This War Of Mine is a survival strategy game from 11 bit studios and is available on PC/Mac and Console first published in 2014.
This game was a new one for me and I did a full out of the box stream available to watch on my YouTube channel with some extra shorts for good measure.
First impressions are the game has a very noir vibe with charcoal graphics. True to most 11 bit games there’s no tutorial and you have to figure things out as you go along, which depending on how you look at it is both a pro and a con of the game.
Once you have begun your goal is to survive until the ceasefire which is about 50 days with your team of players and the extra one that joins you later in the game. The mechanics of this game are very similar to Sheltered from team 17 only with a slightly better visual.
Throughout the day you improve your home, trade, and see to any visitors all whilst keeping your resource use to a minimum and planning what you’re going to need.
Each night you send out one of your party to collect resources from one location on the map. Each location has a finite number of resources and may require specific tools to loot.
An example of this is the school which will require a shovel, two saws, and a crowbar. Which take up valuable inventory space, so you really have to plan ahead. Each location can be revisited but be warned occasionally areas of the map will be cut off due to the ongoing war.
The good parts of This War of Mine:
- A good game for logistics and planning
- Each character has a decent story that unfolds
- Really shows the strain on a person living in a warzone
The bad parts of This War of Mine:
- The resolution on the console version makes the character status hard to read on a TV
- The mechanics of surviving winter are good, but the resources use is a bit abstract.
- The controls are a little stiff (especially when you want to go in a straight line and go up a staircase instead)
Who is this game for?
This war of mine is a game designed for those with patience and love to really sink their teeth into a resource strategy game with a heavy feeling about it. This game really doesn’t hold back much when it shows the mental impact of living and surviving in a warzone so if you want to make the decisions of do we steal from the elderly couple to survive? Or do we murder and loot the Samual institute for their meds and materials? Then this game is for you, the layering of ethical dilemmas within the survival sim make it a superb game alone.
Overall Summary for This War of Mine
This is a game which packs a punch and is hard to play, there’s no easy mode and it took me 3 attempts to complete a full playthrough as characters can die, you can freeze, run out of food etc. I have played it again on scenario mode which allows you to build your own team, and it definitely is a game you can play again and again. That being said its very similar to Sheltered (with less bugs!) and you might find it boring as it doesn’t feel fresh.
Bear Rating 8/10