Moving Into The Multiverse: A Moving Out 2 Review

By Manuel

Players: 1-4 (Local & Online)
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, XBox, PC

Moving Out 2 is the sequel to 2020's Moving Out and you can grab it on all major consoles and PC. Both games are described as "moving simulation games", but are something like puzzle platformers, with an emphasis on multiplayer/party style gameplay. Does the game surpass expectations set by the success of the first game? Is its multiplayer as fun, chaotic, and random as we've come to expect? Can you move a TV without breaking it? I'll try to find answers to all these questions, so let's dive into the game!

The big question regarding a sequel like this is what it brings to the table that makes it a worthy purchase while the first one is very much still available. The answer here is simple: The Multiverse. That's right, Moving Out 2 is joining the world of popular cinematic universes by taking things far beyond the first game's world of Packmore. Both Moving Out games feature a team of movers who form a company known as "Smooth Moves". These movers are F.A.R.T (Furniture Arrangement Relocation Technician) certified and specialize in moving people in and out of houses, buildings, businesses, or whatever is needed. Some collateral damage may occur, but that's just par the course for our heroes. This all changes though when they accidentally open a series of portals to the worlds of Snackmore, Middle Folkmore, and Pactropolis City. Portals are bad for business though and Smooth Moves soon realize that they're going to have to close these portals themselves, even if it means they're going to be smashing valuables in other worlds now.

This is normal mover equipment of course.

This looks like it comes from Stranger Things.

Three new worlds means three new sets of clients, and they all offer up their own gameplay changes that make their areas unique. Snackmore is a dessert/snack themed world, featuring cookie and candy filled levels with rivers of chocolate. Be prepared to smash down cookie walls and free candy centers from destructible items to hit your goals. Pactropolis City is built far above the clouds, but these clouds can still get in the way of gameplay, and you'll occasionally find yourself using drones to help with moves. Middle Folkmore is something of a fantasy themed world and you'll be doing all sorts of magical and/or just whimsical things to help wizards complete tasks like move books in a library or clearing out a magic tower. There's also the standard world of Packmore that has levels similar to those you'd find in the first game, and this world also contains an Arcade that has unlockable minigames that test your gameplay skills without all that moving stuff getting in the way. There's also a fifth world that you unlock after playing through all the rest, but I'll leave that for players to experience themselves.

At its core Moving Out 2 tasks you to pick up items from one area and carry them to another. This could be from a house to the moving truck, or vice versa. Items vary in size and weight meaning that you can run along with some, and throw them into the truck from afar, and others you have to drag through crowded rooms and narrow doorways. In the course of your dragging you can sometimes knock over other items, shatter windows, rip out power cords, break fragile knick-knacks, rip out doors, and generally cause havoc in an already stressful situation. Breaking things is fun though, so go for it! Things would be far too easy if this was all there was to it, so be prepared to face several roadblocks to getting your job done. Sliding doors have to be opened and will close on their own, some doors are only one-way, switches will have to be smacked, sometimes delivering packages will require tricky platforming, and you'll pretty much always have to worry about packing your truck carefully so everything fits in there without anything falling out. Each of the games 50+ levels have a unique set of obstacles to deal with and offer a lot of variety in gameplay. Initially only a few levels are available with more being unlocked as you clear earlier ones, and others opening up once you hit a certain F.A.R.T level.

Make sure to master jumping and throwing.

Be careful with those waterfalls!

