This War of Mine (2014)

All the things written about this game apply and more: a great simulation, a horrid but honest representation of the ravages of war, and anti-war cry, a resounding piece of art.

I do not dare to touch this game nowadays because it feels absolutely disingenuous and cynical to play a war simulator when two million people are living it in their flesh right now. But its very existence is a reminder that war is not glory, that fucking old books should not dictate the lives or deaths or any fucking shit on anybody ever, and that "peace" and "heroism" are the words of the white man, because you, me, we all deserve liberation.

From the river, to the sea.

Having enjoyed my Frostpunk playthrough earlier this year, I decided to dive into this studio’s previous game since, much like Frostpunk, I was really attracted to the concept and aesthetics. And I am now fully convinced 11 bit has effectively tapped into a very particular, very niche type of experience that granted, isn’t for everyone, but that will resonate on another level with the type of people these games are intended for.

Right off the bat, the atmosphere in This War of Mine had me hooked. It’s dark, depressing and cold with stylish, haunting hand drawn visuals. The mood it paints is grim yet visibly successful at bewitching you and fully capturing your attention. From then on, it’s a constant ordeal to keep your everyday survivors alive amidst a gruelling civil war. The fact that you play as everyday civilians really does paint your experience in a whole different way: every decision matters, every negative consequence is deeply felt, every achievement celebrated.

The daily struggle for survival throughout the war period is serviced by TWoM’s compelling gameplay loop and survival mechanics existing in two separate cycles: every day, you tend to the needs of your community, improvement/maintenance of your base, trading necessities and/or interactions with other survivor groups; every night (ideally at least), you send out a party member with very limited inventory slots to scavenge or trade at dangerous and uncertain places in war-torn Pogoren. The outcome of this is never the same, but chances are they’ll be coming back with very useful resources that you can then put to good use. However, much like actual war-torn places, there’s also the very tangible chance they won’t come back at all. This is where TWoM truly excels, this sense of tension bordering on fear that it instils in the player, that notion that every time they send out their best scavenger may be the last time they see them.

Scavenging isn’t the only way you can lose someone, and things like starvation, illness and injury are also real challenges. Permadeath in this game is shattering, and it actually elicits a moment of pause when you’re just sitting there, thinking about what just happened and what that means for you and your characters. It’s a thought-provoking experience, depressing in a meaningful way, that on a broader, more serious level tries to evoke introspection about the horrors of war. However, this is also intrinsically tied to an area of the game in which I have the most mixed feelings, and that is combat. Engagement controls can be quite infuriating, to the point of costing your characters their lives. Listening to the devs talk about this game, I’m convinced that such was an intentional design choice that I fully understand (it is, after all, meant to replicate the chaos and despair a regular person would feel in these scenarios). But damn, combat is wonky to say the least, and mechanically speaking far from enjoyable. The upside to this, of course, is that physical confrontation is strongly discouraged and avoidance strongly favoured, once again much like you’d see in real life. And while, once again, I definitely stand behind this design philosophy, I also wish that (at least on console) the stealth mechanics came with a tad more polish in order to make this playing style more satisfying.

Other issues are present. The game is very punishing in your scavenging limitations. You’re only allowed to go to one place per night, and though I see why they did it this way, I think a good compromise would’ve been either to allow (admittedly more dangerous) daily scavenges, or to allow a second place at night if the first place had been scavenged in a very short amount of time. Conversely, there’s genuine potential for this game to feel repetitive, because variations aside, your experience is essentially the same from start to finish - though I suppose this actually plays well with the theme at hand. These do impact your overall level of enjoyment, but to be honest, they didn’t bother me much in the big scheme. Bottom line is that This War of Mine stays with you after you play it. It is now clear to me that 11 bit does a phenomenal job of marrying the weight of beautifully somber, charged aesthetics with not only rewarding resource management design but also the tension that comes with good survival mechanics. And though I enjoyed this game slightly more than I did its successor, you can easily spot the refinement and technical evolution from TWoM to Frostpunk. I hope this studio maintains this type of vibe and direction, because I honestly don’t see anyone else out there doing it with such talent and intention. 8/10

Playtime: 92 minutes + 15-30 minutes (free weekend)

Review

TWOM is a very standard survival game that is only distinguished by its tone. It's all very dreary and serious, from the music to the graphics to the story elements. But yeah, other than that it is your basic arbitrary nonsense in which you have to gather an X amount of generic resources to make Y while consuming Z. Gameplay consists of clicking on icons, juggling your inventory and deciding which of 2-3 items you can actually make to make.

Honestly has there even been a half-decent survival game that isn't the Horizon mod for Fallout 4? They're all so dumb and patronising. Here you can't even decide when during nighttime you go out and unless ordered around your other two guys will stand around like a dildo.

In most war games you are a soldier, with a lot of ammo and shooting the bad guys in the game. But in this game, you are a surviving citizen (or group of citizens) in a house. You need to scavenge resources, trade it with other survivors, or steal it. I think it is an innovative point of view in games.

The management of the camp and going for more resources it remembers me of Fallout Shelter. It is more or less the same.

The first days playing were quite entertaining but when you survive for 40 days (game time) it gets quite boring. I really don't know if there is an end or it just surviving forever because as I said... I got bored.

I recommend to play it just to see the ugly, bad and sad things of war. It makes you think: "Would I survive in a war? Would I be capable of these things?"

I love the simulation or tycoon type games. Games where you collect resources or games where you make as much money as possible.

The weakness of those games is that they are usually just mechanically-focused. and it's not that there's anything wrong with that, but this game prove that they can be something more. Marrying the mechanics of a bleak survival game where you have to pay attention to hunger, health and security with a story of war survivors.

You play a group of survivals who finds shelter in a house. You stay at the shelter during the day and can craft, cook, and do other things while in the shelter. During the night, you can bring one member of your group to various places around the area. you have a limited inventory and you can go to trade with other survivor or go looting.

All of this ties in wonderfully to the narrative. sometimes some people will come to your shelter seeking help, you might be able to help or don't. this will affect your character's mood which can also affect the gameplay. other times in the night you go to another survival's shelter and you can choose to steal or don't, it really is you that experiencing the decision. it is YOUR decision, no one is forcing your hand. Which again creates an amazing story just through the gameplay. adding to that the characters have a simple diary-like thing that helps quite a bit to that.

This game really is a must-play in my opinion. An example of an experience you can not find anywhere else other than from this medium.