Unpacking is a cute little game came out in 2021 and that’s been really well-received — because this genre-defying game is surprisingly wholesome and relaxing. Players follow a female character as she moves from one home to the next, and as she grows up and moves through life.
The game has sweet, muted, background music and no narration, and yet Unpacking manages to do a beautiful job of showing who the character is as players follow her belongings around. A treasured childhood plushie is ripped and then patched. A favorite mug gets chipped, but is never discarded.
You, the player, have the job of unpacking all these belongings and giving them new places in new homes.
Do you like the relaxing play style? Check out these games like Unpacking for more wholesome fun.
Unpacking Game Features
 Release Date: | November 2, 2021 |
 Developer: | Witch Beam |
 Publisher: | Witch Beam |
 Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux, Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 |
 Genre: | Puzzle |
 Setting: | Real World |
 Game Modes: | Single-player |
1. Assemble with Care
Assemble with Care is a puzzle game with a gorgeous but simple art style. Released in 2019, Assemble with Care follows the adventures of an antiques restorer who arrives in the sunny town of Bellariva, fixing everything she comes across.
You’ll be helping the town’s residents, and each repair job is an interesting puzzle. Assemble with Care has a cool narration in which players find out exactly why each item is so important.
Unpacking players won’t have any trouble at all sliding into this wholesome and relaxed play style, and yet Assemble with Care is different enough to be interesting.
- Developer: Ustwo Games
- Publisher: Ustwo Games Games
- Release Date: September 2019
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, iOS
2. A Little to the Left
A Little to the Left is another cozy puzzle game with a home-decoration theme — perfect for Unpacking players who’ve played through the game in every possible way but still aren’t done with the game’s sweet atmosphere.
In A Little to the Left, which has a beautiful and stylistic art style, you’ll arrange household objects until they’re just right. Inspired by the creators’ real-life cat, however, you’ll have to watch out for a feline foe who’s all too happy to bring chaos to your perfect order.
A Little to the Left offers more than 70 different puzzles and the same quaint play style you’ll have come to know and love in Unpacking — and the fact that it’s brand new makes it all the more exciting.
- Developer: Max Inferno
- Publisher: Secret Mode
- Release Date: November 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS
3. Webbed
Unpacking fans might also enjoy Webbed, a cute 2D puzzle platform game first released in 2021. This game puts you into the role of Buddy, a terrifically sweet-looking peacock spider who’s trying to save her boyfriend from a bowerbird.
You won’t be on your own, though, because Buddy has a set of insect friends; the dung beetle, bee, and ants can all help in unique ways. Of course, you’ll also be able to cast spiderwebs to solve puzzles and explore the map.
This relaxing non-linear game offers quite a challenge, as the extensive 2D map has an impressive physics engine that you’ll have to take into account as you solve all the puzzles.
Want more proof that Webbed is worth your time if you’re after a game with an A++ wholesomeness rating? Buddy can dance, and the other bugs in the game will dance right back.
- Developer: Sbug Games
- Publisher: Sbug Games
- Release Date: September 2021
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
4. Cozy Grove
Cozy Grove is a game set on a haunted island. You’ll be playing as a Spirit Scout who roams the forest and sets out to discover all the secrets the map is hiding. If that makes Cozy Grove sound like an action adventure horror game, you’d be wrong. The world of Cozy Grove is haunted in the most wholesome possible way, and players’ tasks include soothing lost little ghosts.
It doesn’t get more quaint and relaxing than Cozy Grove, but the game gives players who love grinding for resources something to do too. All in all, Cozy Grove is definitely a game in the “spirit” of Unpacking — a game you might like to play when you’re stressed and you need something to remind you to slow down and enjoy the cute things in life.
- Developer: Spry Fox LLC
- Publisher: Spry Fox LLC
- Release Date: April 2021
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
5. Cats Organized Neatly
Did you have fun organizing and arranging all the items you unpacked in Unpacking to perfection? Was creating a nice, orderly, environment one of the best parts of Unpacking for you? Try Cats Organized Neatly next!
This cute puzzle game is grid-based, and calls on players to place a selection of different cats, each in a different pose and size, in a way that fills the grid perfectly. The game’s art style is sweet and indie, and apart from being relaxing, Cats Organized Neatly also offers a nice brain boost.
- Developer: DU&I
- Publisher: DU&I
- Release Date: October 2020
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
6. TREE
TREE is a cute game for everyone who’s read The Giving Tree and had their heart broken by the end of the story. This game, made by a team of indie game developers, is also about the relationship between a boy and a tree, which he starts out as a sapling and follows on its journey to maturity.
The art style is wholesome, the music sweet, and the game is rumored to have a deeper meaning. Want to find out more? TREE is free to download and play on Steam, so you have little to lose. If you liked the relaxed play style of Unpacking but don’t want to spend another $20, TREE might be just what you’re looking for.
- Developer: The Strangers
- Publisher: The Strangers
- Release Date: August 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
7. Lemon Cake
Lemon Cake is a sweet grinding game in which you restore an abandoned bakery, grow the ingredients to bake wonderful new cakes, bake the cakes, and make your customers happy. As you set out to create a thriving bakery, you’ll be able to rely on the help of a friendly little ghost.
