How To Unpack This One?

Even knowing a little bit about Moving Houses beforehand, I was not prepared for just how much it subverted my expectations. Yes, it is a cosy game about boxing up belongings as you prepare to move house. Yes, I am aware there are some paranormal goings on as you move between rooms. But where it goes and where it ends up completely threw me for a curveball.

Things do start expectedly cosy at least. In Moving Houses you start off in the garden collecting your outdoor furniture and, quite literally, chucking it into the moving van parked at the end of your drive. An objective pop-up will tell you what items need to be packed, with some of them requiring to be packed in cardboard boxes. Larger items can be put straight into the van.

Items and boxes can be thrown into the van once you are close enough. You can also kick items if your hands are full to get them nearer the van, but this has caused me a couple of issues with objects getting stuck in walls and no longer movable. There is a quick restart chapter option in the pause menu but even seeing it for the first time didn’t exactly fill me with confidence on the performance of the game.

Aside from this issue though, the game ran perfectly.

A Cosy Game Mixed With Phasmophobia??

Once you get into the house itself, things start to get a bit weird. Firstly, the house has a layout that feels very much like a location from Phasmophobia, albeit with a much less tense atmosphere. There are still things jumping off walls and mantelpieces; something clearly isn’t right with this house. But you aren’t here to investigate it, instead left to simply pack up your belongings and get out of there.

Room-by-room you must clear it out. Larger items like sofas and beds are being left behind, and instead you’re mainly focussing on items in cupboards, drawers and on bookshelves.

Pay attention to the objectives pop-up as it tells you which room to empty next, and what you need to pack up. Later on, it also gives you some much needed exposition.

There is plenty of environmental storytelling going on as well. The house changes layout as you progress, but more importantly, the items you are packing away changes too. You start off packing up nondescript paintings and books, but these change to show titles and even people over time too. It doesn’t quite have the same gut punch moments like fellow boxing/unboxing game Unpacking, during these moments, but Moving Houses goes to a much darker place in its final act.

A Subversive Final Act

That is best left for you to discover on your own. The objectives do a good job of holding your hand through the game, but get to this point and you are on your own. It is designed to disorient and give you a sense of being lost, but to go into any more detail would be spoiling it. 

The storytelling here isn’t as in your face as the objective screen, but in being a bit more obtuse it leaves itself open to interpretation. There are elements of the story that feel alien to me, but there are other aspects I could easily relate to.

However, and this is more a word of caution than a criticism, Moving Houses is rated PEGI 7, meaning it is suitable for gamers aged seven and over. But there are some very mature themes present here, albeit left ambiguous. There are also jumpscares, and blood can be seen on the floor at times. PEGI 7 seems lenient in my eyes.

A Few Other Surprises

Completely unrelated, but the skybox for Moving Houses when the day turns to evening is absolutely gorgeous. It genuinely is. That said, graphically, the rest of the game is a bit basic in all honesty. Yet that skybox is sublime.

And another surprise is the earworm that is the end credits song. Stick around for the credits as they act as the real ending to the game, and you’ll be singing along as well. It’s catchy, it’s haunting and, I’ve checked, it’s on Spotify too.

This version of Moving Houses on Xbox also comes with a couple of extras. As well as the main game, there is an extra packing version of it which, as the name suggests, gives you more things to throw into the moving van. At its core, Moving Houses is a bit of a cosy game, so more of the core gameplay is certainly appealing.

There is also an additional section of gameplay that you can enjoy that was cut from the original game. A nice inclusion, but unfortunately only a section you can play separate from the main game.

If you enjoyed the subversive type of psychological horror from Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, then Moving Houses on Xbox will be right up your street. It is far less extreme than that game, yet may still be unsuitable for younger players. The cosy element of packing away your items isn’t diluted down either. But, if that’s what you’ve come to Moving Houses for, then the third act may very well stop you in your tracks. And even if you came for that horror aspect, there are still plenty of surprises in store.

Important Links

Pack Your Bags – The Quirky Physics of Moving Houses Arrives on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch – https://www.thexboxhub.com/pack-your-bags-the-quirky-physics-of-moving-houses-arrives-on-xbox-playstation-and-switch/

Buy Moving Houses on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/moving-houses/9pn1875jz6dg