This War of Mine

I just finished my first play-through. I found the game graphically pleasing and the music/audio seemed very decent. I'm impressed and wouldn't consider it an Indie game due to the level of production. If you like crafting then the game is certainly full of it. Crafting components are simplified to a fault, but the system works. Crafting ammunition, for example, only requires powder and shell casings, but apparently no bullets. I also found it weird that the Survivors to not keep their shell casings after expending ammunition. The combat during scavenging runs is open-ended in that you can participate in little to none or you can decide to kill everyone you come across- though you probably won't live long if you do the latter. Some people will trade and replenish their stock over time, so there are long-term benefits to being cordial. First time players will inevitably do wrong things that set them back or make unwise choices when building and crafting. It's a learning process unfortunately. Holdout defense was a little underwhelming with pop-up statistics instead of actively defending the holdout with guns, knives, or fist. As a result it didn't seem to convey the psychological fear of war. There are dilemmas. For example, do you give needy children medicine or food, or keep it for your survivors? A lot of dilemmas had obvious right vs wrong choices. I would have preferred instead some gray areas, such as a wounded soldier asking for medical assistance. Or armed thugs knocking on the door, demanding resources. Bringing the war to the front door adds a unique flavor but that is just my opinion. So 4/5 is my score. It's a great game overall, but I felt some things were a little generalized, or avoided altogether. Still it's a great game, with a unique perspective. There is some re-playablity with different survivors and some slightly different locales so I am looking forward to that.

"The truth is, you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not: a hero." -John Konrad, <i>Spec Ops: The Line</i>. That's why people play video games, especially video games about war: to feel like a hero. <i>This War of Mine<i> puts you in a scenario where you like to imagine you'd be a hero. You like to imagine that, when civilisation falls apart and everyone else is stealing and murdering, you'd be the benevolent one who stood fast and did the right thing in the face of chaos. When others become thugs who take advantage of the weak, you'll become a hero who defends the innocent. At least, that's the plan. And it's a good plan until your friends are sick, wounded, and dying, and you've tried everything to get medicine and bandages for them, and the way left that you can possibly keep your friends and yourself alive is to steal from that elderly couple you promised you'd never hurt. Then you realise you're not so different from those people who keep stealing your food and hurting your friends every time you leave the house. <i>This War of Mine</i> does an excellent job of making you draw a line you promise to never cross and then making you desperate enough to cross it. But just like you're no different from the people who broke into your house, stabbed your best friend, and stole the food you were going to use for her dinner. But you're also just like those people who brought you those vegetables to help you out. You helped them back when they needed you, and when you had enough supplies to spare, you donated some to the hospital. Because you're a good person. Or at least, you try to be. All of that was to say that <i>This War of Mine</i> is a masterpiece, and I would have given it a 5/5 if it didn't have a couple of annoying quirks. Instead of having resolution options, there is a slider that goes from 50%-100%. Then there was that weird guy at the hospital who came up to me and said "TEST STORY 1" and made the game feel unfinished.

I bought the Complete Edition, which includes the new 2019 Final Cut update, with better graphics and some added content. It also includes The Little Ones DLC and the three story-modes that's been released. At 75% sale I think I got good value for the money, at full price probably not! The game has a nice athmosphere - it's dark and gloomy, but also slow and relaxing. To mix it up a bit you can sometimes have exciting "action-moments" while scavenging at night. It's a roguelike, so you're supposed to fail and star over lots of times. Better read up a bit before starting though, cause there are lots of details you really need to know how they work, that are very hard to learn by just playing, since the game has NO tutorial at all! I've played for, I don't know, maybe 20 hours, and I've beat the game with the first characters you start with. I'm not sure if I'll make any more regular runs, since the game is very slow and very repetetive. All characters/dialogues are pretty shallow/repetetive too, I think they could have done more there, to get you more attatched to them. Anyway it's a pretty good game for what it is, and I'll probably play the stories later on. They're supposed to be real good, but also very linear from what I've heard.

The concept of the game is gripping and you feel the characters and their struggles as they try and survive a war. You are aways one step from being hungry or wounded or worse. You make hard choices all the time sell medicine for lots of materials or buy food. The graphics is interesting and fits the atmosphere. Music set the tone as well. What really annoys me is the fact that you cannot save the game at any point. The game does not help you and the combat mechanics leaves a lot to desire so after 3 hours your character dies and you can either continue or restart. It frustrates a lot. I understand the idea but it still annoys the hell out of me.

One of the best indie games for last 15 years .