Unpacking fans will be pleased to hear that Lemon Cake allows you to repair, and then also decorate, all of the rooms in your new bakery — but you’ll also spend plenty of time in the greenhouse, mixing cake batter and following recipes, and serving cakes and coffee to your customers.
All in all, Lemon Cake is a wonderfully wholesome game that’s great for Unpacking players who wished that the game could have gone on forever, because in Lemon Cake, you’ll always have something else to do!
- Developer: Cozy Bee Games
- Publisher: Cozy Bee Games
- Release Date: February 2021
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
8. Viridi
Viridi is a nice little game that allows players to discover that watching digital succulents grow in real time is actually nothing like watching paint dry. You’ll start off with a small pot of different succulents, each based on a real-life counterpart, and look after them as they grow right in front of you.
Viridi isn’t a game you play for hours on end, but rather a happy little space you can return to throughout the day to see how your virtual plants are getting on.
- Developer: Zoe Vartanian, Badru, Isa Hutchinson, Michael Bell
- Publisher: Ice Water Games
- Release Date: August 2015
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux
9. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Almost everyone who has played Unpacking, including lots of popular streamers that usually play much more violent games, has been impressed by the game. In a world of fast-paced multiplayer action games, going back to basics and just tinkering with home decoration can be a really welcome change.
If there’s anything Unpacking players are unhappy with, though, it’s that the game only follows the life of a single person as she moves and grows. There are only so many homes to move into, only so many boxes to unpack.
Do you love Unpacking and do you want to get into another game with a similarly relaxing vibe — but do you want to be able to play that game indefinitely, without getting bored? Animal Crossing: New Horizons is for you.
Your (highly-customizable) character moves to a deserted island after buying a getaway package, and starts off with nothing but a few basics. You’ll have to collected resources, craft new items, grow a beautiful garden, and catch fish and bugs to move to the next stage, in which you build a home and decorate your island to suit your taste.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is packed full of interesting NPCs to interact with, and because it’s a multiplayer game, you’ll be able to talk and trade with other human players, too. You and up to seven of your friends can play Animal Crossing: New Horizons cooperatively, building the island of your dreams.
It’s true that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is, as a fully fleshed-out life sim game, very different than Unpacking — but it does tick all the right boxes, because this game features home decoration elements, is cute, and has a relaxing and wholesome vibe.
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: March 2020
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
10. inbento
Unpacking fans who love puzzles and would like to play another game that invites them to bring order to chaos might like inbento. This indie puzzle game is all about following recipes and arranging snacks into neat bento boxes. If you’re ready for a brain teaser, give this game a go!
- Developer: Afterburn
- Publisher: Afterburn
- Release Date: September 2019
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
11. Hidden Folks
Hidden Folks is a beautifully-designed puzzle game that takes Where’s Wally? to a whole other level. You’ll be shown a series of gorgeous black and white scenes, which look like drawings but feature cool animated elements. Your task? To find the hidden objects somewhere on the page — but to succeed, you’ll have to do more than just look. Players can open doors, unfurl tents, and look behind objects as they search for the missing objects.
Although Hidden Folks doesn’t have anything in common with Unpacking in terms of gameplay, it does offer the same famously chill experience, and that’s precisely what makes Hidden Folks perfect for those times when you just want to escape the real world and spend time doing something nice for a while.
- Developer: Adriaan de Jongh, Mirthe Venbrux
- Publisher: Adriaan de Jongh, Celine Veltman
- Release Date: February 2017
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
12. Wilmot’s Warehouse
Gamers who loved Unpacking in part because they enjoy organizing and arranging things might also like Wilmot’s Warehouse. This 2019 puzzle game places you into the role of Wilmot, a worker who’s in charge of a 2D warehouse.
This game takes you through levels, and each one starts with a delivery of goods. Can you arrange all the boxes in a way that allows you to find everything customers might order later easily and quickly, making them happy?
If you can, you’ll be rewarded with Progress Stars — but if you can’t, you fail to make your customers happy. Wilmot’s Warehouse starts off fairly simple, but grows more complex over time as you have to organize hundreds of different items. Some can easily fit into quite a few different categories, so you’ll have to do your best to remember where you stored everything.
Wilmot’s Warehouse is just challenging enough to be more than a completely relaxing game. There are definitely problems to solve, as well as ways to fail. This puzzle and simulation game is still very chill, and there’s a lot that Unpacking players are likely to enjoy.
- Developer: Hollow Ponds
- Publisher: Finji
- Release Date: August 2019
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
13. Florence
Florence is another game that does a great job of showing that video games can be tremendously wholesome and genuinely artistic in their art style, as well as offering a deeper meaning. As a game heavily based on narrative and interaction, Florence couldn’t be more different than Unpacking — and yet, if you decide to try it out for yourself, you’ll instantly understand why Florence is on this list.
