Moving Out, Team17's indie game designed for co-op

Team17 is making a name for itself in the gaming world by publishing indie hits like Yooka-Laylee from Playtonic Games and the highly-reviewed Blasphemous from the Spanish team The Game Kitchen.

Its latest release as a publisher is Moving Out, a real-time strategy game developed by SMG Studios, developers of titles like Death Squared, and DEVM Games, creators of mobile games like Curbor. Today we're reviewing the Nintendo Switch version, although we're happy to inform you that it's also released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC:

The story of Moving Out is simple: we're new to the moving company, also known as FART. There, we'll have two people accompanying us: the boss and the driver. The two will introduce us to the company, and we'll begin work. Then we discover that our boss is an idiot who even makes clients sign a contract stating that even if they break something during the move, the company won't reimburse them.

The companion is more of a support figure to have around, and occasionally advertises products from other divisions of the moving company, presumably because the boss has included it in his contract. We, as the protagonist, also speak and have a normal, fun personality, a bit silly like the companion's.

There's an important villain called "the mystery customer," who will appear once the boss leaves the companion and us alone. We'll foolishly listen to him, without realizing that he talks about breaking locks and entering through windows to steal furniture. The story is very simple, but it's fun to have a story to follow, and we don't expect it to be that deep, since the important thing is the gameplay.

This is coupled with the simple but fun gameplay. First, we have the map of the city we're traveling through in the truck, where we can knock down various cars off the road and interact with the entire city before entering the houses. When we enter the houses, we will have to take all the furniture selected with X from the house, patio and surroundings, until we complete the level and take the things in the truck, depending on the time we make there are gold, silver and bronze medals.

There are three secret achievements available for each level. Medals unlock special levels with stories from the past, and platform-style achievements unlock extra levels. All of this makes the gameplay very fun, and even from the start, it can be challenging. If you want to earn the achievements, you'd better hold on to your chair because even getting the secrets is difficult, but time-based achievements, earning gold, and even more so if you're playing alone, are practically impossible.

And that's another thing, this game is designed precisely for local co-op, and it's its main attraction, so when we're playing alone it will be very noticeable, and that's a problem with not having online co-op, since if we don't have four Joy-Cons (or other controllers if we're on other platforms), maybe online should have been included as an incentive.

The game's graphics are very nice with a cartoon style combined with a bit of realism that makes it very beautiful to look at, and there are also several characters with very different designs that demonstrate this and to this is added a very relaxing soundtrack with very relaxed and natural shots for the moves and some a little more powerful but even relaxed, since that's how the game is, very relaxed and fun at the same time.

Moving Out is a game that, while not as impressive as other indie titles, is still very high-quality, and this can be seen especially in the gameplay, as it requires a lot of strategy to complete most of the levels. The story adds to the gameplay as a complement, completing the fun the game creates.

The graphics and soundtrack define it with that brilliant tone they have. The main game lasts about 5 hours, but if you complete the entire game, it can take up to 20 hours. However, you're guaranteed to have fun even if you play solo, although its main attraction is local co-op.

Worst parts of the game

• Playing levels alone can be boring.
• Only local doesn't do any good to a game focused on co-op.
• Levels can become tedious if you play them all in a row.

Best parts of the game

• The graphics and art design are very nice.
• The soundtrack is quite good.
• The gameplay is quite fun and clever designed.

Score

6.25