Unpacking Review

Have you ever felt the stress of having to move to a new place? All the hard work with moving boxes up and down the stairs all sweaty? Fear not, in Unpacking you skip this horrendous step and go directly to unpacking your boxes! Unpacking is a simple puzzle game where you get to unpack your things into different rooms throughout the life of the character. You move in to eight different houses all with their unique feel and look. The gameplay consists of opening boxes and placing the contents in the correct rooms (when in the correct room you have the liberty of placing each item exactly where you want to).

The puzzling part of the game is rather easy, and intentionally made that way. The game is meant as a form of meditation, to get the player relaxed. You cannot really fail the game although placing the items in a wrong room will prevent you from finishing. The game is rather short, around four hours long, and the gameplay does not change much through the stages. That being said it is a relaxing experience, and the further you get the bigger the rooms you need to unpack.

Unpacking is an interesting experience, not many games serve the same premise. Although the gameplay is repetitive, the game is short and sweet. You can place anything where you want in a grid-like format, rotating it as you’d like. There is something inherently satisfying in placing each items together (such as books) and deciding where stuff is best placed around the house(s). That being said there is very little in terms of story and narration, most is done implicitly through rummaging through the stuff of the main character.

The graphics of the game is pixel art, and a rather good one. Very detailed looking that almost makes you forget that it is, in fact, pixel art. There is plenty to look at, and a lot of items to be placing around. It is quite colorful and at times quite cute looking. The music is relaxing and fitting to the game. In fact, relaxing is the main takeaway of the game. If you ever have been through a stressful day (or need an OCD kick) the game is enjoyable to boot up, and relax to. One minus is the game’s price, being a tad expensive for the few hours of gameplay it provides. But if you catch it on sale it is a nice title to boot on after a hard day of work.