If you were as obsessed with Unpacking as I was, Whisper of the House is about to be your next hyperfixation. You can play the demo now as part of Steam Next Fest. Don’t ask me why Steam says it was released last year — it’s not available for purchase until later this year. *fingers crossed*
In Whisper of the House, you live in Whisper Town as a humble housekeeper, which sounds like a normal job until you realise your tasks involve some lowkey magical time travel. But first things first: the demo starts with you unpacking, organising, and decorating a tiny home — peak cosy game behavior.
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Your trusty sidekick is a little robot named Mark, who floats around holding a box like the world’s most diligent moving assistant. Click on the box, get an item, place it somewhere that hopefully makes sense. Oh, and if you pick up something that belongs in another room? Congrats, you just gave yourself a little extra cardio.
There’s also a recycler in the basement, which I completely ignored, but I assume it helps with clutter (or maybe it’s a secret boss fight. Who knows?). Once everything is in its place, you snap a pic of your finished masterpiece and bask in your organisational glory. I wonder if Whisper of the House will have secret achievements like Unpacking did. Time will tell.
As I finish my first job, my mailbox starts filling up with new cleaning jobs, sending me to Luna’s house — a plant-filled paradise with a very relaxed Shiba Inu snoozing on the bed. Unpacking takes time, but with the soothing background music, it’s practically a meditation session. This time, I also get to clean, which just involves right-clicking but makes me feel like a domestic goddess.
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The pixel art adds to the charm of the game, pairing perfectly with the cutesy background music. While the UI isn’t amazing, it complements the whole aesthetic and fits the cosy vibe.
Things then get weird. My next job involves an old man’s house but surprise — there’s a mad scientist’s lab underneath it. I end up time travelling back to the past, and have to tidy up the old man’s house. Who is apparently the scientist’s grandfather. After tidying up the past, I zip back to the future (because that’s just a normal part of my workday now) and head home, where I find two giant gifts from Luna. One of them is a full-body Shiba pillow, which I immediately place on my bed because, obviously, that’s the best way to end the day.
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The demo lasted about an hour and Whisper of the House is now on my wishlist. It’s a peaceful, satisfying organisational game that clearly took inspiration from Unpacking but added its own creative twists. I also loved finding hidden areas and mini-stories tucked into each home. Wishlist it on Steam now.
