Welcome to the Into Indie Games beginner tips and tricks guide for One Move Away. This cozy first-person puzzle game is all about carefully packing vehicles, organizing objects, and decorating shelves so that everything fits neatly. The idea is simple, but as you progress through the levels, the puzzles become increasingly difficult.
But that’s exactly what makes the game so satisfying. When you finally manage to fit everything perfectly and see the final snapshot of your hard work, the feeling is incredibly rewarding. In this guide, we’ll lay out five helpful tips and tricks to make your packing duties easier.
For more information about the game, check out their official website here.
Table of contents
Get Used to The Controls
One Move Away is a game about packing, and it gives you plenty of control over how you handle the objects and place them. The first chapter acts as a tutorial where you play as a baby stacking toys around a playground. You’ll learn basic things such as how to rotate objects, stack them efficiently, and move them into place.
You’ll mostly play around with the same mechanics as you progress through the rest of the game. The only thing that the game doesn’t explain is crouching, which can help you get a better view of objects when you’re placing them in low sections, such as the bottom shelves or under furniture. On a gamepad, you can press X/Square to crouch. On the keyboard, the default button is CTRL.
There’s also a Poke button (LMB/RT/R2) that lets you push the item, once placed, in a specific direction. This is a good tool to use when you want to nudge an item into place.
Also, use the Highlight button (R/Y/Triangle) regularly to quickly spot all the items that you need to pack to clear the level. The Extra Objects will have a plus sign above them, while the main objectives will simply be highlighted with an outline, making them easy to identify.
Always Have a Plan
The toughest part of a level in One Move Away is often the beginning. Each stage starts the same way. You see a pile of furniture, toys, books, and other objects, and a surprisingly small space where you have to pack everything into. At first glance, it can get a little overwhelming.
To make things easier, take a moment to plan out how you want to stack and arrange everything. Move all similar types of objects to one spot and map out exactly where you want to put them when you pack everything. Start with the big objects that take up the most space. Also, see how many of the objects can be manipulated to make them smaller.
If you have a clear plan before you start moving the items around, things become a lot easier.
The Side Objectives
In One Move Away, the main goal is to simply pack the required items. As long as you pack all the highlighted objects, you can finish the level and move on to the next one. However, each stage also includes two optional side objectives that you can complete for bonus stars.
The first side objective is usually straightforward, tasking you with packing some extra objects that are highlighted with a plus sign. The number of extra objects in each level can vary.
The second side objective, however, is more direct and often introduces an extra challenge. For example, in the second chapter, right after the tutorial, one of the side objectives is to pack a desk lamp without folding it. Since the desk lamp takes up more space when you keep it unfolded, fitting everything inside the car trunk becomes trickier.
While these side objectives can add a layer of challenge to the gameplay, they don’t have any overarching effect on the story. So if you’re struggling with completing a certain sub-objective, don’t stress too much about it.
Stacking And Manipulating Objects
One Move Away gives you a surprising amount of control over how you handle the items. On top of being able to rotate the items to make them fit, you can also stack or manipulate certain items. You can fold a desk lamp, a table, or even a patio chair to make them smaller, allowing you to cram them into a packed trailer or container without taking up extra space.
When you’re packing books, files, or boxes of board games, you can even stack them on a pile to keep them tidy. However, that doesn’t mean stacking every object is a good idea. Sometimes, stacking all the same type of things together means you need to clear enough space to place them together.
If space is an issue, try breaking the stack and placing the items in different parts of storage. If the items you’re packing are small enough, you can usually cram them into tight spaces more easily if they are not stacked.
It Doesn’t Have to Be Pretty
When you’re packing, the final result might not always turn out as pretty or realistic as you want, and that’s perfectly fine. As long as every item fits within the designated space and they don’t fall off, the game counts it as a successful move and lets you complete the level.
The fourth chapter is a good example of this, where you have to load a trailer. By placing the wardrobe on the trailer first and stacking the chairs and other items on top of it, you can save a lot of floor space, leaving the area free for other items.
That concludes our beginner’s guide for One Move Away. For more interesting articles related to indie games, check out the links below:
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Will: Follow the Light – Complete Walkthrough Hub
- Coffee Talk Tokyo: Best Ending Walkthrough Hub
- 007 First Light – Walkthrough Hub
- Paralives Walkthrough Hub
Muhit Rahman lives off two things: gaming marathons and endless cups of tea. He writes guides, reviews, and occasionally forgets that real life doesn’t come with checkpoints. His favorite genres are Soulslike and Metroidvania, with Dark Souls III, Hollow Knight, and Dota 2 forever holding top spots on his all-time list.
