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Unpacking (video game)

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Unpacking
Developer(s)Witch Beam
Publisher(s)Humble Bundle
Director(s)Wren Brier
Producer(s)
  • Kip Bunyea
  • Erika Mariko Olsen
Designer(s)
  • Wren Brier
  • Tim Dawson
Programmer(s)Tim Dawson
Composer(s)Jeff van Dyck
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows, Switch, Xbox One
  • WW: November 2, 2021
PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
  • WW: May 10, 2022
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player

Unpacking is a puzzle video game developed by Witch Beam and published by Humble Bundle for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. The game received positive reviews, two BAFTA Game Awards, was chosen as game of the year by Eurogamer.

Gameplay

The game is divided into stages named by the years in which they take place: 1997, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018. The gameplay in each stage comprises unpacking a female character's possessions from boxes into a new dwelling, representing significant life events. The player is tasked with fitting each unpacked item into the living space, learning the protagonist's life story through her items and the places she lives.[1]

There are eight stages[2] made up of a total of 35 rooms.[3]

Development

The development team accepting Best Audio at the 22nd Game Developers Choice Awards

Unpacking was developed by Witch Beam, an independent game studio based in Brisbane, Australia. The studio was founded in 2013 and had previously released Assault Android Cactus, a twin-stick shooter, in 2015. The game was first conceptualized by Wren Brier when she moved in with her partner, Witch Beam co-director Tim Dawson, in early 2018. She found that unpacking unlabelled boxes, not knowing what is stored inside, was an experience that could be translated into a video game. The two participated in the Stugan games accelerator program in Sweden, and the game entered full production in early 2019.

Unpacking is mostly a wordless experience, with the narrative mainly told through objects the player unpacks from boxes.[4] The team put a lot of thought into making Unpacking's accessible: The nearly wordless nature of the game ensures that anyone who may have language or comprehension barriers can still enjoy playing the game, and many additional accessibility features were implemented.[5]

The sound design includes over 14,000 foley effects, with multiple pick-up and placement sound effects unique to each item.[6]

Release

While Witch Beam managed most of the game's social media channels, the team recruited Victoria Tran, the community director of Among Us, to help operate Unpacking's Discord channel and TikTok account.[4] The team initially expected development of the game to take about a year and a half, though actual production of the game took twice as long.[7] Unpacking was released for personal computers, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One on November 2, 2021.[8] Versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were released on May 10, 2022.[9] Physical versions of the game, published and distributed by Limited Run Games, were available for preorder between March 29 and May 1, 2022.[10]

Reception

Unpacking received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[11][12][13][14] The game received positive reviews from Rock Paper Shotgun,[24] GameSpot,[1] Eurogamer,[25] Nintendo Life,[18] IGN,[17] Kotaku,[26] TouchArcade,[22] It sold over 100,000 copies across all platforms in its first ten days.[27] GamesRadar+ praised it for its innovative narrative,[28] and it was awarded a Can I Play That? award for its accessibility.[29] The game was nominated for Game of the Year at the Gayming Awards 2022 and won Best LGBTQ Indie Game and Authentic Representation.[30] Unpacking also won 2 IGDA Global Industry Game Awards in 2022. One for 2D Animation and another for 2D Environment Art.[31]

Unpacking was named one of the best video games of 2021 by The New Yorker,[32] Los Angeles Times,[33] Forbes,[34] the Financial Times,[35] CNET,[36] and NME.[37] Eurogamer selected Unpacking as their Game of the Year.[38]

Awards

Year Award Category Result Ref
2021 Australian Game Developer Awards Game of the Year Won [39]
Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game Won
Excellence in Accessibility Won
2022 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game Won [40]
Game Developers Choice Awards Best Audio Won [41][42]
Innovation Award Won
Best Narrative Nominated
Independent Games Festival Awards Seamus McNally Grand Prize Nominated [43][42]
Excellence in Narrative Nominated
Excellence in Design Nominated
Excellence in Audio Nominated
18th British Academy Games Awards Family Game Nominated [44]
Narrative Won
Original Property Nominated
EE Game of the Year Won
Gayming Awards 2022 Game of the Year Nominated [30]
Best LGBTQ Indie Game Won
Authentic Representation Award Won
IGDA Global Industry Game Awards 2D Animation Won [31]
2D Environmental Art Won
2023 Peabody Awards Interactive & Immersive Pending [45]

Plot summary

The plot of Unpacking takes the player through the various life stages of the protagonist as we help her unpack at different monumental moments in her life. A hallmark of the game is that it says very little about the plot explicitly, but a lot is communicated to players implicitly, through the items players unpack, the rooms items are unpacked in, and any pre-existing items already in said rooms.

