Unpacking test: storing your belongings has never been so relaxing

One of the sensations of the last Wholesome Games conference last spring, Unpacking, was finally released on our machines on November 2. The relaxed puzzle game from Australians Witch Beam can finally reveal its full potential, which many of us wanted to see after playing the demo available during the June Steam Neo Fest. Result: a little gem with incredible Zen potential that must make Marie Kondo proud from the top of her tidy castle.

If you thought Unpacking had more to offer than minimalist gameplay that you have to use to unpack boxes and place lots of objects everywhere, well you were wrong. Well, not quite since Unpacking also tells things, but that's it. Unpacking is just that: a satisfying experience as we have rarely seen. Put yourself under a blanket, prepare yourself a hot tea and let's explore together the potential of this very successful little game.

Unpacking test: storing your belongings has never been so relaxing Read the conclusion Unpacking

The cozy and relaxing atmosphere
Clean and very pretty pixel art
The satisfaction of good storage
Telling a life story by unpacking things

It's very short
Almost no challenge

Unpacking has been tested on Game Pass PC. It is also available for €19,99 on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Humble Store and GoG.

Lofi hip-hop playlist to move in vol.3

Moving... Moving in... probably the life stages reaching the top of the stressful and annoying/tiring/frustrating tier list. First of all, you have to store everything in its previous place of life. Prepare the boxes, sort everything, position the objects well so as not to break them, then transport everything in a truck or any machine that will bring this little mess in front of the new house or the new apartment. If you're lucky, friends are there to help you. If you don't have one, you know that hell awaits you in this little stairwell that barely leaves room for a bedside table... Hop hop hop we forget everything this now and sorry for the cold sweats caused.

Unpacking only keeps the good side of moving in and makes it even better for you: putting away your boxes. In a series of levels, we follow the story of a young woman through her moves, from her childhood in 1997 to adulthood in 2018. 21 years of history to follow through the personal objects of this person that one will learn to know simply through one's personal possessions. No text, no image of her, just objects that accompany her in her life. Yes, we can see a voyeur side to it here, but the game is never malicious about it and presents everything to us with constant gentleness.

A musical sweetness brought by the compositions with chiptune sounds (personal remark: Unpacking also goes very well with one of those famous lofi hip-hop playlists that we see everywhere on Youtube at the moment, guaranteed relax effect) but also a visual sweetness driven by the warm colors used in the magnificent pixel art of the game. This story, we follow it if we wish, by observing in detail the objects that we unpack, but it is quite possible not to stick to pure storage.

It's up to us, players, to imagine the daily life of this anonymous woman through her movements from apartment to house, passing through the student room. This story, told without any words, deliberately leaves us in the dark on most of its subjects in order to let us project ourselves into its life, without however omitting the most important details which will make us understand in part the sentimental and family life of this nobody. Unpacking tells a touching story of exploring and coming to terms with one's sexuality in a world that changes over time.

One click and that's it

In its desire to offer us the most relaxing game possible, the Witch Beam studio thought from the start of production to include everyone in Unpacking. We could see this a week before the game's release when the studio published the list of accessibility options for the game. Adjustable cursor size, a minimum number of words used, modifiable visual effects and a game that can be traversed entirely single-handedly with one-click gameplay. One click to open a box, one click to select the object you want and one click to put it down. That's all. No buttons to constantly press, no quick clicks to perform, no drag and drop...

The levels themselves are quite short and Unpacking won't take you more than 3 hours to complete. But these few short hours are a parenthesis of benevolence and welcome relaxation in which we settle down, take a step back and simply enjoy. A very pleasant proposal in this video game context punctuated by the incessant releases of nervous AAA and dozens of indies each week. Unpacking is a small island of shimmering greenery in the middle of the ocean of game releases and it does a lot of good.

JVFR

Do you feel the satisfaction of having everything tidy?

Admittedly, the game is short, very short, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, Witch Beam simply offering us the bare necessities to rest, without falling into the easy trap of wanting to do too much. We sometimes complain about the lack of freedom of placement of certain objects which, if they are not placed strictly in the right place, are haloed in red at the end of the level, preventing us from moving on to the next level if we do not put them away properly. But the game offers an option to put the objects where you want them, without worrying about blocking.

The challenge then proposed by Unpacking is really not difficult and it is partly because of this that the replayability is not high. Completionists will re-roll games to unlock all stickers that can be used in photo mode, but that's all there is to it.

Satisfaction simulator 2K21

JVFR

The photo mode allows you to immortalize our warm moments

In reality, Unpacking is for anyone who likes to be satisfied. The overall experience of the game is to feel this little thrill of satisfaction when we take the time to admire the fruit of our storage in a room. See the books neatly lined up and sorted by size, the game jackets that fit perfectly in the small chest of drawers under the TV, the cushions well positioned on the sofa, the kitchen utensils that are grouped together in the small drawer under the stove.. What satisfaction to see the floor clean and empty after having unpacked all the objects from a box!

And Unpacking even adds a layer at the end of each level by offering you to watch in accelerated replay the storage of the level. Seeing all these small objects quickly put away on their own with the pleasant sound effects that Witch Beam offers us is an experience in itself. A short experience, certainly, but terribly effective if you like things to be in their place. You can even create Gifs of these videos and share them on social networks.

Unpacking is also an aesthetic experience, whether through its clean, detail-packed pixel art graphics or its colors. This is why a photo mode is also available. You have access to a limited choice of frames and visual effects, but which bring a new vision to the work you have just done. Again, these photos can be shared on the networks.

Unpacking, l'avis de JVFR

Unpacking is undeniably a successful game. Its offer is as refreshing as it is relaxing and we take constant pleasure in arranging the different rooms of the available levels. Its very short lifespan, its simplistic gameplay, its almost non-existent challenge and its limited replayability make it a title that will not suit everyone, however. If you're looking for some advanced gameplay or action, go your way, but if you're ready to settle for being satisfied, Unpacking is THE game to play. Think of Witch Beam's game as a Youtube video of satisfying moments compilation, but in which you make the result that way.

Clean, accessible, beautiful and soft, Unpacking transports you from start to finish in its little cocoon of benevolence. A very nice job from the Australian studio which brings us an original game that we greatly need at the moment. And it looks like it works considering that the game, as of this writing, is in the top 10 Steam best sellers.

Unpacking

By offering us a minimalist gameplay and a limited challenge, Unpacking transports us to a restful, gentle and benevolent world. Witch Beam's storage game manages to satisfy us in every sense of the word by also offering us a nice story.