Puyo Puyo, you want the puyos to fall into the right places to trigger combos. Upon closer review, Unpacking is a game that is sort of similar, though the item placement involves no competition, no stress, and almost no worries about doing things “wrong.”
Unpacking is a wonderfully quaint experience that adds an extra punch to what it means to grow, change, and move on. Even if it could be a bit longer and more extensive, it justifies its place in my game library.
Unpacking is simple in concept but complex, interesting, and ultimately meditative in execution. Simply put, it's delightful.
Unpacking is a relaxing puzzle game that encourages you to reflect and move forward.
Unpacking on Switch doesn't quite stick the landing of the zen experience it aspires to be, but if you can tolerate some frustrating interfaces and controls, this is still a game worth exploring. Just maybe consider playing it on PC since that experience should be much stronger without the control caveats.
Unpacking is a satisfying, gorgeous and unexpectedly emotional dive into moving house and the importance of our possessions. This game simply must be played.
But then… how much did it cost to go to the movies last time you went? Do you remember what you saw? Unpacking is going to stick with me at least as hard as the latest superhero movie I saw, and it’s going to make the next time I need to look for a new place that much more tolerable. Maybe even fun. I enjoyed the brief time I spent with Unpacking, and I’m not going to stop thinking about it before my next move.
Cute, charming, and surprisingly satisfying, Unpacking scratches an itch that no other game attempts. But it's also too bossy for its own good at times.
From the tiniest details in each item to the massive story told through simple gameplay, Unpacking is a fantastic indie game. The relaxing gameplay and chill music create a nice getaway experience. It's easy to disappear into Unpacking and complete the entire game in one playthrough, but the experience is so satisfying that players will want to do it again and again.
Unpacking is a delightful and charming puzzle game, one that perfectly takes a chore such as moving and perfectly shows how it can highlight the most important parts of out lives, allowing us to reflect upon them and the transitions we go through along the way.
Unpacking uses its simple, satisfying puzzle gameplay to tell a moving story about the things we take with us.
Unpacking is truly a unique game that has done something no other video game has done before by crafting such a tremendously relatable character out of nothing but the rather mundaneness of unpacking boxes.
Unpacking is proof that a pixel tells a thousand words. Through simple, zen gameplay and a startling attention to detail a story unfolds in this tiny, pixelated world in a way that just wouldn't have been possible in another medium. That's truly something special on its own – a wholly unique and original narrative experience – and the fact that it's wrapped up in an incredibly cathartic and tangible puzzle game makes it all the more praiseworthy. Witch Beam has something incredible on their hands with this one.
These little niggles aside, a stellar soundtrack from Jeff van Dyck helps to create a sense of calm and zen (that I can only maintain myself for one or two levels at time) as you continue to play voyeur and peek into the lives of the silent protagonist and their loved ones. The anxiety of moving prevents Unpacking from being something I would get stress relief from, but I nonetheless find myself returning again and again to continue its story.
Brisbane-based developer Witch Beam have made a delightful game that I know fans of Aussie indies have been looking forward to for a long time. It isn’t just a fantasy where I’m more organised than in my real life, it’s a relaxing, stress-free experience that I will definitely revisit.
As someone who generally hates sorting things out and often leaves boxes out for weeks at a time, I can say that Unpacking is a much better experience than the real thing. If only actual unpacking could be such a calm exercise.
Unpacking is the perfect game to unwind with and provides unique and cosy storytelling through its simple point-and-click mechanics that will keep players wanting more.