Moving is always a task done better with friends, and that's true in both real life and in Moving Out 2. Multiplayer is really where the game shines and I can't stress enough how much more fun, and even a bit easier, the game is with one or more friends. Four players can play simultaneously either locally or online in this one, and they can drop in and out at any time in-between levels. This review would've been extremely biased if I only played it by myself as everything is just more fun when you can blame a missed goal on a friend and not on the game's purposely wonky physics. While I did play some local multiplayer games, I was not able to test the online mode for this review. I did notice that cross-platform play did not seem to be available on the Nintendo Switch as the option was greyed out in the menu. I'm not sure if this was because I did most of my playing before the game officially launched, but it's worth mentioning. Besides causing a lot of extra mayhem, multiple players mean that moves can be done a lot faster as heavy items can be moved more quickly, or even thrown if there is someone carrying large items from both ends. If you don't want to work together you can also get in each other's ways and throw items at/slap other players to give them a hard time. This game feels like it was created with multiplayer in mind, and my only real gripe to mention with it is that you'll have to unlock all the levels the old fashioned way (beating each one in succession), and can't just dive into the weirder levels right from the get-go. This kind of kills some of the party game atmosphere, but everything else is so much fun that I'm willing to mostly overlook it.

My favorite was the snowman customizations.

That's chocolate. I swear!

I initially found Moving Out 2 pretty challenging, and some hazards feel far more brutal than others. The clouds that obscure entire rooms in Pactropolis, the one-way doors that trap you in rooms you don't want to be in, move-in items that have to be placed almost pixel perfect to register as being delivered, and just about anything involving those damn chickens are all gameplay elements that I never want to experience again. Also, each stage has a time limit, with a second time being labeled as "pro", and many of these goals felt near impossible for me to meet initially. Thankfully the developers put in an Assist Mode that has a lot of accessibility options that you can turn on and off at any time. These include longer time limits, fewer stage hazards, more forgiving item placement, and so on. Basically everything that one would need to adjust the difficulty without simply resorting to things like Easy/Normal/Hard settings. Probably most important of these assist options is the ability to unlock the next level if you fail the current one. This means that if you're stuck on those horrible farm levels, which come before the entire multiverse opens up by the way, you can just skip them until you're ready to tackle it; or just ignore them forever. I refrained from doing this for most of my playthrough, mainly so I could experience the game as intended for the sake of this review, but also because I assumed that it would somehow keep me from properly "completing" the game. I assumed that levels would have special markings on them for playing them with Assist Mode turned on, or perhaps not all bonus objectives could be achieved, but I was wrong. So don't be me, turn on those assist mode options as needed as it really makes things more fun when you're not frustrated.

I don't ever want to play a farm level again.

I DO want to play Elf Basketball though.

Moving Out 2 isn't going to win any awards when it comes to graphics and that's okay. This game is available on several platforms, including the less powerful Nintendo Switch. By nature of its gameplay it has to move fast and it has to run well. Thankfully it does both those things. I personally played this game on the Nintendo Switch, fully in handheld mode, and didn't experience any performance issues. I don't want to make it seem like this is a simple looking game due to the hardware it’s on, just that there isn't a "bad" version of the game as far as I can tell. Simply put, the game looks great and the new F.A.R.T recruits are a welcome addition. Each world is just as unique too, and the amount of apparently random interactions and destructible environments is quite impressive. By necessity the camera is pulled pretty far back, but there's still a high level of detail to everything despite this. The game knows how to work with what it has and my only gripe would probably have to be that the animated intro movie was so good that I was hoping to see more of these type of scenes scattered throughout the game. While this isn't the case, I'm really just complaining for the sake of complaining, so feel free to ignore me.

In the future moving still sucks.

This reminds me of a bad Wii game.

Moving Out 2's music is something I find hard to talk about, so let me explain. I first thought that there wasn't any music worth talking about during gameplay. I actually wasn't even sure that there was music at all as I couldn't tell you anything about it for the first couple hours of gameplay. Then I played back some of the gameplay I captured for screenshot purposes and realized that there WAS good music, I just wasn't really listening to it apparently. I often complain about music being buried in the mix in a lot of modern games, but I think my issue with Moving Out 2 was that I was so lost in the moment that nothing beyond my current goal, and the pop sound effect of an item successfully landing in the loading zone, could shake my concentration. I changed my original view and found myself realizing that the music is not only good, but it drives things along well if you listen to it. Just don't be me and lose yourself in the moves. I already mentioned sound effects in an off-hand way, and that aforementioned pop will live rent free in my head for years, but I do wish the game had voice acting. The writing is just so silly that I found myself wishing that I could hear some of my favorite lines acted out. The lack of voice acting is not exactly a big complaint, but it was something I felt could've really pushed the game into greatness. Maybe we'll see it in Moving Out 3?

