PREVIEW: Moving Out comes to Xbox, PlayStation 4 & Nintendo Switch on April 28
A video game about moving house offers an appealing escape from reality.
Many of us would rather be somewhere else at the moment, but thankfully a video game about moving house is offering an appealing escape from reality.
The game is called Moving Out and it’s coming to Xbox, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on April 28.
The game was developed by the Australian-based SMG Studios with assistance from Swedish studio DevM Games, and published by Team 17. It’s what is known as a ‘couch co-op’ title – meaning it can be played cooperatively with other players sharing a couch (and a TV screen).
The premise is engaging and novel at the same time: You (and any friends you’re playing with) are removalists in the 1980s, and your goal is get all the furniture out of the building and into the removal truck.
You’re competing against the clock to do it, and some furniture (such as couches) needs the help of another player to move.
The levels are all different shapes and sizes – the preview build I played included a house, a haunted mansion, and a warehouse. I was trying to shift furniture across a highway and a river.
It was a lot of fun, quirky, and engaging. The levels only take a couple of minutes to complete, but there are multiple ways to get the furniture to where it needs to be. In one instance, there was a long table which might have been difficult to drag down a narrow hallway – but tossing it out of the nearby window meant the other player outside could pick it up and drag it into the truck.
The game is family-friendly and accessible. There are options to increase the time available in a level, to remove the challenge of fitting items into the removal truck, and other features aimed at ensuring people of all skill levels can play.
The family-friendly appeal of the game is definitely apparent. When I described the game to my primary school-aged children and showed them some screenshots, they both said they wanted to play it and were very keen that we could all play together at the same time.
The game has the atmosphere of a 1980s Saturday morning cartoon, from customisable characters (which include a Definitely Not A Transformer robot, a lizard, a toaster, and a cat) to the furniture (CRT televisions and VHS players) to the music and the general vibe.
Studio head Ashley Ringrose said Moving Out was one of those universal experiences everyone could relate to, as well as being a fun subject to build a game around.
“The whole moving house experience is a really universal topic with so many tropes you can play off,” he said.
He said the developers played around using the 1980s theme to achieve a distinctive look and tone.
“It gave us a theme and adds to the fun,” he said. “It sets us in an interesting decade.”
Music composer Lenny Maculoso provided the game’s soundtrack. He incorporated material from his vaults recorded in the 1980s that had never been used before now.
“It’s nice having that authentic 80s sound,” Mr Ringrose said.
The game is largely developed by SMG’s Melbourne studio and the team received financial support from Film Victoria, which was instrumental in keeping the game as Australian-made.
“We could have outsourced some stuff overseas, but thanks to Film Victoria we kept it all in Australia,” Mr Ringrose said. “We could bring new people into the industry.”
I had a lot of fun with the preview build of Moving Out and am looking forward to playing the final version when it releases on April 28. It will be available both as a digital download and in physical retail format. It is set to be fun, quirky, and social – all things in short supply at the moment – with the fact it’s Australian-made being another reason to look forward to Moving Out.
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