''Unpacking'' is a

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. ...

developed by Witch Beam and published by Humble Bundle for Microsoft Windows,

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, Xbox series,

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, and

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. The game received positive reviews, two

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, was chosen as game of the year by ''

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.''

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. There are eight stages made up of a total of 35 rooms.

Development

''Unpacking'' was developed by Witch Beam, an independent game studio based in

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, Australia. The studio was founded in 2013 and had previously released ''

Assault Android Cactus ''Assault Android Cactus'' is a twin-stick shooter developed and published by Witch Beam. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux in 2015, PlayStation 4 in 2016, Xbox One in 2017 and Nintendo Switch in 2019. An enhanced ver ...

'', a

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

Release

While Witch Beam managed most of the game's social media channels, the team recruited Victoria Tran, the community director of ''

Among Us ''Among Us'' is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia (party game), Mafia and the science fiction horror film ''The Thing (19 ...

'', to help operate ''Unpacking''s Discord channel and

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account. 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. ''Unpacking'' was released for

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and

on November 2, 2021. Versions for

and

were released on May 10, 2022. Physical versions of the game, published and distributed by Limited Run Games, were available for preorder between March 29 and May 1, 2022.

Reception

''Unpacking'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. The game received positive reviews from ''

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'', ''

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'',

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, '' IGN'', ''

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'', ''

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'', It sold over 100,000 copies across all platforms in its first ten days. ''

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'' praised it for its innovative narrative, and it was awarded a ''Can I Play That?'' award for its accessibility. The game was nominated for Game of the Year at the

Gayming Awards ''Gayming Magazine'' is a British, UK-based online LGBTQ video gaming magazine. They are the first video gaming website dedicated to the LGBTQ community.The site was launched in June 2019 with the aim of connecting the LGBTQ and video gaming c ...

2022 and won Best LGBTQ Indie Game and Authentic Representation. ''Unpacking'' also won 2 IGDA Global Industry Game Awards in 2022. One for 2D Animation and another for 2D Environment Art. ''Unpacking'' was named one of the best video games of 2021 by ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', the ''

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'', '' CNET'', and '' NME''. ''Eurogamer'' selected ''Unpacking'' as their Game of the Year.

Awards

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.unpackinggame.com/ 2021 video games Humble Games games LGBT-related video games Linux games MacOS games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Puzzle video games Retro-style video games Video games developed in Australia Video games featuring female protagonists Video games scored by Jeff van Dyck Video games set in the 1990s Video games set in the 2000s Video games set in the 2010s Witch Beam Games Windows games Xbox One games BAFTA winners (video games) Interactive Achievement Award winners Game Developers Choice Award winners Indie games Single-player video games