Parents' Guide to

Unpacking

By Rose Behar, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Heartwarming game tells a story through its puzzles.

Game Linux , Mac , Nintendo Switch , Windows , Xbox One 2021
Unpacking Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Pixel art of a child's bedroom with cardboard boxes in it.
  • Pixel art of a student dorm with cardboard boxes.
  • Pixel art of a living room with a cosplay costume in progress in it.
  • Pixel art of a high-end apartment kitchen.

Community Reviews

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age 8+

Based on 2 parent reviews

hicupalot
hicupalot Adult
April 22, 2022
age 3+

A beautiful and accessible game!

It is one of the most accessible and beautiful games of all time, it is a beautiful example of a LGBTQ+ representation in video games. I would recomend this to ANYONE who can afford it.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
ABMae
ABMae Adult
December 28, 2021
age 13+

So well designed.

You get to follow along and this young woman grows into adulthood but only through her moving boxes. You pick up on subtle changes that happen to her lifestyle between each year. You take notice how some items were left behind and that the character got new additions to a book series. It’s a great story that captures the essence of show don’t tell. I absolutely loved this game and advise anyone to play it. It holds a nice message and has LGTBQ+ aspects that I appreciate.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

UNPACKING's first level begins in a childhood bedroom rendered in detailed pixel art. The aim is to unpack all items inside the cardboard boxes in the room and put them away. Players also find out more about the character through learning the acceptable placements of certain items. There are countless ways to store most of the objects, but the objects will blink with a red outline if they're not placed correctly -- for instance, the placement of the character's journal is important in the first level. Once all those blinking red items are sorted, the player gets the okay to proceed, and a snapshot of the room is placed in their scrapbook along with a brief caption. As the player progresses through time, players are shown a variety of realistic settings, like a dorm room, a fancy apartment with a boyfriend who hasn't made much space for their things, an adult return to the childhood room, a solo apartment, and, finally, a shared house with their partner and baby. Apart from completing the rooms, players can also strive to achieve special achievements, which are rewarded in the form of stickers.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (2 ):

The subtlety of this puzzler's story makes for a slow burn, but it's extremely rewarding to see the lit-up silhouette of the main character at a patio table with her partner and baby at the end. Overall, the story of Unpacking, a largely wordless game, might be its best quality, which is an impressive feat. But Unpacking has plenty of other impressive attributes, from its polished pixel art to its pleasant scoring. Another highlight is its ease of play. The focus on accessibility has resulted in an experience that's easy to grasp and pleasant to navigate. In addition to eliminating drag-and-drop for more comfortable clicking functions and not including time penalties, Unpacking's controls are re-mappable, the interface buttons can be enlarged, and colors are changeable for colorblind players. Further, the puzzle element can be removed entirely, letting players just place items wherever they like. Tweaks like these open up the game to a wider diversity of players than most.

The only downsides to Unpacking are its short gameplay time and the limited amount of levels -- both of which are understandable, given the indie team behind the game and the constraints of the narrative. Still, it would be fun to receive more difficult challenges as the story progresses from a puzzle perspective. Additionally, as noted above, younger kids aren't likely to understand the emotional journey of the story as much as a young adult. Having said that, there's plenty to appreciate from an art and gameplay perspective, with more nuance to enjoy upon each replay.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about moving -- what are the best and worst parts of the process? Which belongings are most important?

  • How does this game tell a story without using many words? How is that different from other games?

Game Details

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