Ever day I be movin'.

The Middle Folkmore levels are my favorites.

Controls are tight in Moving Out 2, and the gameplay really requires this. I initially had some issues with jumping, throwing, as well as throwing while jumping. After hours of gameplay I realized that I was doing all these actions wrong. From here I learned that you can do just about anything in the game you want, you just have to master the controls first to do it. The in-game physics are kind of all over the place, and this is by design, but I eventually realized that the same physics nonsense that caused my tossed item to roll out of the moving truck could be used to my advantage. There were several times where I figured a certain item could not fit through a doorway or passage and I just pulled and pulled at it until it somehow squished its way in. It's hard to explain, but everything just feels so smooth once you get used to it. There's even a button that shows you what items still have to be moved, and this is really important as some can be quite small or may have even fallen into a hard to see corner. Slapping things is rarely used in single-player, but you're going to want to remember to occasionally use it as it's often what is used to unlock extra goals in levels. It's not really a complaint, but the Dual Mover Mode, where one player controls two movers, is the only time I felt that the controls were a bit too messy and overly complicated. This isn't a standard mode though, so it can easily be avoided.

There's well over 50 levels in Moving Out 2, and each has about 5 stars to collect. Each level has two stars: one for completing it within the time limit, and one for completing it in the pro time. The other stars in each level are from completing levels in certain ways, or triggering certain events. These can be in the form of loading in a certain type of item first, unlocking a new hazard, not breaking any windows, not using certain doorways, etc. You can experience the entire game without getting any of these stars, but I'm sure most will want to replay levels to get them as much as I did. Besides stars, some levels have boxes that unlock extra outfits and cartridges that unlock minigames in Packmore's Arcade. It takes a long time to unlock everything, and while I don't think I'll ever get all those stars, it's such a fun experience overall that you'll probably find yourself sinking hours and hours into this one. Multiply everything fun you toss in multiplayer and you have a game that will most likely stay in heavy rotation for a while. In short, the replayability is practically endless, and you definitely get your money's worth here.

Ten out of ten, just like this game!

Time to sail off into the sunset.

​I can't recommend Moving Out 2 enough. It's a unique game that could've easily been a lazy sequel that simply offered just more of the same. It manages to thread that line where it delivers exactly what fans of the first game want, while also changing up the gameplay enough to justify its own existence. It's a fun game to play solo, but several times more fun when you're playing with friends. If you're a party game enthusiast, and maybe looking for something a bit more interactive than yet another Jackbox Party Night, you're going to want give this one a try. I bet you won't regret it. If you do though, just try not to break the TV. Unless another player is carrying it, then make sure to knock it out of their hands!

For More Information on Moving Out 2:
https://www.movingout2.com/

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Story: B
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A-
Music/Sound: B+
Value: A

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ More of the same Moving Out gameplay for fans of the series.
+ Later levels offer a lot of variety, and several new challenges and obstacles, over the first game.
+ A very fun multiplayer game that's sure to both strengthen, and end, friendships.
+ Several accessibility options in the Assist Mode make the game a lot more playable for casual players, while still allowing everyone to unlock/experience everything.
+ Excellent presentation complete with cool characters, a unique and quirky world, and an energetic soundtrack.

Cons:
- The level of fun drops off a lot when playing single-player. Also, the Dual Mover Mode feels too complicated to use.
- Standard levels, that is those without any Assist Mode options turned on, can be quite difficult and frustrating at times.
- Not all the new level challenges are created equally, and some feel like afterthoughts at best.
- Takes a long time to unlock everything, so it's not really a ready-to-go option for some party settings.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Hell yeah!