Florence follows protagonist Florence Yeoh, who’s stuck in a rut and sick of her life. She meets the cellist Krish, who’s a street performer, and her life changes. The game takes you through six different chapters through Florence’s life, all of which beautifully illustrate how much life can change — for the better — in a short period of time.
- Developer: Mountains
- Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
- Release Date: February 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
14. Cat Goes Fishing
Cat Goes Fishing is a simple, but ridiculously cute, game in which you’re a cat living on a remote island. Fishing is your life. You’ll start the game with a basic rod, which can only catch some kinds of fish. As you progress, you will be able to get your paws on better rods as you also learn what each of the fish can do for you.
Over time, you can even craft boats to explore the sea, or find out what the depths of the ocean have to offer.
Yes, that’s all there is to Cat Goes Fishing — and the only thing that sets Cat Goes Fishing apart from early simulation games is its truly artistic design. Sometimes, a gorgeous environment and endless hours of pure relaxation are all you need.
- Developer: Cat5Games
- Publisher: Cat5Games
- Release Date: January 2015
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
15. No Place Like Home
No Place Like Home is set in a version of Earth that most have abandoned in favor of Mars. The planet is a terrible dump, but you know that there’s no place quite like home — so you set out to clean up your little corner of the Earth, recycling resources, taming animals, and building a village you’re happy to call home.
Yes, No Place Like Home involves decorating things. Yes, it can last many hours longer than Unpacking, and you can do a whole lot more than recycling alone. No Place Like Home shows you what post-apocalyptic games can be like if they’re developed by hopeless optimists who will never lose faith in humanity — or rob you of a chance to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
- Developer: Chicken Launcher
- Publisher: Awaken Realms
- Release Date: March 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
16. Monument Valley
Monument Valley is a beautiful indie puzzle game played from an isometric PoV. You, the player, will have to lead Princess Ida through a series of challenging mazes — all the more tricky because Monument Valley heavily features optical illusions that mean nothing is quite as it seems.
Play Monument Valley if you loved Unpacking because of its unique visual style and because you’re into solving puzzles and getting to the bottom of mysteries. Because Monument Valley offers a series of genuinely difficult puzzles, it’s not quite as relaxing as many of the games on this list — but still just as wholesome.
- Developer: Ustwo Games
- Publisher: Ustwo Games
- Release Date: April 2014
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android
17. Open Roads
Open Roads is an exciting upcoming mystery thriller game with gorgeous artwork. Players take on the role of Tess Divine, who’s always had a tricky relationship with her mother. The two are brought together when family secrets start to unravel, and Tess sets out to find out who her grandmother really was.
If you’re looking for a relaxing yet uniquely interesting game heavily focused on narrative, Open Roads might be the game for you. It’s a far cry from Unpacking, but you’ll be able to enjoy the same chill gameplay.
- Developer: Fullbright
- Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
- Release Date: April 2014
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 &5
18. Minecraft
Yes, really. This famous sandbox game can be whatever you want it to be, so Unpacking fans who had a lot of fun arranging all the items from the boxes they unpacked and who are sad that the game came to an end shouldn’t dismiss this recommendation out of hand.
If you already own Minecraft, you can just start a singleplayer world, hop into creative mode, and begin building some houses. Each of these will need to be decorated, of course, and you’ll also need a lovely garden!
Minecraft is endless. Once you’re done with one house, you can just make another — all with unique, beautiful, original music in the background.
- Developer: Mojang
- Publisher: Mojang
- Release Date: November 2011
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Xbox One
19. Venba
Venba is an upcoming title that Unpacking fans will instantly fall in love with. It tells the story of love through the eyes of an Indian mom who’s immigrated to Canada. Her precious recipe book is damaged during the journey. Will she ever be able to make foods that taste like home again?
By cooking authentic Indian cuisine and restoring lost recipes, you’ll watch her family grow and thrive, following them on their life journey.
Venba features unique and gorgeous artwork. Just like you unpacked boxes in Unpacking, only to discover that this “simple simulation game” was hiding a beautiful narrative, Venba is about so much more than cooking. Venba does, unlike Unpacking, have narrative elements that only enrich the game.
It’s already been given a Tribeca Festival award for its beautiful story, and Venba will soon be released for everyone to enjoy.
- Developer: Visai Games
- Publisher: Visai Games
- Release Date: Soon — sometime in 2022?
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, and perhaps other platforms, too
Games Like Unpacking: The Verdict
The simple beauty that Unpacking offers took many games by surprise. It’s entirely possible that you bought Unpacking just to see what all the hype was about, not even expecting to enjoy this game with simple mechanics and an even more simplistic art style.
If you really got stuck in, and discovered how much you loved this game, you’re bound to be looking for others with a similar vibe.
Nothing is quite like Unpacking, but you do have plenty of options if you’re after games that:
- Offer a relaxing play style
- Are wholesome and non-violent
- Are simple in their premise, but surprisingly touching
Venbo, which is about to be released, is one of our favorite picks. Assemble with Care and Webbed both have similarly chill vibes, too. If you’re after games that you can play for hours on end, and even every day, meanwhile, your best bets would be Minecraft (go for creative mode to find that relaxing atmosphere) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
