Unpacking’s secret messy mode just got a big viral boost

polygon.com:

Even small games can reveal delightful surprises years later. Now, roughly two years after its release, Unpacking fans are suddenly discovering a previously revealed secret mode after a TikTok video brought it back into the public eye. The mode is called Dark Star, and it basically forces players to beat the game by tossing objects on the floor instead of neatly putting them away like in the main mode.

In Unpacking’s standard mode, players complete levels by pulling objects out of a box and finding an appropriate spot to store them. If, for instance, you put toilet paper in the kitchen sink, the game will highlight the item with a red line and won’t let you complete the level. However, once you beat the game the regular way, you can enter Dark Star mode, where you beat each level by making sure every single item is placed incorrectly and highlighted in red. Once a player misplaces every single item, the game will award them with a darkened star and let them progress to the next level.

Developer Witch Beam teased Dark Star as a secret mode prior to the official reveal, then shared a video documenting it as part of an April Fools’ Day post in 2022. “So many people thought it was a fake feature for April Fools’ until they tried it for themselves,” Tim Dawson, a co-founder of Witch Beam and technical director of Unpacking,told Polygon via email.

Since that official reveal, some content creators have even streamed their Dark Star runs. Still, it’s clear that many fans didn’t know about the mode. After Dec. 22 Witch Beam TikTok went viral, fans shared reactions like, “THERE’S A DARK STAR MODE?!?!” and “I have 100% this game and I DIDNT KNOW THIS!? WHAAAAAT!?” Another wrote, “dude I beat this game like 10 times and i am just