Developer: Weird Penguin Games
Publisher: REDDEER.GAMES
Platform: PC, Switch (2)
Tested on: Switch 2
Unbox the Room – Review
Hey there, and welcome to our unboxing vid-…review? Yes, we’re taking a look at a game that is all about unboxing things today, as its title, Unbox the Room, so subtly indicates. Is there enough to unpack in this bite-sized puzzle game, or should we have kept the lid on it?
Story
As your friendly new mentor/boss, Alex, explains in Unbox the Room’s introductory scene, you’re the newest intern of the Unbox the Room company. Your internship sees you take on the role of an interior designer, whose task it is to help customers unpack their stuff after they move into a new house. That’s all you need to know, as there is no time to waste: there are plenty of eager customers waiting on you to get your hands dirty! Unbox the Room’s story mode doesn’t go beyond this basic premise, although the quirky customers themselves do add some narrative flair to the game. They’re often eccentric characters with very peculiar needs, and rummaging through their stuff does reveal the occasional humorous detail about their personalities. Unbox the Room is very light in terms of overarching narrative, but the environmental storytelling more than makes up for this.
Graphics
The rooms that you need to furnish are presented in a fixed isometric perspective, which can feel a bit counterintuitive. We found ourselves initially wanting to look at the room from different angles, but we couldn’t. This does require some suspension of disbelief, as you only have two walls at your disposal, and it’s weird to imagine a room where two walls are filled to the brim with items, with the two other (invisible) walls being completely bare. That said, the designs of both the rooms and the items that you place in them are quite charming. Great attention to detail has gone into the pixel sprites, and it’s usually quite clear what each one represents, although sometimes it isn’t entirely clear what an object is supposed to be. There’s one specific sprite that we were convinced represented a desktop printer, for example, but we couldn’t place it anywhere but on the floor. We still haven’t figured out what the mysterious object is, but at least we were able to clear the room with a perfect score.
Sound
Audio takes a backseat in Unbox the Room but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As forgettable as the music is as soon as you stop playing, the soothing tunes do contribute to the relaxed atmosphere of the game. Most of the game’s sound effects are functional, although the occasional audio easter egg, like a cat plushie meowing when clicking on it, never failed to put a smile on our face. There is no voice acting present, but given the overall low-key soundscape, this wasn’t something that we felt was a huge miss.
Gameplay
The core gameplay of Unbox the Room is deceptively simple. Each level features one or more rooms that you need to furnish. Furniture and other items are packed in boxes, crates or even full-fledged moving trucks. All you need to do is open a box, unpack items one by one, and put them in the right spot. Once everything is in place, you’re done! Easy, right? Well, not quite. Rooms are often limited in space, crates and boxes are in the way, and your customers often have very specific requests about what needs to go where. The boxes also aren’t labelled and you’ll never know what item you’ll pull out next. It’s easy enough to put a potted plant aside on the floor until you figure out what to do with it, but when it’s a full-sized bed, things get much trickier, especially while there are still crates in the way. If you empty a box, you can remove it from the room, giving you more leeway.
Fortunately, Unbox the Room is a very forgiving game. There is no timer, nor are there move limits. You’re free to mess around with furniture until you’re satisfied with your handiwork. Once you mark the room as done, you’re given a score of up to three stars, depending on how well you met your customers’ needs. These needs often involve the specific placement of items, like putting a specific number of plushies on a bed, but they can also be more involved. An early-game bathroom wants you to put a mirror above a vanity, but there is no mirror to be found in any of the moving boxes, for example. Both the mirror and the vanity were already in the bathroom all along, with the game subtly teaching you that some objects already in a room aren’t off-limits either. That doesn’t mean that you’re given complete freedom though. Object size is also a factor. A small potted plant may fit on a windowsill, but a desk chair won’t. It’s a simple matter of trial and error, so it’s a good thing that Unbox the Room’s controls are simple and accessible as well. Picking up objects, rotating them, placing them inside one another, and moving stacked items are all a breeze. We’ve played games with a similar concept where misclicking was frustratingly common, so seeing Unbox the Room get this just right was very satisfying.
With just 21 levels of varying difficulty, Unbox the Room is a very short game. It took us just under 2 hours to complete the story mode, which is the game’s main feature. Supplementing this is a sandbox mode where you’re free to furnish rooms to your heart’s content, although we’d still say that this is a very light game in terms of content. The game’s RRP of €5.99 is in line with its length. While we’d say it’s worth it even at full price, publisher REDDEER.GAMES is known to discount its titles rather often. In fact, Unbox the Room already debuted with a launch discount of 50% up until the 28th of May. Even if the launch window has already passed, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to pick this one up on the cheap in the near future, if you’re not willing to pay full price.
Conclusion
A short but sweet puzzle game, Unbox the Room offers a relaxing, almost zen-like experience while tickling your brain just enough to keep things interesting. The puzzles are more charming than they are complex, so if you’re looking for a fun little game to unwind with after a busy day, this one just might be the ticket. If you can pick it up on the cheap, even better!
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