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Indie studio Witch Beam’s Unpacking was one of 2021’s surprise hits, a zen puzzle game that packed a surprising amount of heartfelt narrative into a game about unpacking boxes. Now, the game appears to have been more or less cloned and released on iOS as Unpacking Master, which is quickly climbing the App Store charts thanks to an agressive marketing campaign.
Unpacking developer Witch Beam Games tweeted an image earlier today, showing a comparison between Unpacking and Unpacking Master. In both the examples shown, the iOS game appears to have copied room layouts and objects very closely.
While the studio has noted that other clones have popped up before, Unpacking Master has been able to get major traction. App Store tracking services show the game as the top download on iOS for January 24, sitting above even huge apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The game is also available on Google Play, where it also looks to be a popular download.
Unpacking Master appears to be marketing agressively via TikTok ads. Witch Beam sharing a glimpse at the notifications on its own TikTok account, which is full of worried fans bringing the clone to the studio’s attention.
While in many ways the cloned game has copied all the elements of Unpacking that made the original so relaxing and addictive to play, negative reviews report the clone is riddled with ads and glitches, with many players encountering bugs that made it impossible to progress.
At the conclusion of its Twitter thread, Witch Beam says that it doesn’t have the resources to pursue legal action against the creator of the cloned game. Instead, the studio calls for storefronts like the App Store and Google Play store, where clones like these often run amok, to improve their content curation.
If you haven’t already played Unpacking, the original game is available on PC via Steam or GOG, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. The indie puzzler is well worth a play, with GameSpot’s review scoring Unpacking a 9/10. “Unpacking may be a zen puzzle game that’s just relaxing for some, but for me it was a more profound experience that I’ll never forget,” said reviewer Steven Petite.
