This War of Mine Review – You Cannot Fight The War, You Can Only Survive It

This War of Mine is an adventure survival simulator developed by 11 Bit Studios that puts players in control of a number of civilians stuck in a city besieged by civil war.

is an adventure survival simulator developed by 11 Bit Studios that puts players in control of a number of civilians stuck in a city besieged by civil war. Unable, and mostly unwilling, to take part in the mass infighting, the civilian characters opt to find a place that they can slowly transform into a safe-ish haven in order to avoid soldiers, rebels, and looters.

The game is played using a simple point-and-click control system that allows players to choose and command different characters to move around the level and interact with different objects. Characters can create different tools and objects that they will need in order to increase their chances of survival. This includes beds for better rest, stoves to cook food that becomes more filling, rain catchers to create clean water, or even a distillery to create moonshine. They can also create lock picks, crowbars, shovels, and even a few simple weapons.

Each character will get hungry and tired as each day passes if they don’t get enough sleep or food to sustain them. They can even succumb to sickness or physical wounds incurred during the progress of the game.

This War of Mine is played through a day and night cycle that proceeds as the war continues. The daytime is dangerous as snipers from both sides watch the streets and basically will shoot anything that moves. During this time, the characters remain inside what seems to be an abandoned apartment complex where they can rest or work on whatever is needed, according to the player’s choices. Nighttime is devoted to scavenging, in which one character will travel to a building and spend time looking for different resources. The rest of the characters not scavenging remain at home and can either be made to sleep in bed or stand watch for raiders. Characters will get hungry as each day passes, and tired depending on whether they rested comfortably on a bed the night before. Without enough food or sleep, they will slow down and be less effective at tasks. They can also die from this, or from any wounds or sickness they come across.

Even without the worry of snipers, there are still a few dangers to contend with as characters scavenge through the abandoned homes, shelled schools, and other war torn parts of the city. They will find places abandoned by their families, or left with the poor unfortunate souls that could not leave when the fighting began. They may face dangers from the unpredictable inhabitants also trying to survive, or any of the aggressive soldiers from either side. Players must then decide whether they should avoid these people, or strike first and kill them.

Actions like these can affect the moods of the characters, depending on their past and what they’ve dealt with so far during the war. Killing is not something that a civilian would normally think to do, and even in these dire circumstances, they may become filled with regret over their actions. Characters can also increase their mood through simple enjoyment, such as books, coffee, or cigarettes. Even helping another survivor will allow characters to dare to hope for a quick end to the war.

These extra elements add color and depth to not only the game, but also each character. A particularly gripping moment for me was while I was scavenging in a supermarket controlled by the military and watched a conversation between a soldier and a civilian woman. The soldier eventually held her at gunpoint and forced her to walk out of the store with him. And as much as I wanted to get my character to run out and do something about it, all she had was a knife to face a rifle and no real training in fighting. That decision lowered her mood and even provided a small snippet of information in her bio that explained her sudden sadness, that made her wonder if she could have done more. The rest of the characters were affected by this as well. It provides a sense that while actions cannot affect the course of the war, it will affect everyone’s feelings on the war, and also how likely they are to survive.

This War of Mine uses 3D graphics in a 2D environment filled with dust, rubble, and the overall strained atmosphere of a city under war, just trying to survive. Similarly, the music provides a very somber background, especially during the daytime moments in order to make the player realize that even during moments of rest, the city still feels wrong and dangerous.

The game has a respectable amount of gameplay, as well as variety of different characters and certain starting points during the year. Starting the game during the springtime differs from starting during the winter, and thus fighting the biting cold every night. The war itself can last for any length of time, and all the player can do is survive and wait for it to eventually end.

This War of Mine is a little difficult at first since resources are limited in each area, and it’s important to ration everything out carefully from the beginning. More importantly, the resource that is absolutely necessary is also the one that is the most difficult to get a hold of, food. At some point, the player can try to build gardening stations or animal traps to get a bit of extra food, instead of scavenging or trading for it. Other options that seem useful at first can cause detrimental effects to the player’s progress in-game. Choosing to take on more survivors may be dangerous in the long run, since it will mean more mouths to feed. It’s great to see how much thought went into the different mechanics of the game, adding so much that even with a sound strategy, there was always a chance that something could go wrong, leading to loss of food or key resources, or life.

The game is innovative in what it represents. Instead of a list of well-trained characters with fighting capabilities, most people are simply trying to survive. They come from many backgrounds, such as a reporter, a cooking show host, a former rebel soldier, and react differently to different choices made, some wanting to help others while the rest would prefer to stay to themselves and focus on their own problems.

This War of Mine is available on Steam for $19.99($16.99 until January 2nd). It’s a little pricey, but is worth the price for those who enjoy careful strategic planning to scavenge and survive. For those who are unsure of the genre, it would be better to wait for a sale. The game is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops. Those interested can learn more by following 11 Bit Studios on Facebookor Twitter.