More a Haunting than a History
MORE A HAUNTING THAN A HISTORY
an interactive fiction game from E. Jade Lomax (ink-splotch / dirgewithoutmusic), the writer who brought you Beanstalk, Second Star to the Left podcast, and Stay?.
Return to your sleepy, strange little hometown after years away. Explore your old haunts, reconnect with old friends and new, and dig into the mysteries that rise up in the town like mist.
It's a story about leaving home and coming home; about life after death-- in more ways than one. This choose-your-own-adventure game lets you explore who you used to be so that you can decide who you want to be.
What is More a Haunting than a History?
- A LGBTQ-friendly dating sim wrapped up in a weird little town with weirder denizens. (Including polyam & aroace relationship options)
- An interactive fiction story about memory, responsibility, and identity; about understanding the past in order to decide the future.
- Genre?: OXENFREE mashed up with a Teen Wolf fanfic, or maybe if Charmed had a baby with Gone Home?
HOW TO PLAY:
Select "Run Game" or "Load Game." Read the text that appears like it's a story unfolding, and select between the bolded options offered to you.
It is recommended to use the Chrome browser for this game; other browsers tend to drop your progress if you leave the webpage for too long, especially on mobile, even if you've saved.
HOW TO SAVE:
Use the SAVE button to preserve your progress as you explore your hometown. Any refresh/reload of the web page will clear your existing progress. Many phones will automatically drop any idling webpages, so save before you leave the browser app to go to another application or tab.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
If the game "freezes," choices stop appearing, or it has other issues in execution, we suggest closing the browser, then reopening it & reloading your most recent save. (Do NOT save at the place the error occurs. Only use a save that already existed.) This has helped with most the commonly seen bugs.
If the game won't load at all ("Run Game" does not appear), try deleting your cookies.
Credits:
Made using inkle's INK - inklestudios.com
Written by E. Jade Lomax - ejadelomax.com
Ink by E. Jade Lomax
Save Function provided by Adam Rubin and E. Jade Lomax
Photo by Curt Lomax
Hero Testing by Jules Lomax
Beta testing by Marina Lomax, Piper Lomax, Adam Rubin, M. Esty, Kaden Sundberg, N. Oguri, S. Hayes, Grace Li, and many wonderful helpful others!
Liked the game? Check out my tumblr ink-splotch for behind the scenes content and my other works. I'm also on Twitter @ejadelomax.
Want early access to future games, stories, or scripts, "making of" posts, and other tidbits? Consider supporting my patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ejadelomax
Comments
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I played Stay? before and loved it to pieces, so when I saw you had a new similar game I was so excited because I just *knew* it was going to be good. I just finished my first run of the game and now I know for sure I want to play this again and again like in Stay?. Your way of writing and telling a story really just resonates with me because it's like a warm, familiar hug I am experiencing for the first time. Thank you so much for creating, you sincerely inspire me in my own creative ventures.
The most cursed/haunted thing about the town is the hospital having a vending machine that sells jello... lol
just want to say this is a great game!! all the characters are so fun and quirky and i love them all sm but especially bec!! angry girls in leather jackets hold a special place in my heart <3 i played until i got all the endings. some of them were funny, some of them were bittersweet and others heartwarming.
also yes july is def a festive month ;)
I’m so glad you liked it!! Bec and her snarliness are very near and dear to me.
There people who are smart, there people who are dumb and there is me who simple didn't knew we could apparently date people in the game.
Well i got the ends where i go to the realms and become besties with the sweet boi Tam
Besties is the height of victory tbh
i love this so so very much. i got the ending where you become a spider demon and roadtrip with gwyn and bec (i like to think that tam and mc are in a qpr :])
Delightful! That’s a wonderful ending and a wonderful QPR.
I remember playing "Stay?" and holding it fondly to my chest for hours on end. I can certainly say this - More a Haunting than a History - will be held with the same fondness. You end up feeling connected to each character, in a way. The polyamorous inclusion was lovely - I expressed romantic interest in all the possible characters, but Chris certainly stole my heart. His ending felt like home.