The first level features a single room, a child’s bedroom with a loft bed, desk, cabinet, and bookshelf. The player unpacks a variety of books, toys, figurines, and craft supplies, and upon placing everything in its correct spot and finishing the level, a photo of the room is added to the player’s album with the memo “Finally, my own room!”, presumably written by the main character. This first level has the player interacting with a room that starts out completely devoid of items besides the furniture.

The second level sees the protagonist moving into what is presumably a college or university dorm room or other type of student housing, with a bedroom, bathroom, and small kitchen. The player unpacks the main character’s clothes, computer, art supplies and trinkets in the bedroom, personal hygiene items in the bathroom, and a selection of mismatched dishware and other kitchen utensils in the kitchen. This level, like the previous one, has the player interacting with rooms that, besides large furniture items, are completely empty upon the main character’s arrival. The player can choose which room to finish the level in, their choice yielding three different memos from the protagonist; finishing in the kitchen yields the memo “I have to cook for myself? Uh oh.”, finishing in the bathroom gives you “Private bathroom! Score!” and finishing in the bedroom results in “Classes start Monday! Uni, here I come!”.

In the third level, the main character movies in with some roommates. In this level, the player has access to a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. All rooms except the bedroom are shared spaces, as indicated by the items already occupying them upon the main character’s arrival, none of which the player is allowed to move. This is a notable change from the two previous levels. Where the player previously had the freedom to place items everywhere and move every item in the room, the player now has to fir the protagonist’s items into the empty spots left by the previous tenant. The map of the level reveals two additional bedrooms, but these are inaccessible to the player. The player unpacks board games, video games and gaming consoles in the living room, books, stuffed animals and trinkets in the dining room, a selection of kitchen utensils and dishware in the kitchen, various personal hygiene items in the bathroom, and art supplies, books, notebooks, clothing, and exercise equipment in the bedroom. The player can finish the level in any of the five rooms, resulting in different memos in the album. Finishing in the kitchen yields the memo “WAY bigger than my last kitchen!”, finishing in the bathroom gives you “Wait, we’re all sharing one bathroom?”, finishing in the dining room yields “Game nights just got more convenient!”, finishing in the living room gives the memo “Movie nights are gonna be awesome!”, and finishing in the bedroom results in “This was a big day! I’m ready for bed.”.

The fourth level sees the main character moving in with what appears to be a man, presumably a boyfriend. Unlike in the previous level, the player is allowed to move all of the pre-existing items in this level in order to fit the protagonist’s items in the various rooms. The player unpacks a variety of kitchen utensils in the kitchen, books, video games, gaming consoles, and trinkets in the living room, a selection of personal hygiene items in the bathroom, and the main character’s clothes in the bedroom. The player can choose to finish the game in any of these four rooms, the choice of room resulting in a unique memo in the player’s album. Finishing in the kitchen yields the memo “Not all coffee is instant, who knew?”, finishing in the bathroom gives you “A shower with a view!”, finishing in the living room gives the memo “Feels so serious moving into his place!”, and finishing in the bedroom results in “Barely managed to fit myself in here!”. This level stands out from the previous one in that there are few open spaces for the player to put the protagonist’s belongings in. Instead, the player must move the pre-existing items around to make room for the new items.

In the fifth level, the protagonist has moved back to her childhood home, indicated by the fact that one of this level’s rooms is the childhood bedroom from level one, with some changes to the furniture. In addition to the bedroom, the player also has access to a bathroom, in which a selection of items is already present, but the player has the option of moving these around. The player unpacks a variety of personal hygiene items in the bathroom and art supplies, books, stuffed animals, and trinkets in the bedroom. As before, the player can finish in any one of the two rooms. Finishing in the bathroom gives you the memo “My sister and I used to fight over this bathroom.” and finishing in the bedroom results in “This room used to feel bigger.”. Notably, where the protagonist previously only had a single pack of what is presumably pain medication among their belongings, the player now unpacks multiple packs of what appears to be different pain medications, as well as a pack of band aids.

