Need a packet?

Crim's Humble Opinion Curator
An interesting sort of dystopian society game with a droning yet highly entertaining job mechanic. You play as a cashier in a world that seems to be fueled and entertained by technologies and for the most part ignores problems around them such as pollution. You wake up every day and get ready for work. Take the bus out keeping yourself entertained with the daily videos and buying upgrades. There are some elements of this game that take some getting used to; but once you do it's really fun. The art is neat and the idea of slowly losing grip on reality is well done.
The game has a hint button on levels as each level essentially throws a new element at you. It could use a tutorial of sorts to explain things but the method works since they only introduce one element at a time. There are some things that are not really explained well or introduced well in my opinion. The upgrades for example don't really have a clear indication on why or how far you have upgraded something. I feel they are for the endings to the game; however this is also not really clearly indicated. After playing so long I reached a day where I was told things would be changing at work. I went through the day and was greeted with a laughing girl on a phone screen. Every time from there I just ended up repeating the same level so either it's a game over screen or I have reached what I can reach with that playthrough with the upgrades I bought. I'm not really sure. It's a bit confusing.
The only other gripe I have with this title is the bus ride. Once you buy your upgrades you have a few choices of things to look at while you're waiting to arrive at work; but it takes quite some time. Sometimes I will be finished reading the dialogue before I get to work and it just means there is some dead time where I feel like it's taking too long.
Pros
+Intriguing art
+Oddly addicting cashier mechanic
+Well developed "loss on reality"
Cons
-Some confusing interface and progression indicators
-Bus ride is long
It's an interesting title to check out but it feels like it needs a bit of polishing here and there when it comes to explanation of certain elements. I'd say keep an eye on and try it on sale if you enjoy dystopian or disconnect with reality type games.

This game really reminds me of Papers, Please. There is a building difficulty where you have to manage more mechanics to make sure you're correctly charging people. Each person gives you a dollar, forget to charge them correctly or give them a packet (bag) then you get a strike. 3 strikes and you're charged an exorbitant amount of money (I played on Insane so it might be more forgiving on normal).
I enjoyed this game a lot, the mechanics weren't overwhelming and they added slowly enough that I was able to figure them out (for the most part). I did struggle with how to hand the person a Packet but figured it out (after getting about 40 dollars in the red).
A problem with the game that I had was the wait on the bus was so incredibly long that I was often bored while waiting. I do understand that is where the story of the game and its world is given but you have the option of ignoring the news and just going along your way. A skip button would be a welcome addition if you just want to play and not wait for several minutes.
The bullet hell portion of the game felt strange... I never really enjoyed this part of the game. The difficulty felt like it went from 0 to 11 really fast. Getting hit maybe once a street to not being able to dodge anything to being able to dodge everything. In my opinion this isn't a strength of the game and it slowed it down from the part of the game I really wanted to play.
The main strength of this game really is its checkout portion of the game. Every time I did it I was enjoying it a lot. As the mechanics were building i found myself feeling smart knowing the code for potatoes (1101). This really is the best part of the game and well worth experiencing in my opinion!
Overall I think this game has a lot of fun! I would/will play this game again. Hopefully the developer continues to work on it and provide some quality of life updates (such as being able to skip your bus ride once you're done buying upgrades).
I did a video of it, not a review mind you, just a let's play and thought i'd let you know how i felt about it. If you wanna check out the video you can do so here:

It's an experience. Bizarre, annoying, fascinating, boring, and interesting. It's clearly unfinished and resembles more of an alpha build than a finished product. That said, figuring the game out was an adventure I enjoyed.
6/10

