Moving Out is a chaotic physics based game where you play as a mover. You must collect the specified items from the location and place them in the moving truck as fast as possible. Starting out, you have typical jobs like moving a one bedroom house or apartment, continuing to work your way up to restaurants, farms, mansions, warehouses, factories, and beyond! The game also supports up to four player local coop as well, so the whole family can play!
Children will have little trouble playing with the super simple controls. Other than movement, there are only a few buttons to worry about. Several buttons correspond to grabbing!/carrying items, so you can find which one is most comfortable for you. Then there is a jump button, bound to the same as almost every other game, as well as a throw button, which is optional but helpful. That’s it!
Game play is fast and engaging, trying to find the best way to get to the items and return them to the truck. Finding shortcuts, like through a window, helps greatly. As you play, you’ll learn which items are light enough to be thrown and which require wide doors to fit through. Though the game starts off straightforward, new mechanics are added throughout the campaign, like ghosts to avoid conveyer belts that can be used.
Speaking of the campaign, the story is funny, witty, and even enjoyable. I didn’t expect a game like this to have much of a story, much less one this enthralling! The characters could use fleshing out, and there is no voice over, forcing you to read a lot t get the story, but it’s well done otherwise.
The text is fairly large and in bubbles with contrasting colors, ensuring that all of it is much easier to read. The accessibility options are fairly robust as well. Some decrease difficulty by allowing extra time, making items delivered to the truck disappear, or even letting you progress even if you fail. Others make it easier to play by yourself, like making two person items light enough to move with one player.
The artstyle is very bright and colorful, making everything easy to see. The only issue I ound was that sometimes items would be blocked by larger items or walls. As long as this doesn’t happen to too many, it won’t matter in the end however. When there are only a few items left to move, they all get highlighted in the level so you can find them easily.
There are other things to do besides moving out. As you progress, you unlock VHS tapes of memories. These are particularly cinematic levels accessed at the video rental store. For instance, the first one has you unloading items from a moving airplane, throwing them into the pursuing truck before it takes off! You can also collect coins by doing bonus challenges in the levels. You then use these at the arcade to unlock mini games. These usually test some core aspect of the game. As an example, the first has you delivering a single package by testing your platforming skills. Then a recent update added even more ways to play! Yu can go for the new platinum time on each level if you want a challenge or mix things up by moving IN instead! This has you arriving with furniture in the truck that needs to be placed in specific places in the level as fast as possible.
The DLC, Movers in Paradise adds even more levels and mechanics to the game! With the new levels and story being on an island, you have a few new themed mechanics to use. These include movable ladders, rafts, zip lines, puffer fish, and geysers. Although these add to the difficulty, they are fun to use and set the levels apart from the main game. The DLC’s story is just as funny and enjoyable too, albeit shorter overall.
In the end, I really enjoyed playing through Moving Out. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good simple game, whether to push the limits and go for the best time or just casually play with your family. The biggest complaint I have is that the coop can’t be played online. I hope that gets rectified in a future update. Don’t forget that the game is currently available in Xbox Game Pass, giving you an easy way to give it a try!
The publisher provided me with an Xbox copy of the game and DLC with the expectation that I would write something about them both. I am mostly blind and issues I have trouble with may not affect your experience with the game. The game and DLC are available now on several platforms.
