Undusted: Letters from the Past Review (Switch)

Alright, time to put on some tunes and get to cleanin’.

If only cleaning was like how it is in video games. I’m sure all of us would be cleaning a lot more if so, but maybe not since procrastination still comes to things you enjoy. I’ve been looking forward to Undusted since it was announced and it killed me not being able to play the demo. It looked like a cleaning game that I would enjoy, but it’s always good to try out the demo anyway. Well, fast forward to now and I was finally able to play Undusted! So, how was the game?

Undusted: Letters from the Past has you follow Adora as she’s returning to her family home. The memories of her childhood are already washing over her as she’s just walking up to the house. However, she’s not here to visit. It turns out that her mother has passed away and while we don’t know how long ago, we do know it’s been a long time based on what the Aunt alludes to, from Adora herself, and just how dusty and grimey these items are. Either way, Adora has been avoiding going back home for a long time and the only reason she is now is due to a letter she received from her Aunt. Using this letter as an excuse, she tells herself that she’s only returning so she can find the necklace her Aunt left in the attic at her family home.

Of course, the attic ends up being locked and Adora basically ends up cleaning the whole house. However, this might be a blessing in disguise. While it’s implied that Adora is cleaning the house throughout the whole game, which seemed to not have been cleaned since her mom died, we get to see some key items that she comes across. Items that are so strongly tied to her memories as a child and as a teen. Not to mention the house itself shaking some memories to the forefront. With each item that Adora finds and we end up cleaning, we get to see the story of Undusted unravel as Adora reminisces about the memories, events, and emotions that are tied to each item. And maybe, just maybe, Adora will learn something about her mom that she was always curious about, but never got to learn when her mom was still alive.

I really liked the story here. Undusted has a pretty emotional story, one that really feels like it’s deeply personal even though as far as I know it’s not based on a real event that happened to one of the developers. It does a really good job at getting you to connect with Adora and feeling what she was feeling remembering all these memories. You can’t help but to be happy when you read through her happy memories or feel bitter when you learn why Adora didn’t want to return home. It definitely gets you in the feels and I really like how this ends on a bittersweet note. The story here is also very relatable. I’m sure all of us have items, places, or even pieces of media that we avoid as they’re tied to specific memories. Or feel weird going to anymore due to those memories and those places looking different or the person (or people) you used to hang out with not being there anymore (whether it’s them moving away, the friendship ended, or they died). I know I do.

I really liked the writing style and just how this story was told too. You can tell how carefully the game was written and translated. I really liked how the majority of the story was told in a way that evoked Adora writing it in a journal or diary, the specific conversations she remembers being in dialogue boxes, and then every so often we’ll get Adora’s commenting on something while cleaning. I also really liked how there are just crumbs throughout, giving you mini cliffhangers before you go into the cleaning gameplay and then you get to read the rest of what happened after you’re done cleaning. It’s kind of like Adora is undusting her own memories in a way. There are some things that just have you go “hmm, I wonder what that was about” or things that get implied. A lot of these are answered by the time the game ends, and I do like how the game has you speculating, but some small things aren’t and leaves you wondering just like Adora. Oh, and not to mention that the story was not only perfectly paced, but perfect for a cleaning game and a game of this length.

All in all, Undusted’s story is beautifully written and will surely get you in the feels.

Gameplay here is pretty simple. All the items you’ll be cleaning are separated into their individual levels that are even named, as they all have their own memories and story attached to them, and also grouped into chapters. All you have to do is clean each item. You’re not cleaning with your hands silly, but with four tools (well technically five, but one only appears for one level). Don’t worry, the game does give you the tool(s) you need for each item and even dedicates a level to introduce you to a new tool. There are four cleaning tools you’ll be using throughout the game: A toothbrush, sponge, cloth, and an air blow gun. A toothbrush cleans a smaller area, but is more effective and lets you get into the little crevices that are a pain to clean. A sponge cleans a bigger area, but isn’t as effective. A sponge does help a lot in clearing out thick layers of dust and grime so you can go back into it with a toothbrush. The cloth is for items that have a glass component to them and is most effective to the grime that have a harder time coming off of glass with the toothbrush or sponge, but comes off like nothing with the cloth. Then finally, the air blow gun which is basically the best of both worlds. It’s the most effective at cleaning the dust and grime and cleans a decent area, but it won’t dislodge the plantlife that ended up growing on the item, won’t clean the dust that’s sticking to glass, and it can only be used for a couple seconds before it needs to be charged. And it takes long enough to charge that you might as well pick up the other tools you were given, but not too long that you can only use it a couple times.

Oh, and a lot of items here are also interactable! Items that have buttons, sliders, have components that can open, or just have real-world physics will be the same in the game. Which I found to be pretty cool. Though, that doesn’t mean those spots don’t have to be cleaned. You do need to open the items to clean inside them, clean the sides of the buttons and even press the buttons beside them so you can get to it more easily, and even have the item move its components so you can clean the part that you couldn’t get to otherwise.

While you do get to see the item slowly become cleaner as you clean, you also can just see your progress and how much you have left thanks to the cleanliness meter on the bottom of the screen. This is also where you’ll see when hints will be unlocked for the item. The hint system here is basically just a dirt detector that highlights the dirt/dust/grime and slightly dims the screen so you can easily see the spots that you missed. It even colors the dust clinging to class differently, which is pretty nice. When it unlocks depends on the item, but it generally unlocks past the halfway mark and when you basically have most of the dust and grime cleaned away and getting to the point where you can easily overlook dirty spots. You can complete levels without using the hint dirt highlighter, but it does really help you out on that last >1%.

