Sometimes, a press email pops into your inbox that immediately grabs your attention. It could be a number of things; the art, the pitch, the developer. Whatever it is, it grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. For me, it was the art. More Than One Way is stunning to look at, but it’s also scary to play. More impressively, it’s the first game from Disordered Media and many of its developers. Only one member of Disordered Media has made a game before More Than One Way, but you wouldn’t know that by playing it. I was lucky enough to spend some hands-on time with More Than One Way at PAX West, and I came away very impressed.
More Than One Way is a difficult game to describe. It’s a journey into UNTITLED.EXE, an unfinished video game. As you explore, you’ll learn what happened to the game, its developers, and what, exactly, you’re doing inside it. It’s more than that, though. More Than One Way is, at its evil, black little heart, about the 90s and early 2000s internet, the weird pop-ups, forum culture, message programs, all of it. It’s hard to remember now, in an era where most of the internet is owned by three companies and almost everything is sanitized, corporatized, and drained of any personality, but the internet used to be capital-W weird, making that era perfect for a horror game.
In the demo I played, you’d select one of several rooms, each corresponding to a character. From there, it was a matter of exploring the room and interacting with the objects within it to figure out that character’s story. I won’t spoil too much here — I think you should go into More Than One Way knowing as little about what you’ll see as possible — but I loved exploring the room I chose and slowly piecing together what was happening, even if I did end up getting stuck a couple times.
Aside from the art, which is genuinely stunning, what sold me on More Than One Way was how the room changed as I interacted with it, and how much was communicated solely with sound. As I explored, I’d hear a girl crying, things moving and shifting behind me, and when I turned around, there’d be nothing… most of the time. Sometimes, the room would shift subtly, and I’d have to figure out what had changed, see what I could interact with, and use the clues I had to put together what the next step was.
Horror is old hat for me, and I don’t scare easy, at least not normally. But More Than One Way unnerved me in the best possible way. I was compelled to push forward, and scared of what I might find. That’s what good horror does. You know you shouldn’t go down in the basement, but you can’t help it. When I finally reached the end of the room I’d picked, I was relieved, but excited to see more. I ultimately didn’t get to play another one, but I did watch a couple other people play, and… uh… I think I might’ve gotten off easy given some of the stuff I saw other people dealing with.
But I still want to see what I missed, even if it scares me. That’s the balancing act, and based on what I saw, More Than One Way is walking that tightrope real well. It’s one of the best things I played at PAX West, and if you like horror, it should be on your radar. Just… uh… maybe don’t play it in a dark room, alone, at night. If you do, well… remember that I tried to warn you.
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replyWill Borger posted a new article, More Than One Way's journey inside the old internet scared the hell out of me
