Wilmots Warehouse screenshot - cover image
Wilmot's Warehouse (2019)
Stories & Ideas

Tue 15 Oct 2019

ACMI Recommends: Wilmot's Warehouse

ACMI Recommends Videogames
Jim Fishwick

Jim Fishwick

Curator, ACMI

Assistant curator Jim Fishwick plays an indie puzzle game by Finji that packs together cute visuals, lateral thinking and the joys of putting things in neat little rows.

In Wilmot’s Warehouse, you play as Wilmot, who works in a warehouse. With me so far?

Every so often, a shipment of items arrives. The items are square tiles, with icons on them. Some of them are straightforward – an apple, a mountain, a trumpet. As Wilmot, you pick them up and put them where they belong. Where do they belong? Well, that’s up to you. The apple can go with the tree because they’re both nature. The trumpet goes with the … siren? They’re both loud, sure. I guess this one looks kind of like a tunnel, and you might tunnel through a mountain, so it can go over with the mountain. It’s a sort of lateral thinking free association exercise, coupled with the satisfaction of putting things in neat little rows.

The challenge, however, is that once your tiles are in place, customers turn up and ask for combinations of tiles, which you need to retrieve for them. The planning and stacking game gives way to a memory and strategy challenge. Where did I put the horseshoes? Can I pick up two boomerangs on my way back? Will they fit down the alleyway next to the penguins? It’s utterly engrossing.

The straightforward but charming gameplay of Wilmot’s Warehouse is underscored by a bone-dry satire of late-stage capitalism, replete with motivational posters, unmotivational feedback from your employer, and automation that seems to hinder your progress more than it helps.
If you’re ready to lose several hours being engrossed in stacking boxes, I recommend you pick it up! But please remember to bend at the knees when you do.

– Jim Fishwick, Assistant Curator

Available on Steam for PC and Mac, or Switch

Our staff always has one eye on a screen. Find out what else we're watching and playing with ACMI Recommends.