Hello, and welcome to Games You Should Be Playing. This series aims to highlight those games, from indie to AAA, that should be at the top of every gamer’s list. Although titles will inevitably slip through the cracks, there are some out there that you just can’t ignore. This week, we’ll be highlighting a title known as Unbox: Newbie’s Adventure. If you missed last week’s article on A Hat In Time, you can check it out here.
Unbox: Newbie’s Adventure is a game that, well, maybe it isn’t the greatest game ever made. However, it is super innovative, and once you look past the flaws, you can see it for what it truly is. Unbox, as we’ll be calling it for convenience purposes, is yet another platformer that has sprouted up recently. Not only that, but it is a platformer about mail. Let’s take a look at what makes this one so innovative, and just why you should be playing it.
Games You Should Be Playing: Unbox: Newbie’s Adventure
Oh Boy, Another Cute Game
If you’ve been keeping up with this series, you’ll remember last week, when I gushed over A Hat In Time and its adorable nature. Well, Unbox: Newbie’s Adventure is almost just like that. This game’s story goes a little like this. Far into the future, there is an international mail service that connects all the countries on Earth. Your character is…a box. You play as a mail service packaging box.
Throughout the game, you’ll be moving around mostly like a square wheel, if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t, because wheels are almost exclusively round. But nevertheless, you sort of just roll around a good bit of the time. But we haven’t even gotten started on how weird this game is. You can fly.
Unpacking this Box
Unbox has this really weird mechanic in it that essentially allows you to fly. As part of the story, this is how you get around from one land mass to another, and cross bodies of water. Keep in mind, your character is a sentient box; so how does one make a sentient box fly? It’s simple, really.
Rather than being one sentient box, it is revealed to you that you are many sentient boxes, all wrapped up inside one another. So, when you shed the top layer of box off, or “unbox” yourself, the sheer force from launching yourself propels you up and into the air. Congratulations; you are now a flying series of boxes, wrapped inside each other. And this is where the innovation of Unbox: Newbie’s Adventure really shines through.
If You Liked ____, You’ll Love This
Simply put, Unbox is a physics toy, made out of cardboard. Donut County is a pretty good comparison, and I’ve already covered that on this series. The charm of this game really lends itself to A Hat In Time which, of course, is a huge deal-maker for me, personally. If you liked either or both of those games, you’re probably going to love Unbox. At least, you will once it gets going.
A disclaimer on this game is that it starts super slowly, and that might turn some gamers off to it. However, if you can power through that, and see through the early flaws this game presents, you’ll have yourself a seriously efficient time-waster. Just be sure to keep that in mind when starting this one out, and more importantly, keep the faith and give it a chance.
Something Totally Original
Depending on what type of gamer you are, you have either loved or hated this year’s resurrection of the 3D platformer. I can understand both. For one, this is a huge nostalgia factor for most gamers from the late 1990s. On the other hand, some gamers still want something totally original that doesn’t just copy Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. Well, Unbox could be the game that both of these parties are looking for.
At heart, Unbox is very much a 90s-00s 3D platformer. The cutesy art style, the goofy humor and undeniable charm? Dead giveaways as to what this title really, really wants to be. However, it isn’t just a shot of nostalgia, straight to the arm. It stays totally original with its gameplay and story. Unbox isn’t just a collect-a-thon where you jump, kick, and ground pound. You can’t do any of that in this game; you are a box. This game is quirky, and some of you might not like it all the time. But I implore you, just give it a chance. It might just be a hidden gem in your eyes.