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October 22, 2019 2:26 PM Subscribe
Unpacking [YouTube][Gameplay Trailer] “Unpacking is a puzzle game about moving your possessions into a new home. And by “your,” I mean “somebody else’s.” By unpacking and arranging objects—all of which click and clack oh-so-satisfyingly—you’ll gain “a sense of intimacy with a character you never see and a story you’re never told.” It’ll be out next year.” [via: Kotaku]
The game that lets you experience one of life's least pleasant processes.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:46 PM on October 22, 2019 [19 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 2:46 PM on October 22, 2019 [19 favorites]
Perfect, I'll now have something to do while I wait for the cats to come eat the food in my other game.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:58 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 2:58 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
Wait, what about packing? There's a special beauty to trying to tetris all of one's belongings into a storage pod. (Moving is horrible and I hate it but tetrising is fun!)
posted by nat at 3:02 PM on October 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by nat at 3:02 PM on October 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
Yep, packing = Tetris. Or Katamari Damacy, depending on your style.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:54 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 3:54 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
Is there a "realistic" option that has you moving each of your in-laws' donated dishes and furniture into multiple storage units, and then you leave them in there until you're too old to move them yourself?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:01 PM on October 22, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:01 PM on October 22, 2019 [6 favorites]
It was all fun and games until the kitchen. What kind of madman puts the cheese grater next to the glasses and the serving bowl under the sink? And distributes utensils over four different drawers?! And now my outrage has to wait several months for some kind of catharsis.
posted by confluency at 4:25 PM on October 22, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by confluency at 4:25 PM on October 22, 2019 [14 favorites]
On the other hand, I guess watching someone play the game pushes all of the backseat driving / strong opinions buttons at once, so the trailer is doing a good job.
posted by confluency at 4:27 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by confluency at 4:27 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Are you allowed to throw stuff away if they don't spark joy?
posted by cazoo at 5:07 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by cazoo at 5:07 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
Also the microwave should be one shelf down.
posted by soelo at 5:38 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by soelo at 5:38 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Looking at the still-packed boxes sitting behind me right now, perhaps this is not the game for me.
posted by ckape at 5:38 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by ckape at 5:38 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
Just watching this is making me twitchy and angry. Can't wait to see the other games in the series like 'responding to yet another set of job advertisement selection criteria in the STAR format' or 'on hold to the telephone company'
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:46 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:46 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
Oh my god this is perfect. someone out there understands me. I cannot wait.
(I'm an enormous weirdo who actually really enjoys packing and unpacking? But especially unpacking. It's like fifty boxes of presents to myself and I get to figure out where I want it to go and how to shelve my books and JOY.
I wish I liked the actual act of moving more, but yes, I will come over and help you pack and unpack and it will make me so happy.)
posted by kalimac at 5:56 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
(I'm an enormous weirdo who actually really enjoys packing and unpacking? But especially unpacking. It's like fifty boxes of presents to myself and I get to figure out where I want it to go and how to shelve my books and JOY.
I wish I liked the actual act of moving more, but yes, I will come over and help you pack and unpack and it will make me so happy.)
posted by kalimac at 5:56 PM on October 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'm enjoying how these comments are so far split between "God this looks amazing" and "God this looks terrible." (I'm team amazing btw)
posted by aka burlap at 6:15 PM on October 22, 2019
posted by aka burlap at 6:15 PM on October 22, 2019
For anyone with Apple Arcade, assemble with care (yt trailer) is a neat game that about fixing stuff that has a similar vibe of learning about characters through their belongings though minus the "a character you never see and a story you’re never told" part.
posted by juv3nal at 6:39 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by juv3nal at 6:39 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Would prefer a packing game, agreeing with you nat - We've moved long-distance with a 12 cubic metre van and a Honda City, I spent hours on how to get our stuff into those two spaces, was happy when theory fitted reality. That was 1994, some of those boxes remain unopened..
I wonder if the game will allow unpacking objects in 'the wrong' rooms?
posted by unearthed at 6:49 PM on October 22, 2019
I wonder if the game will allow unpacking objects in 'the wrong' rooms?
posted by unearthed at 6:49 PM on October 22, 2019
Haha yeah that apartment...all the items match? And fit in the spaces? And aren't six foot up in inaccessabile weird cabinets your landlord thought were a good idea?
But also: bug spray on top of the fridge? Good call.
posted by emjaybee at 7:20 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
But also: bug spray on top of the fridge? Good call.
posted by emjaybee at 7:20 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
Christ, I hope my daughter doesn't find out about this because I can already see her playing this obsessively while the boxes that have been taking up a considerable amount of available real estate in the garage for the past 2 years remain unpacked.
posted by she's not there at 8:08 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by she's not there at 8:08 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
So every difficult but important thing people have to do in their lives but don't get much practice at beforehand will soon have a video game associated with it?
I guess I'm down with that.
posted by jamjam at 8:14 PM on October 22, 2019
I guess I'm down with that.
posted by jamjam at 8:14 PM on October 22, 2019
Yep, packing = Tetris. Or Katamari Damacy, depending on your style.
Tetris is how I pack a moving van. Katamari Damacy is how I pack for vacations.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:30 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Tetris is how I pack a moving van. Katamari Damacy is how I pack for vacations.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:30 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
This should be a multiplayer game.
