It’s hard to talk about SMG Studio’s latest game Moving Out without some comparisons to the the frantic co-op cooking game Overcooked. Let me say up front that it is in no way to be a reductionist on this fun new game. This frantic co-op removalist game still stands out on its own, and so it’s time for me to unpack my time with Moving Out.

First up you choose your character. There’s a bunch of silly choices along with the more plain people, I settled for a cute dog with a little captains hat. As you progress you unlock more oddities to add to your collection. So the deal is you’ve been hired by the removalist company Smooth Moves. Your induction begins with a very 80s training video introducing you to the basics of being a removalist, the end of which you will officially become a FART; Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technician. At that point you’re unleashed onto the city, picking up jobs and doing what you’ve been trained to do, be a FART. Each house is filled with boxes, furniture and appliances that you need to grab a hold of and run out of the house onto the waiting truck. Smaller items can be chucked around by one player, throwing boxes out of the window and over by the truck can help shave some vital seconds off of the timer. When you’re working together you can chuck heavier items too, on top of having an easier time manueving weirdly shaped couches through the corridors. 

Starting off with your more standard home, you’ll move up to mansions, offices and even farms. The building layout is your biggest obstacle to work around, but there’s also swimming pools, animals and ghosts to slow you down. Sometimes the cargo itself is the obstacle to overcome, including fragile boxes and animals that don’t want to stay in the truck. You’ll also find the odd level where there’s elements introduced such as pressure plates. These require you to keep an item on them to keep doors opened or bridges lowered. The further into the game you go, the more moving parts you’ll find. You’re expected to navigate them with your grabbing and carrying skills as well as a slap. When ghosts can chase you down and force you to respawn losing precious time, this slap can daze them for a short time. Although there is a very short window of being close enough to hitting the ghost and them grabbing you, at which point you can’t slap your way free.

As for how the game plays, it's hectic. The whole nature of the game is based on speed and chaos as you have to try and strategically fit everything onto the truck. Even once you get everything to the truck it’s not the end, you need to make it all fit. It’s not exactly Tetris, but you do have to be mindful of how much space you have. Your experience will differ greatly depending on whether you’re going it alone or have a friend to help out. Moving Out supports one to four FARTs. While there are settings that can level the playing field for solo players, it is still not ideal. Working as a team means you can be more precise when handling the longer furniture, and as I said earlier you can also have two people chuck the heavy stuff around. It might not seem like much, but going solo is a bit of a let-down, seeing some of the building layouts made for co-op play while you have to take it all the long way. 

Like other co-op games (especially Overcooked) the real fun is in coordinating with others, communicating who’s doing what and working together to beat the level. That spirit is very much within Moving Out, and as with games like this there is also the anger. The unending frustration when no one is working together, trying to get the couch turned the right way, people throwing items into precarious places or just not helping where you want them. Fortunately Moving Out isn’t quite as high pressure as Overcooked, getting everything on the truck doesn’t have the same high stake setbacks. At most you’ll get grabbed by a ghost or have to go back to grab a respawning object after you break it. If you keep pushing on chances are high you’ll at least come out of it with a bronze medal. 

It’s not all as simple as just doing your job and getting everything to the truck, given enough time you’ll get it done. Which means you need another incentive to do your very best and this is where the medals come in. Your performance is rated through the time you take to get everything into the van. Fastest times net the gold, then there’s silver and bronze. While you progress if you complete the level, you’ll want to come back and make sure you get the gold (if you hadn’t already). If nabbing the gold medal isn’t enough, each level also has optional objectives. These unlock after completing a level, and if you manage to do the optional objective unintentionally the first time around you get the tips from it too. The coins you get from this can then be used in the Arcade, which is where you’ll find some extra challenges involving the skills you’ve been honing. There are also unlockable memories along the way. These levels offer situations even more out of the ordinary, such as throwing boxes out of a moving plane onto a moving truck. If you want a break from clearing out houses these are a nice distraction. 

The most frustrating part of most levels I came across was large furniture getting stuck on the walls or against small items. Pulling a couch isn’t heavy enough to move a small briefcase if it’s in the way. I know that the furniture (especially the damned L shaped couch) is made to be tougher to move around, but this almost feels like it’s getting caught on spots it isn’t meant to. 

There are a bunch of accessibility options, with none appearing to penalise you for using them. SMG Studio has made what is meant to be a high pressure game more manageable for everyone. You can extend the timers, have it so you don’t need to manage space in the truck, and make heavy furniture easier to carry solo. I have to applaud the developers for the range of options provided so there’s less barriers for all walks of life. Even better is that there is no consequence for making it more manageable. There are no world rankings to be disqualified from, and your game isn’t marked as having had help. It might not seem like much, but it does matter. If you enjoy games like Overcooked but get put off by the constant pressure and tenseness, Moving Out is the much more approachable game.

Moving Out turns an unpleasant and stressful activity into a fast and frantic co-op game as you throw other people's belongings around with reckless abandon. It’s enjoyable and has a fair few houses for you to empty out to keep you there for a few hours. With additional goals to encourage you to play a bit differently, extra unlockables and the gold medal to always strive for, there is replay value too. Not everything gelled with me, dealing with ghosts felt inconsistent and getting stuck on corridors and doorways got frustrating.

Overall it was a fun game to play. It's a shame that there isn’t online co-op (especially in the current pandemic isolating climate), as the game is better shared with others. Even if you play alone there are accessibility settings that can help lighten the load or even just to make it a game you can play with your family. Moving Out isn’t perfect, but it does have a lot to offer in these tough times. If you’re currently spending time trapped indoors with others then Moving Out is worth checking out.

Review copy provided by Team17