Unpacking Review – IGN

In real life, moving is the worst. In Unpacking, described by its creators as a “zen puzzle game,” settling in a new place is surprisingly comforting. Unpacking takes you through a series of homes depicting the life of an invisible protagonist from 1997 to 2018, and it turns out that a lot can be said about a person by the things they take with them. Although the mechanics are simple and the campaign can be completed in a few hours, Unpacking is a memorable and delightful game that shows that there are still new ways to tell stories in video games.

You may not think stacking plates and organizing books is attractive, but funnily enough, it really is. Part of that could have to do with how often you’ve made bets. For me it was a lot: between the ages of 18 and 26, I moved more than half a dozen times. Packing and unpacking became an almost annual ritual as I passed a series of apartments in various neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area. None of these places felt like home until I started unpacking: pasting the David Bowie poster with torn edges on the wall, finding a flat surface for my old record player, and lining up my Harry Potter books in chronological order on the shelves. . Settling into the next place always felt like I was starting a new chapter in my life, and that’s a feeling Unpacking captures well.

When you start out, you don’t waste time with explanations, tutorials, or cut scenes. You don’t even see the person whose boxes you’re downloading. Instead, we got to know them through the basic point-and-click mechanics that allow you to move belongings from boxes to their appropriate places in the home, starting with a single child’s bedroom and eventually moving up to larger multi-room spaces. There’s no inventory list, so you never know what the next thing to pull out of a given box will be, and that creates a series of sweet surprises that reveals a bit more about the character. There are also no timers or scores, allowing you to move at your own pace. That’s why Unpacking is the kind of game where it’s easy to lose a couple of hours in what seems like minutes.

These environments represent different stages of the journey to adulthood: the childhood dormitory, a college dormitory, a shared apartment, and more. As you fill them with possessions, you’re really uncovering clues: Art supplies indicate a creative type, while controllers and board games show what they like to do in their spare time. Postcards, photos, and souvenirs hint at a love of travel and a close-knit group of friends.

Speaking of photos, unpacking a camera in the first stage unlocks the photo mode, which I was excited to use. Sadly, while it’s fun to add filters and stickers to certain scenes and capture the brilliance of your organization, I was disappointed at how little was done with it. For example, I thought that my photos could appear in the literal photo album that serves as an interface that allows you to store and continue progress, but it did not happen. It’s a minor annoyance, but in a game that’s so focused on the memories we create and preserve, being able to incorporate those photos elsewhere would have been a nice touch.

It turns out that “zen” is a really accurate description of the Unpacking experience. Soothing background music and satisfying click sound effects subtly and cleverly complement the whimsical, retro-inspired art style. The only issue I had with the overall appearance is that it was occasionally difficult to identify small items, even when zooming in all the way. It took me several movements to realize that the gray lump of pixels I kept unpacking in the kitchen was actually a fridge magnet.

Screens – Unpacking

There is almost no wrong way to unpack, although you won’t be able to move on to the next stage if certain items aren’t saved properly. Most of the time that makes sense; Toilet paper and toothbrushes must be in the bathroom, after all, and guests might find it a bit odd if you store your underwear in the living room. Other times, it’s unclear what’s wrong – is it really that important if a toaster is kept on a counter rather than in a cabinet? You can actually disable this feature in the accessibility menu and let all the chaos reign, but it does have some storytelling benefits, like saving a photo to a drawer instead of displaying it. It’s not a particularly long game, but moments like that can leave a lasting impression.