Player 1 packs everything (challenge mode is against a time limit; penalties for every "random" box full of bullshit you couldn't fit elsewhere).
Player 2 then takes the boxes and has to fit them into a rental truck. Watch out for those giant boxes full of books because Player 1 is a nincompoop!
Player 3 gets to play the driving game part of it. Watch out for 11'8! Penalties for getting to your destination with only two hours left before the rental expires!
Player 4 gets to unload the truck and place the furniture, racing against time lest the u-haul gods take the truck away. My god, this new place is so much smaller. WTF do you do with the box labeled "spare bedrm" when there is no "spare bedrm" here? Where are the bolts for the bedframe?
Player 5 plays the game the preview is for, but the more challenging levels find random boxes in random rooms and time challenges to find "essential" things, like TP, which are not in "essential" boxes. Penalties for just putting boxes into corners and not unpacking them at all. Marvel at the batshit way player 1 packed the boxes!
The game is considered won if all 5 players are still talking to each other.
posted by maxwelton at 1:29 AM on October 23, 2019 [12 favorites]
Player 1 packs everything (challenge mode is against a time limit; penalties for every "random" box full of bullshit you couldn't fit elsewhere).
Player 2 then takes the boxes and has to fit them into a rental truck. Watch out for those giant boxes full of books because Player 1 is a nincompoop!
Player 3 gets to play the driving game part of it. Watch out for 11'8! Penalties for getting to your destination with only two hours left before the rental expires!
Player 4 gets to unload the truck and place the furniture, racing against time lest the u-haul gods take the truck away. My god, this new place is so much smaller. WTF do you do with the box labeled "spare bedrm" when there is no "spare bedrm" here? Where are the bolts for the bedframe?
Player 5 plays the game the preview is for, but the more challenging levels find random boxes in random rooms and time challenges to find "essential" things, like TP, which are not in "essential" boxes. Penalties for just putting boxes into corners and not unpacking them at all. Marvel at the batshit way player 1 packed the boxes!
The game is considered won if all 5 players are still talking to each other.
posted by maxwelton at 1:29 AM on October 23, 2019 [12 favorites]
(Also, anyone wanting to play as player 2, 3, or 4 who is over 30 is immediately disqualified if they don't just hit the "call moving company" button, even if you have to go heavily into debt to do so.)
posted by maxwelton at 1:33 AM on October 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 1:33 AM on October 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
There should also be an "emotional labor mode" in which one of the players sits in the comfy chair in the living room watching TV and drinking beer while the other unpacks.
posted by chavenet at 3:02 AM on October 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:02 AM on October 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
We just got a new garage and have been moving stuff into it. Almost daily I need to rearrange everything to accommodate new additions, which is like a slow-motion version of this game.
I love loading car trunks. I can Tetris an incredible amount of stuff into a car. I’d like to see a short, packing version of this game where the challenge is to fit enough gear for four people to go on a weeklong beach vacation into a 2012 Toyota Camry.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:42 AM on October 23, 2019
I love loading car trunks. I can Tetris an incredible amount of stuff into a car. I’d like to see a short, packing version of this game where the challenge is to fit enough gear for four people to go on a weeklong beach vacation into a 2012 Toyota Camry.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:42 AM on October 23, 2019
I love packing and I love unpacking but the interior design, colors, and decor in this game look like a 90s plastic dollhouse from Fisher-Price. Too depressing. Call me when I can paint the walls before moving in.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:41 AM on October 23, 2019
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:41 AM on October 23, 2019
Call me when I can paint the walls before moving in.
The Sim is basically this but a completely different design/concept. I would love for a game like Unboxing to be combined with Stardew Valley. It would satisfy all of those itches.
posted by Fizz at 9:19 AM on October 23, 2019
The Sim is basically this but a completely different design/concept. I would love for a game like Unboxing to be combined with Stardew Valley. It would satisfy all of those itches.
posted by Fizz at 9:19 AM on October 23, 2019
(Also, anyone wanting to play as player 2, 3, or 4 who is over 30 is immediately disqualified if they don't just hit the "call moving company" button, even if you have to go heavily into debt to do so.)
None of my friends have the backs, knees or time to schlep my stuff anymore, and that's ok. I used the same movers the last three times and they do a good job, and I don't feel any guilt at all.
Maybe someday you order up a fleet of drones and bots for a day who move your stuff. That would be ok too.
posted by emjaybee at 11:36 AM on October 23, 2019
None of my friends have the backs, knees or time to schlep my stuff anymore, and that's ok. I used the same movers the last three times and they do a good job, and I don't feel any guilt at all.
Maybe someday you order up a fleet of drones and bots for a day who move your stuff. That would be ok too.
posted by emjaybee at 11:36 AM on October 23, 2019
Yep, packing = Tetris. Or Katamari Damacy, depending on your style.
I'd love a throwing-shit-away simulator:
Mariekondo Damacy.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:07 PM on October 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'd love a throwing-shit-away simulator:
Mariekondo Damacy.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:07 PM on October 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
The best part of the demo is how the empty boxes fold themselves flat and disappear. I'll take ten of those, please, and bonus points if the styrofoam and plastic magically leave with them.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:36 AM on October 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:36 AM on October 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by turbid dahlia at 2:33 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]