Here we go finally the gaming bug has returned and game number 1 has been completed for 2024. To get the gaming bug the plan was always to start off with something nice and simple to ease myself back in and thanks to the PlayStation catalogue I find the perfect game... Unpacking. Now this is a game I had wanted to play for a while however, I just couldn't justify buying it due to my lack of gaming, we finally upgrade our PS Plus though and as soon as I saw this in the catalogue I knew I needed to get it downloaded and played. Life was hectic last year and at the start of this year I just needed something that I could just unwind with and not have to focus on too much after a hard days work and this game ticked all the boxes.
Unpacking is a super simple game to play through with 8 life stages to complete where each stage adds new rooms for you to unpack and organise. This stages take you through your characters life as you grow up go to college face heartbreak before finding a happy ending. The aim of the game is nice and simple you unpack the boxes in the room and place the items where you think they should live. Once all the boxes are opened and everything is unpacked the items will flash with a red outline if they are misplaced so you simply go around and find new homes for them, once all the flashing has gone that level is complete. I soon learnt that you could fly through the levels by putting a lot of items in random places as long as it still made some sense or you could be a lot more strategic and put things in more strategic places, something I actually started to do as I got more into the game.
I also learnt that as you get more into the game you soon settle into a routine and learn different ways to make levels a little bit easier. For instance I started to unpack all the boxes in the room in one go and then start placing items. This was much easier than unpacking one box at a time placing each item straight away as the original way just led to a lot of moving items around as more of the same items were discovered.
Last year when it came to gaming I struggled to get into anything however, with this game it had me hooked from the get go and whilst playing I noticed time seemed to fly by. Maybe it is due to how quickly the stages went by or how therapeutic placing the items was but either way I was hooked and anything else had to wait until so many items were set in place.
When I started the game I knew I wasn't in for spectacular graphics and sounds and to be honest I am grateful for that as even though it is very basic it gives that cozy gaming vibe which I think is just what was needed to get the gaming bug back. The fact that the graphics are very basic took me back to playing games in my childhood which I think helped out and the sound not being crucial to the game meant I could have my own music or a podcast on in the background without it ruining my experience. I really think I could get used to games like this too as I preferred this to some of the other games I have played recently which had brilliant graphics and a story line you really had to focus on.
As for the controls in this game they are very basic and super easy to remember and if you do forget for any reason they actually show up at the top of the screen so the reference point is always there. This game would honestly be for all ages due to the ease of the controls.
Another selling point for this game is that it is not a long game, in fact it took me around 4 hours to roll the credits and that is only due to me messing around for a while and not knowing what an item was on a level for quite a while, in the end it was pretty simple and I had been looking at it as the wrong thing. The length of the game meant it was easy to jump in and out of after work without losing where I was within the game and I could just spend 5 or 10 minutes here and there if gaming time was limited. If you are going for the platinum trophy though this will take you longer as there is a bit more involved in getting trophies.
Overall I feel this is the perfect cozy game to pass a few hours and I enjoyed every second of my play through. Fingers crossed this game really gets me back into regular gaming as I am hoping that 2024 is the year that gaming is added back as a permanent part of the routine. I need to make sure that I am not just sticking to the games in the PS Catalog though as I do have that backlog to get through, I have seen quite a few on there though that are in a variety of lengths so they could come in handy to break the bigger backlog games up.
For now though let's get back to the backlog...
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