In 2020, the original ‘Moving Out’ was released, turning players into removalists known professionally as F.A.R.T. (Furniture Arrangement and Relocation Technician), to work solo or with friends to remove furniture from various homes and load them onto the truck, in a quick and not so efficient manner. It created hours of chaotic and hilarious fun, even putting friendships to the test.

Moving into 2023, publisher Team17 who is best known for ‘Worms’, ‘Yooka-Laylee’ and ‘Overcooked’ have once again teamed up with developers SMG Studio and DevM Games to unpack the sequel, ‘Moving Out 2’, now available and ready to settle into homes on Xbox X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4|5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

With ‘Smooth Moves’ back in business, players return to Packmore to get things moving and rebuild their F.A.R.T. reputation. The overall gameplay is very much the same as the first game, so fans of the original will feel right at home with the controls and mechanics. The concept is simple, load furniture into the truck or unload the truck taking everything inside, but of course, it won’t be long before things become complicated and out of this world, literally.

While solo play is an option, Moving Out 2 is a game where teamwork makes the dream work or ruins friendships. Whether playing solo or with up to four players, it doesn’t make any changes to each job. There is even an option for a single player to control two characters with one controller. It is just as fun and as confusing as you’d expect, which will take some practice to get used to, but also makes for a really fun and interesting challenge. A single player can still complete all the tasks, but the real fun is in the multiplayer because extra hands really do make lighter work.

The items that need to be carried come in different sizes and some are even fragile. Small items can be carried by a single player and thrown around, but bigger and heavier items can only be dragged by one player or carried with the help of a second player and even thrown. The term “handle with care” doesn’t really apply in this game, as anything can be tossed around to save time, except for fragile items. Anything breakable must be carried all the way to the truck or thrown to another player if they can time their catch.

Adding to the chaos, are the obstacles in each home which could be swimming pools, one-way doors, doors that don’t stay open, garden rakes (Sideshow Bob style), portals and so much more. Other obstacles can even aid players with their moves such as parasols where players can throw items onto and bounce them into the truck. This isn’t your average moving job and the F.A.R.T.s will have a wide variety of ways to get the job done in entertaining and hilarious fashion.

Each job even has a set of optional tasks to complete and star ratings if the player can complete the jobs by a certain time, offering plenty of replay value to keep you coming back for more. Plenty of minigames can also be unlocked, where players must complete moving jobs under unique conditions not seen in the main game. The game is jam-packed with content and even more is available via paid DLC.

The overall design of the game maintains its friendly, colourful, and cartoonish art style. Plenty of characters will be available from the beginning, with more to unlock and even more to buy and download. There are a wide variety of culturally diverse human characters, plus animals and even toasters and fish bowls for heads, and all can be played on foot or in a wheelchair.

The animation has that humorous cartoony violence along with colourful graphics, making it really easy on the eyes. In between each job, conversations between your character and the boss are also very well written while keeping it short and sweet, with plenty of entertaining and hilarious banter. The soundtrack has a very upbeat Saturday morning cartoon feel to it and has something for every occasion.

A big thing that was missing in the original 2020 game was online multiplayer, which is really odd considering that Team17’s other games had it included, and it was released during a time when friends couldn’t sit side by side to play couch co-op together, making it a real missed opportunity.

Fans of the original game will be more than happy to know that Moving Out 2 does indeed have online multiplayer included and not only that, it even has cross-platform between all relevant consoles. Moving Out has everything to make it a perfect online game, and it’s fantastic that players can now make their moves together in the same room or far apart over the internet.

Moving Out 2 delivers all the fun seen in the original and packs in so much more. Hours upon hours of furniture-moving mayhem will be had and players will be coming back for extra loads of it. Moving day is upon us and it’s time for the F.A.R.T.s to let loose, as Moving Out 2 is now ready to unpack and unload into homes worldwide.

Written by: Sammy Hanson