I’m so glad! I loved writing Chris’s full story— I think in some ways his, like Suzette’s in Stay?, is the most potentially transformative. He’s got range :)
Just binged a playthrough and wow. Kind of at a loss for words tbh... what a story. I was so immersed in it and I NEEDED to do everybody right and see it through to the end. I was so confused for most of the playthrough, and even now after finishing, I am honestly not any less confused lmfao. Yet, I'm still coming away from it feeling cathartic.
For real, excellent game and excellent story. I've been trying, but I can't find better words to describe it than the commenter below. Haunting, heartwarming, and sweet(?). Perhaps even sinister? Am I crazy for feeling paranoid about what was going on? Lmao.
Loved Tam btw. Good characters all around.
Thank you, I’m so glad! My wife loves Tam :)
I’m adding an update soon that I think will make play a little smoother and also add trophies!
ngl this was fantastic from beginning to end. I just loved how the story intertwined in every way and besides the romance was a beautiful tidbit. Thank you for making such a sweet(?) yet haunting yet heartwarming story.
Thank you so much! Sweet with a question mark works very well :)
This is so amazing!!! I will definitely have to play through again to learn more, but this run was very satisfying.
Spoilers Below
I got to romance Daisy, Bec, AND Gwyn, and I’m besties with Tam. Traveling the world with Bec and Gwyn is so nice, and even if I don’t have Daisy with me I have her gift of being a spider demon, which I think is so sweet! Chris isn’t my type but I’m definitely going to try and learn more about him next time around.
I do have a question though - Do you think Bec and Gwyn will ever be satisfied with their travels (for now at least), and settle back in town for a little while?
That’s a great ending!!
I think they will be satisfied and settle down eventually— but I think it will be in a new place, one of the portal towns they travel to and fall in love with, and not where they grew up.
Aw that’s super sweet! Thanks!
This choose-your-own-adventure game lets you explore who you used to be so that you can decide who you want to be....(not really you, but playing as someone else).
this was absolutely amazing, stunning, lovely, thank you for making it <3 all your work, whether it be your games or your writing, touches my heart so deeply
Thank you!!
i loved this but the ending was actually somewhat depressing lol is there alternative endings depending on choices made in the dreams or will it always lead out the same just with different characters
The ending doesn’t depend on the dreams— it depends on your relationships with the characters and what they’re willing to help you with or offer to you. The more friends you make, the more options you will have. There’s quite a few different possible endings!
I loved the game
But how do I romance Chris?
I could only choose Bec sob
Be kind to him! Also make sure to befriend Gwyn as well— there’s some content with her that will unlock Chris content. Daisy also unlocks some Chris content.
Thank you <3
I’ve tried everything and the world doesn’t want me to romance Chris apparently
I played a few hours and liked your game very much 🙂
Do we have a way to have all the memory back ?
And what about aunt Bev ? Is there a way to learn more about her and who she was ?
Thank you!
There are ways to get *more* memories, but I wouldn’t say there’s a way to get *all* of them.
Depends how much you know already! While you can learn more about Aunt Bev and her choices, I wouldn’t say this game will ever give you the “full” story.
i really enjoyed your other game, stay?, and was very excited to see another piece of work from you! I've spent several hours playing through this over and over by now, and every time has had something new to surprise me with. All of your characters feel alive and three-dimensional, and I love the entire story. Thank you for making this, and sharing it.
Thank you! I’m glad you’re replaying it; I think there’s some fun stuff to find in multiple runs!
holy mackerel! this was absolutely stunning I have had so much fun the characters were so moving and I love them all so much, I love Tam, Bec and Gwyn the most I ended up with Daisy mostly on accident but I desperately want to try romancing Bec, the relationship they Had with us was just so... good. I adore how much they all meant to each other. thank you for this fantastic story I look forward to playing again and again and every new thing you write!
Romance Bec! You can do it!
Thank you for exploring this world and caring about these characters.
Wow this was incredible
Thank you! You’re incredible