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| Ooooh a Troll. Haven't seen one of those for a while. |
| Quick Info | |
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| Reviewed by: | Mark Goninon |
| Developer: | Witch Beam |
| Publisher: | Humble Games |
| Release Date: | 2 November 2021 |
| Time played: | 6 hours (3 hours for one playthrough) |
So, I managed to get Unpacking on a Steam sale earlier this year after hearing rave reviews about this casual game and best of all, it's made in STRAYA. And I'm not joking when I mentioned it received rave reviews: it has a Metascore of 83 and a rating of "Very Positive" on Steam based on 93% of the 29,688 reviews being positive. It has received Game of the Year awards for 2021 as well as awards at the Australian Game Developer Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards and BAFTA Games Awards.
Going into this game, my expectations were set pretty high based on all the positive reception the game received. But after a short three hours, the game was already over. Were my expectations met or is this game overrated?
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| Unpacking comes with a custom photo mode where you can apply funky filters and stickers |
Cute Koala Fridge Magnets
Now as this is a short casual game, there's not going to be much I can say about the game without spoiling it. So, you have been warned: this is going to be a very short review!
What do you exactly do in Unpacking? Well, it does exactly what it says on the box (no pun intended): you spend your time unpacking various moving boxes of their contents and placing them in the correct spots in a room or multiple rooms. Items are the usual things you'd find in moving boxes such as books, plush toys, pots, pans and cute koala fridge magnets. Sometimes, you'll come across more unique items that give hints about the character you play and their life.
You see, Unpacking is all about environmental storytelling and this is the reason the critics loved the game so much since, I've got to agree, it's done in an exceptional manner, in a way that almost anyone can appreciate, although it does have a bias towards those that have grown up in a Western country, Australia in particular. Not only can you garner clues about the person and their lives through the objects you retrieve from the moving boxes, but sometimes not being able to place something in a location you'd expect, can tell you things about the state of the protagonist's relationships.
In fact, another way the game enables you to show empathy for the protagonist is by making you feel the stress of having so many items and fitting them in the correct place. I suspect that depending on where you sit on a scale of household organisation, you're either feeling a strong compulsion to bring order to the chaos or you're not feeling anything at all, maybe even a bit bored?
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| At the end of a level, a photo is taken and placed in the photo album |
No Marie Kondos Required
I like to think that I'm in the middle of the spectrum, so when it came to me playing the game, I had some preconceived notions of where certain household items went but I wasn't going to lose sleep if a ladle was sitting on top of the fridge or some spare doonas were chucked under the bed, if they were the only places they would fit. Consequently, while I had fun with the game, it offered very little challenge and I initially felt the game was way too quick after finishing it in under 3 hours. However, after further consideration, if the game were any longer, it would be outstaying its welcome, so about 3 hours is probably the sweet spot as you do cover over two decades of somebody's life (and arguably the most tumultuous and prone to change).
So is the game overrated? To some degree, I would say that it is. It really doesn't offer much in terms of traditional gameplay, and it's a bit pricey for something that's over in a few hours and most people won't play again. However, as a visually striking pixelart experience that demonstrates a novel way of environmental storytelling, backed by a soundtrack that perfectly complements it by Jeff Van Dyck, it is a success.
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| Unpacking has a very effective way of telling a story using environmental storytelling |
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7
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Unpacking is a casual game that employs a novel approach to environmental storytelling and while it should be commended for what it achieves, it is a bit lean on the gameplay and over within a matter of hours. |
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