You can wrap up the level when you cleaned the item to 99% or aim to 100% clean the item where it will then auto-complete. You’ll be able to interact with the item one last time on the level complete screen and get a little blurb about the item before continuing. On the level select screen, the artwork for the item also gets updated from its dirty form to its clean form and the blurb gets added to that page.

Also, I was really hoping Undusted was going to have touch screen controls and it does! You do need to figure out the controls, but most buttons have a touch screen equivalent. One finger acts as just a cursor, tapping it lets you advance dialogue, use the buttons (like during the story segments or the interactive points on items), and pick up the cleaning tools. Not to mention that it naturally has you scrubbing and cleaning the item without having to press down a button since you are already simulating that action by scrubbing the screen with your finger. Two fingers allows you to zoom in and out from the item, which basically enlarges it for you so you can have an easier time getting into the nooks and crannies, as well as letting you rotate and spin the item around. And finally, three fingers lets you move the item within the space, which helps if you’re zoomed in and don’t want to spin it around to get to the part you need to get to. The only thing you can’t activate with just the touch screen is the hint dirt highlighter and resetting the item.

I personally switched between joycons and touch screen, but I played mostly using the touch screen controls.

Aside from aiming to clean each item 100%, there is one item that unlocks after you watch the credits and I definitely recommend going in to clean it. The game’s ending is perfect, but man was this the perfect epilogue.

While the Switch doesn’t have achievements, you can also aim to get them anyway if you want to.

I really liked the gameplay here as well. Gameplay is easy and simple here and it works well. I did like cleaning all of the items here and looked forward to seeing what the next item was going to be (plus the memories and story tied to them). I loved how some of the items were interactable as well. I did also like how the items slowly got harder in a sense that you get more complicated items that have more nooks and crannies for you to clean and are more involved in a sense that you have to interact with it to clean everything. It is also so satisfying going from dirty items that you’re like “man, how long was this house empty for” to items that look brand new.

For the most part, I didn’t have trouble getting to 100% cleanliness on all the items. You will have to pixel hunt towards the end, as it can be easy to overlook the dirty pixels, especially if it blends into the color of the item, but I didn’t really mind it. The hint dirt highlighter definitely helps and you can even keep it activated when you’re cleaning the item. There are just a few tricky spots that can getcha. I only had trouble getting 100% on one item, but it was the second to last item which is fair. I eventually did find that one spec of dirt that was left, but man was it starting to annoy me.

In terms of gameplay, I also do think Undusted is the perfect length as well. It stopped right when I was getting a little sick of it. Though, that could have just been because I got stuck on that one item haha. You do really get a sense that you’re cleaning the most important items, while not feeling like you’re missing anything, and I like that.

The only negative I have for Undusted is just that I wished you could increase the text speed. Though, I can see others getting annoyed at how the remaining dirty spots will often be one pixel specs that you might or might not be able to spot without the hint first highlighter.

As for Undusted visuals and sound, they were great here. I really loved how the game looked. I loved the art style used for the character portraits and the various items or rooms that you’ll see during the story segments. Adora looked absolutely adorable as a child, you can see adult Adora coming in during her teens, and you can really tell that the dad is the fun, free spirited one and the mom is the more strict, straightforward one. I really liked the items during the cleaning gameplay. They’re 3D items, with the items, but they have an interesting element to them in the form of it being a detailed pixelated item. I’m not sure if these are purely 3D pixel items or just has that pixel filter on it, but either way the items look so good. I also liked how the cleaning tools just interacts with the items your cleaning and I love the small details that the items have. Like you can see the liquid moving around, click down buttons, and even have the objects interact just like they would in the real world like blowing into an instrument. Not to mention the working space. Adora cleans these items on tables and each chapter will have you cleaning at different tables to reflect her being in a different room. Which subtly shows you the progress Adora has done cleaning overall. It also subtly shows you the progress of time with how the lighting and even subtly reflects Adora’s emotions.

The music here is so chill and relaxing. It has that atmospheric soft piano and is paired with some ambience. The sound of you cleaning and the item itself also goes well with it as everything does have that distinct sound that fits with what it is, but is soft so it also pairs well with the music. There’s even some small audio details with the items, like glass sounds different when you clean it, you can hear the liquid sloshing around, and the sounds the item makes when interacting with or even moving it sounds realistic.

I just noticed that the game store page describes it as an ASMR cleaning game and man, it is accurate. Everything is so soft, relaxing, and nice to listen to. ASMR hot take coming in, but it’s even better it’s not obnoxious like I honestly find so many ASMR videos to be with all of their tapping or just noises that are obnoxious to me or gross. I guess it also doesn’t help that I have misophonia.

Undusted is mostly not voiced, but there are two moments that are. I won’t spoil it, but one is during the end credits (which is what I was really hoping would happen and I honestly would have been a bit disappointed if the game didn’t put it in) and a secret one that is hidden in one of the levels. For the secret one, it is only hinted at, but I definitely do recommend listening to it. I think it really does help give you some insight on Adora and what she was feeling when she listened to it in the story.

Undusted performed wonderfully on the Switch, so there’s no need to worry about performance here!

Verdict

I honestly would have been happy if Undusted: Letters from the Past was just a game where you simply cleaned a bunch of items, but the addition of the story really elevated the game for me. The story here is so emotional and easy to resonate with; with the gameplay being simple, relaxing, and satisfying as you clean all of these items. Not to mention the touch screen controls here and the lovely visuals and sound design! This game is under 3 hours, but I do think it’s the perfect length and the price is right here. Undusted is a beautiful game that I would definitely recommend to anyone that likes cleaning games.