Unpacking Review: Packed Memories

As someone who grew up moving from house to house every three years, there comes a range of feelings with moving into a new space; especially if the place you’re departing from has personal history. Whether it takes the form of moving from home for school, moving to a new town as a kid, or moving cross country for a job, the prospect of leaving the familiar and making a space within the unknown you’re venturing into can be melancholic, fun, scary, and exciting – sometimes even all at once. However, something I find present in every instance of moving is the catharsis that comes with making that new space, whatever and wherever it may be, into one you can call “home”. That cathartic feeling is captured well and served with a unique and affective narrative in Witch Beam’s most recent zen puzzle title, Unpacking. 

Gameplay 

Unpacking’s gameplay, much like its title, is pretty straight to the point. With no dialogue, text, or any formal introduction to the gameplay, it simply presents you with an assortment of cardboard boxes in an empty room minus some furniture. The character you follow through Unpacking is never seen, so rather than getting to know them through their journey or actions, you come to know them through their possessions as you use a cursor to open boxes and furnish the room you’re in. At first this is a simple task, and though the game never becomes crushingly difficult, upon completing each stage of the game you’ll be tasked with unpacking more and more rooms at once. This ultimately becomes more time consuming and can require the tiniest bit more analysis of what you’re holding as objects unpacked in one room could belong in another.  

I wouldn’t call Unpacking difficult by any means, but it does make you pay attention to the details which I appreciate. It trades in a crazy difficulty for thorough, slow-paced examination. This “take your time” approach really exemplifies the zen aspect of this puzzler. However, the game doesn’t lack difficulty entirely. For the most part the game allows a good bit of creative freedom. You can put objects wherever you see fit, opting for a rule of general locations rather than exact ones in regards to where the items you unpack belong. However, impulse will take over in many instances where you know how things should naturally be in a room. For instance, if you’re unpacking books, you naturally put them on the bookshelf, or put shampoo in the shower. But as you start to juggle multiple rooms you might come across unfamiliar objects that could stump you, or you might end up in a position like myself where I was sure I couldn’t pack a room out entirely. This caused me to really examine where things could fit, and then move everything around trying to find the perfect way for me to pack out said room. There was also one instance in particular where the narrative being strung through the game required a certain object to be placed in a way it normally wasn't, which stumped me for quite a while as well.  

Completing a set of rooms, followed by experiencing the spaces lived in after having seen them so empty prior gives a sense of satisfaction that hits just as hard in game as it does in real life. Given that the game plays fast and loose with the exact location of where an item should go, this means that most people’s completed rooms will look pretty different as far as object placement goes. Due to this fact, Witch Beam included a photo mode in the game complete with stickers to catalogue the rooms you’ve put together and want to share or compare with others. It’s admittedly not a feature I utilized much, but I can see how it can provide an extra layer of conversation amongst friends who might be playing at the same time or those who have played through and just want to show off how they unpacked.  

Story 

Unpacking’s method of storytelling is one that I found to be both creative and enjoyable. Presenting itself almost in a detective-like fashion, with no dialogue or text, the game sees you following your main protagonist for a little over two decades. With levels taking the form of chapters and critical moments of the protagonist's life, it’s a life you quite literally become a non-participant observer of from the instant you start; the ups, downs, successes, hobbies, and relationships both good and bad - all presented through the objects you unpack. These objects even ground the chapters of this person's life within the respective year that they take place in. For instance, the game is very much set in our real world, with objects such as a Gameboy Color being present in 1997, while an Xbox 360 available in the late aughts. I found this method of environmental storytelling so hands-off yet surprisingly intimate, creating a sense of familiarity as I continued to unpack certain objects the protagonist had carried with them throughout their life. 

Usually, environmental storytelling is utilized to tell you what has happened in any given space, but with Unpacking, it’s telling you what's happening in real time. Items like the protagonists stuffed pig from childhood, their D&D miniatures from college, their art supplies, or even their degree, tell stories in themselves. They take on a particular level of meaning after you’ve unpacked them over the course of a few levels, linking them to certain eras as if you lived through them as well. Without as much as a single word being said or appearing on the screen, the amount of narrative that comes from Unpacking was pleasantly surprising given I really didn’t expect much based on what I had seen of the game. Unpacking really is just as much of an intimate tale of someone’s life journey as much as it is a relaxing puzzle game, and I can’t say I've ever really experienced that before.  

Presentation 

Witch Beam’s sophomore project is pleasant and relaxing all the way around with an art direction and soundtrack that complement its gameplay mechanics well. Utilizing a fixed isometric camera and pixel art direction that I’m admittedly a sucker for, Unpacking displays its rooms in a familiar diorama-esque fashion. As silly as it may sound, I always find joy in seeing objects rendered in this aesthetic, and given that Unpacking’s main mechanic is literally examining everyday objects, that simple joy was plentiful. This sensation was well supported by equally relaxing tracks composed by Jeff van Dyck as well, capturing the zen nature of the game in very low-key tracks that almost existed as ambience as I made my way through the handful of hours that my playthrough took. Unpacking isn’t anything to gawk at, sure. But personally, there's just an inherent level of charm and fun that innately comes with spending time in a space composed of pixel art. Unpacking has plenty to go around. 

Breakdown 

Game: Unpacking

Developer: Witch Beam

Availability: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC, Mac, Linux 

Reviewed on Xbox Series X 

Pros: 

+ Colorfully pleasing visuals

+ Relaxing, fun puzzle-centric gameplay

+ Creative and surprisingly intimate narrative approach 

Cons: 

- Minimal instruction works until the gameplay and narrative blend in one particular instance. Feeling like a lack of direction rather than a challenging puzzle.

Final Thoughts

While I didn’t expect much beyond a simple puzzler going in, Unpacking presented a very ordinary but intimate story in a unique fashion. Its one many people may be able to connect to or find interest in, even if narrative isn’t at the forefront of what's being offered here. Unpacking succeeds as the zen puzzler it sets out to be with little-to-no hiccups along the way. Witch Beam delivers a relaxed and creatively open approach to gameplay. Along with a visually pleasing aesthetic, its approachable length, and the chill tracks that score the journey through the protagonist's life make for an enjoyable experience that anyone can jump into with ease.

Reviewed by Justin Hyde