The sixth level sees the protagonist moving into what is presumably an apartment, featuring a kitchen, living room, bathroom, office, and bedroom. The player unpacks video games, gaming consoles, books and trinkets in the living room, a variety of personal hygiene articles in the bathroom, a selection of kitchen utensils in the kitchen, art supplies and books in the office, and clothing in the bedroom. As in the previous levels, the memo in the player’s album will vary depending on the level you choose to finish in. Finishing in the kitchen yields the memo “Glad I found a place this nice on my budget!”, finishing in the bathroom gives you “I’ve missed long baths!”, finishing in the living room gives the memo “I’ll figure out where to get a couch from later.”, finishing in the office yields “Making this my art space!”, and finishing in the bedroom results in “A queen sized bed all to myself!”. A notable change in this level is that the player now unpacks a walking cane, in addition to multiple packs of what is presumably pain medication.

The seventh level stands out from all the others in that it is the only level in which the protagonist does not move houses. Instead, the player finds themselves in the same rooms as in the previous level, most of the items from the previous level still present and some new items added, but with a new collection of boxes to unpack. Small changes in the rooms, such as an additional umbrella being added to the umbrella stand or the presence of nightstands on both sides of the bed, clues the player in about the fact that someone is moving in with the protagonist. Certain items the player unpacks, such as a pack of tampons in the bathroom, as well as bras and dresses in the bedroom, suggest that the person moving in is a woman. The player unpacks video games, gaming consoles, books and trinkets in the living room, a variety of personal hygiene articles in the bathroom, a selection of kitchen utensils in the kitchen, and clothing in the bedroom. Notably, the person moving in has no items that are to be placed in the protagonist’s office. As before, the player can finish in any one of the five rooms. Finishing in the kitchen yields the memo “Looking forward to fresh culinary adventures!”, finishing in the bathroom gives you “All those drawers filled up quickly!”, finishing in the living room gives the memo “So much more cozy now! Feels like a home.”, finishing in the office yields “It’s been hard but I’m finally starting to get somewhere!”, and finishing in the bedroom results in “So glad for all that wardrobe space now!”.

Finally, in the eighth and last level, the player unpacks the items of both the protagonist and the woman who moved in with her in the previous level, now in a new and much larger house with more rooms than any previous level. On the first floor, the player unpacks a variety of kitchen utensils and food items in the kitchen, books, trinkets and dinnerware in the dining room, video games, gaming consoles and trinkets in the living room, shoes and souvenirs in the entrance hall, and a few select items in the downstairs bathroom. On the second floor, the player unpacks a variety of personal hygiene items and laundry supplies in the upstairs bathroom, stuffed animals and décor in the bedroom, baby clothes, baby supplies, stuffed animals, and toys in the nursery, and both character’s clothes, as well as luggage and a safe, in the walk-in closet. The map of this house reveals a garage as well, but the player cannot access this room. On the first floor, finishing in the entrance hall provides the memo “Our new home!”, finishing in the downstairs bathroom gives you “Bonus toilet!”, finishing in the living room results in “Lots of space and a backyard! We can get a pet now!”, finishing in the kitchen yields the memo “Finally, a fridge big enough for all our magnets!”, finishing in the dining room gives “We’re already planning the dinner parties!”, and finishing in the office yields “My professional space, for me, the professional!”. On the second floor, finishing in the bedroom provides the memo “Looking forward to the first sleep in our new house!”, finishing in the nursery gives you “We’re so looking forward to meeting you!”, finishing in the upstairs bathroom gives “A family-sized bathroom!” and finishing in the walk-in closet yields “Enough space for all our clothes and then some!”.

Upon finishing Unpacking, the credits play. If the player accesses their album again after this, a final page has been added, showing a picture of two women watching the sunset while sitting in a garden, one of them wearing the protagonist’s clothes and playing the ukulele (presumably the protagonist) and one wearing a white dress with red dots and holding a baby, presumably the woman our protagonist lives with. The final page in the album includes the memo “Thanks for joining me on this journey.”

References

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