by Daniel Hodson
As a less-than-typical war game, This War of Mine is played from the perspective of civilians who are simply trying to survive. You must fight off the elements, illness, hunger, and other people. It’s an emotional ride that will force you to make decisions you won’t anticipate.
You are caught in the middle of a civil war in an unnamed country that seems to be located somewhere in Eastern Europe. However, the war is not the focus of the game, rather it’s a backdrop for the characters caught up in the conflict.
You control the people similarly like you would The Sims, albeit a more somber version. You will need to search for supplies, build equipment and weapons, and care for the people you travel with. You will also have the ability to make devices that can help them; such as, a radio, bed, rain collector, shovels, and many other items. The stages you go through are separated by days and your responsibilities change depending on what time of the day it is. As you look for supplies, you come across obstacles to overcome. These are completed by using items you have made or by being mindful of who else is in the building with you. You must keep your eyes all over the map, watching and listening for clues of movement in rooms as well as peeking through keyholes in doors. If you do not do this, you could wind up wounded or dead.
You can start out with a handful of individual companions with varying abilities, backgrounds, and health statuses. There are scavengers, combatants, runners, and a variety of other specialists. You will encounter people who will want to join you and choosing to do so can either be beneficial or detrimental to the health of your group.
Group members can become sick, injured, and even depressed. All these things are factors in the morale of your group, and ultimately affect its ability to survive. Since this is possible, the people in your group can bicker, console, and even abandon each other. It feels like you have an influence on them, but they truly act on their own accord in believable ways. You build relationships with group members and you’ll find yourself feeling happy when they're happy, and you'll empathize when a member inevitably dies.
As you can imagine, there are others caught in the war who are looking for supplies. These people will want to trade with you, hide from you, or are can even act hostile when initially encountering them. These hostile encounters will generally end in a fight and characters can be shot if they don't escape fast enough. I never found a good opportunity to effectively combat enemies though. The only time I fought was out of self-defense and half the time I was injured. I quickly learned that stealth is your best chance for success.
Decisions are a major part of the game as they ultimately decide if you survive or not. The game presents different scenarios to test your notions of right and wrong. When I went scavenging, I tended to try to take enough supplies to help the group, but also bring enough to pass out to strangers I encountered. In doing so however, my group members became sick, injured, and some even starved.
At times I resorted to stealing from strangers in order to help my group, but I often felt guilty and ashamed when doing so. At one point I found an old couple holed up in a house. They didn’t try to attack me, they just hid and begged me not to hurt them. Even though I felt bad, I took their supplies in order to help my struggling group. That event made me realize that I care more about my group’s survival than anything else. I didn’t take everything from them, but it still knotted my stomach as I went through their home.
The atmosphere of it all makes you feel like you are caught in this conflict. You will travel through and live in dilapidated buildings that feel like they were once filled with people and kept families warm. The art style is primarily black and white, but splashes of color are used to accent areas and create ambiance.
Unfortunately the journey can noticeably upset you if you play for an extended period of time, however it keeps you so well engaged that you want to keep playing and ensure everyone’s survival. This is largely due to its ability to encapsulate so many details, situations, and human emotions that comes out in times of war.
There is one glaring issue however with the game. For some unexplainable reason, I was unable to build or upgrade items sometimes. Even though I had all the needed supplies, I was unable to do what I wanted.
This War of Mine is a game that challenges you and forces you to think. It makes you really root for the characters and tests their survival skills. It's accessible, but also has heavy themes that push you through and cause you to crave the rewards of surviving. If you are at all interested in survival games, and want to be challenged in an atypical wartime experience then this is a must-have title for you.
