The Way of Life

One thing you can be sure about is that no two people are the same, which means that no two lives are the same either. Each individual that was ever born took a different path in life, which lead to different experiences and a unique journey. On the other hand, the current world is restraining our ability to feel different from each other, especially when there’s so much pressure to fit in and adhere to certain beliefs.

The Way of Life is a first-person adventure game with a pretty interesting take on the genre, given the fact that it doesn’t feel at all like anything else out there. The whole experience is very abstract and full of symbolism, but it’s also not as deep as the developers might have intended. Even so, if you keep an open mind and you are ready to deal with a few flaws, The Way of Life has the potential to make think for a bit.

To begin with, you have three characters to choose from, namely a young child, an adult and an old man. They can each go through the same experiences, on the other hand, and it’s interesting to see how age affects the way we perceive certain things. Death and happiness are just some examples, because there’s more to the game than just that.

Since the game tries to be abstract in certain regards, you’ll often have to deal with landscapes that are actually metaphors, such as a void full of colorful doors that represent each different path you could take in life. On the other hand, the symbolism can be a tad too much sometimes, especially when an actual environment might send a more powerful message to the players.

As for the graphics, they are pretty simple from a technical point of view, but the designers managed to create a few interesting vistas with simple elements. The controls are not properly integrated, however, since the character moves slowly and it’s difficult to look around sometimes. Granted, you do not have to deal with fast-paced gameplay, but it’s still a bother.

Although The Way of Life is not yet complete anyway, the developers were a bit too eager to release it, which is why it may come with more flaws than normal. On the other hand, you can still experience the story without too much fuss, although even that needs a bit of work.