I purchased Need a Packet because I watched Markiplier try it out a while ago, and he had a very negative reaction to it at the time, but the visuals were so compelling that I had to come and try it out myself. And I'm glad that I did! I haven't finished the game yet, but so far Need a Packet is a challenging game, with great artwork and music, and a compelling story! The mechanics are interesting too, switching between you being a cashier and giving packets to people, and defending the transport you take to work against giant demons and the like, it all getting progressively more difficult as the game goes on.
The only qualms I have with it, are that when you are sorting money, if you put the bill in the wrong place (say a 20 with the 5s) you have to pull everything else off from on top of it before you can get it. I think the most recent bill put in the stack should be the first one to come out. And, I know it's supposed to be hard... and maybe I'm just bad at games? But the part when the demons are attacking you when you're checking people out...recharging the "guards" is almost impossible. And sometimes it doesn't even let me recharge them. So unless you've somehow saved up enough health, you can't make it past that part. And it starts you all the way over from the beginning every time you fail, which is annoying, but also adds to the difficulty.
So overall, the game is good! And I don't want to take away from the creativity and originality of this game by comparing it to something else... but if you enjoyed Papers, Please you would enjoy this! (Also if you just generally enjoy creepy pixel games) That's all I have to say about it so far, maybe I'll update this once I complete the game. = )

Need a packet is a really interesting game but it feels like it comes up a bit short in some areas. While playing I was quite enjoying the gameplay, it's must like Papers Please, but in Need A Packet you are a cashier ringing through customers. The game almost seems like it just ends at one point but also continues allowing you to play. I'm a bit confused right now playing this, I got "The Good Ending" and continued to play for a while more. Nothing seemed to change after I won, but I didn't even know I had won until I was in Steam and I saw the name of the achievemetn I got was called "The Good Ending".
You are some lady in a very dystopian setting, mindlessly going to work and repeating the same thing until your character supposedly goes insane. I actually never saw the insane stuff, I'm not even sure how to activate it. In the trailer it shows a part where you have to dodge lasers with your tiny bus but I haven't seen anything like that. I assume that is for if you get the bad ending or are playing through a bad path or something...
The game starts pretty basic and as it goes on new options and other things open up until a point. I am unsure if I am actually done the game or not, I keep playing but nothing new happens or changes. My character keeps saying big changes at work today but nothing ever changes. I'm unsure if this is working as intended but it almost seems like I am stuck in an endless loop.
The game feels short. Like I said, I may not be done it but after a certain point it seems like the gameplay is just looped endlessly. I've seen the "smiling" lady screen many times so far, and it's th same screen on the good ending so it's almost like I keep redoing the final level. I don't know if this is supposed to be like this.
The art style is nice in a dreary and hopeless kind of way, it fits the game and mood perfectly. The characters have a very unusual style to them as well and everything is decent in the art style department.
I like this game but I wish there was a lot more of it. More story, more customers, more unlockables, more cashier options. I just want more of everything it has to offer, that's what I meant by it feels like it comes up a bit short. It leaves you wanting more except I don't know if there is much or any more.
One thing I found quite anoyying in the game was when you are commuting to work. It's a boring and time consuming task you have to go through before each shift. I'm pretty sure this is all on purpose to give you that extra feeling of hopelessness or monotony of it all and it adds to the feeling you get playing. It works with the story and characters.. but I still don't like that. It kind of makes me only want to play a few days in one sitting instead of a week or two.
It's really okay though, the game is alright. I just wish there was more of it, or some sort of indicator that more is still coming because I feel like I'm in an endless loop right now. Now having said that, is that what the developers were going for? Did they want me to feel like I was in an endless loop because it would actually be kind of immersive with the game story? I don't know.. this is a strange game.
If you like Paper's Please and want more of something like that, this is kind of like that. You would probably want to play Papers Please over this, but if you already have and are looking for something else that's similar this might be alright for you. Based on my time with the game I would say it's okay but I think it may be a bit expensive for what you get. You may want to try and nab this on a sale or in some sort of a bundle pack. It's definitely interesting though and has a very unique feel to it.

After giving the game a couple playthroughs, I can give this one a thumbs up due to my personal liking of the crazy concepts thrown at you.
The artwork is very dark and gothic, fitting my tastes. The overall game is chaotic, never knowing what to expect next as each day builds upon the last which players will find familiar if they've played Papers, Please.
My only complaint was the lack of a tutorial mode. Your gonna have to struggle a little bit in the beginning to understand the cryptic nature of the game but it is well worth the laughs and bizarre world you will experience.

I really enjoy the game it reminds me of my daily grind at my own retail job and how I start to go mad after a while so I have to take frequent vacations. The game play is very intresting and there are some moments that make you go wtf.