Unpacking Review
Played on X Box Series S | Original Release Date 21 November 2021 | Review Date 27 February 2025
OVERVIEW
Unpacking manages to make a video game about simply unpacking boxes a heart-warming, cozy gameplay experience. From the charming items you pull out of boxes, to the different locations you move into, the designers have created a simple and satisfying experience that pulls at your heart-strings and scratches my OCD need to place items in their perfect spot.
STORY
Unpacking is the story, about a woman, that takes place between 1997 to 2008. The story follows her as she moves from place to place throughout stages in her life. Starting off in her childhood bedroom and ending in her final family home, we experience the phases of her life through the items you unpack along the way. At that start of the game we see her childhood room with her stuffed animals, her Gameboy, her various school books, reading books and nicknacks. As she ages, we get hints of the relationships she develops through photos, we see where she’s travelled based on the souvenirs she collects, and we eventually see that she starts a family when we unpack and arrange the baby’s room. Each year you unpack provides new insights to the journey she’s been on, and reminds you of where she’s been with all the items she chooses to hold on to. It’s up to you to decide how much you want to investigate each of the items you unpack so you can fill in the story for yourself. What I also discovered was it reminded me of my own story. It was great reflecting back on the where I was in my life and thinking about all the experiences I had, during the same timeframe. It’s a real testament to the developers that a simple game has such an emotional impact on me throughout my time with it.
GAMEPLAY
You do exactly what you think you might do. You unpack boxes and place the items around the room, apartment or house depending on where she’s moving into. You unpack one item at a time and decide where you think it should be placed around the various locations. A lot of the items have an obvious location they should go. Put the shoes in the closet, put the laptop on the desk, put the stuffed animal on the bed etc. Then there are some items that can live in a lot of different places. Do you want to display your trophies on a bookshelf, go for it. Or would you prefer to put them on the desk that’s fine too. And finally there are some items that have specific locations where they must be placed. It’s your job to work your way through unpacking each room of the various locations and move her into the space. Once you’ve unpacked all her items, the game will let you know that something isn’t in the right place by having it glow with a red outline. You can then shift it around until you find where it wants you to place it. This aspect of the game can be annoying from time to time, as it’s not super clear what the item is or I just couldn’t connect the dots on why it would need to be in let’s say the living room versus in an office. It’s not a big problem, but there were a few times I needed to look up where to put an item because I got annoyed with just trying everywhere I could think of. Where the game can get more interesting is if you figure out how to arrange certain items so you get a stamp in your notebook. There aren’t really any hints, it’s just a matter of using context clues the game gives you to uncover these secrets. The brilliance of the game is that no one experience will be the same. There is a photo mode so you can take pictures of how you set up your rooms and share them with your friends. It would be cool to see all the different ways people arranged the rooms, something I haven’t explored. The game is short and took me about 8 to 10 hours to complete. I felt this was just the right length for the game because by the time I got to the final location I was ready to start wrapping things up.
GRAPHICS
I’m a sucker for pixelated retro looking graphics. Unpacking really nails the look of 2D classic 90’s computer games. Pretty much every item in the game has just the right amount of detail so you know what it is. There are clever design nods to various video game consoles through the years. You can make out certain DVD movie covers for the movies she collects throughout her life. It’s this attention to detail given to the items you unpack that helps pull you into the game. Some key stand out graphical elements for me where the items she collects along her travels - the little red double decker bus from the UK, the leaning Tower of Pisa, the petit Tour Effiel all with the exact amount of detail so we know what they are, while staying within the limitations the chosen graphic style. I often found myself smiling when discovering a new item as the character went through their journey. The art style really serves to evoke the nostalgic experience the designers want you to have. If they had gone with a more realistic style of graphics, I suspect the game would’ve felt more like a chore of really unpacking, rather than an experience of going through memories. Choosing the pixaled style requires us to ‘go back to the past’ in our minds. It allows us to fill in the story for ourselves and feel like the main character in the game because we had similar items, moved into similar places, or went through similar experiences. Only occasionally did the graphic style get in the way of know what an item was. But you can zoom in and out to examine smaller items if they aren’t instantly recognisable - so not a big deal, but it did pull me out of the experience when I had to do that, especially for some of the bathroom and kitchen items. But overall the aesthetic, art style and pixelated detail are right up my alley.
MUSIC
Jeff Van Dyke has created a gorgeous soundtrack to accompany your Unpacking journey. The music pulls inspiration from the synth music of 80’s and 90’s games, but embellishes them with harps, guitars, and other instruments to give each soundtrack a feeling of nostalgia but with layers of emotional complexity. What starts off as a simple bit of background music, such as the plucking of a guitar, will slowly add additional textures eventually swelling into an 80’s synth symphony and then slowly back to a plucking guitar. This helps really unlock the sense of going on a journey with each unpacking level. The music is never ‘in the way’ and it subtly captures the moments and feelings of Unpacking in a perfect pairing.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
If you’re looking for a simple, cozy and tight gameplay experience check this one out. I didn’t expect to go on an emotional journey while playing Unpacking, so I was pleasantly surprised at how the game made me feel. If you’re a sicko for things like Animal Crossing or like the vibes of Stardew Valley you’ll be right at home here. You can spend hours placing all the items in the exact place that you’d like them to go, or you can just pop them around haphazardly if that’s your style. What can seem like an overly simple concept has a surprising amount of depth in gameplay, but it won’t take you too long to work your way through. Go on, give this one a go and see what you unpack along the way.
OUT OF SYNC GAMING REVIEW SCORE | 7 out of 10
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