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Finding Meaning in the Mess
There’s something deeply comforting about tidying up a space — not just restoring order, but revealing the stories buried beneath the clutter. That’s the essence of Neaten Up!, the debut title from Hikayan Project, an indie studio based in Bandung, Indonesia.
Showcased at IGDX 2025 as part of the Gameseed incubation programme, this cosy home-restoration game stood out amid the chaos of louder, flashier titles. It’s not about fighting monsters or saving worlds — it’s about healing them, room by room.
The Art of Cleaning
In Neaten Up!, players take on the role of a cleaner who enters homes left in disarray, bringing each one back to life through cleaning, organising, and rediscovery. The mechanics are simple yet satisfying — vacuum away trash that blocks your path, mop stains off wooden floors, and scrub grime from furniture until it shines.
Each room feels like a puzzle to solve, layered with tactile feedback and small surprises. Shift a cabinet, and dirt scatters across the floor. Move a chair, and you might uncover a coffee-stained photo or a forgotten trinket that sparks curiosity. The demo’s vertical slice showcased these mechanics beautifully, an intuitive, rhythmic, and surprisingly meditative experience.
But beyond its surface-level charm, Neaten Up! builds emotional weight through the objects you find. Some are purely decorative; others carry profound meaning. A broken guitar, for instance, once belonged to a grandson who played in a local band; collecting its scattered parts across rooms allows you to restore it, piece by piece. It’s a small gesture, but one that transforms cleaning into an act of remembrance.
Where Puzzles Meet Emotion
Each house introduces new characters and stories, subtly conveyed through the environment and items you uncover. Cleaning becomes a narrative tool, one that reflects themes of care, loss, and connection.
The puzzle design proved engaging without overstaying its welcome, the balance between tools — mop, vacuum, sponge — keeping the rhythm varied. The emotional storytelling, meanwhile, hinted at something potentially powerful: a quiet resonance that may stay with players long after the last speck of dust is gone.
If Hikayan Project can maintain that tone across its full release, Neaten Up! could easily join the ranks of modern cosy hits like Unpacking and A Little to the Left, combining comfort with introspection.
A Promising Start
For an indie project still early in development, Neaten Up! already feels polished in its core concept and identity. Its message, that order and empathy can coexist, is delivered through thoughtful design rather than dialogue. It’s not just about cleaning rooms. It’s about cleaning wounds — both literal and emotional.
As one of IGDX 2025’s quiet standouts, Neaten Up! proves that sometimes, the most meaningful adventures don’t need grand worlds or epic battles; all you need is just a vacuum, a sponge, and a story worth dusting off.
Interested players can check out a demo of the game via the itch.io page.
