This War of Mine

10 hours in review: I hate this game.
I am a completionist. I mostly play RPGs and strategy games. I like to win, so my gaming style primarily involves achieving goals, expanding my powerbase, meeting my targets, improving my strength, all of which to end in a smashing victory.
This War of Mine offers very little and frequently none of these things. The gameplay is inherently simple. You have a few survivors in a badly damaged house. During the day they can do simple tasks, like building furniture, patching a hole in the wall or something else to help you survive, cooking meals, distilling hooch, or resting from nightly activities. During the night one person can go out to scavenge for badly needed supplies, while the rest sleeps (hopefully in a bed) or stands guard, hoping you won't get raided during the night.
Rather than adding and expanding, the game constantly offers straightforward but difficult choices. Does the scavenger bring home raw materials today so somebody can patch a hole in the wall, or does he bring medication in case somebody gets sick or wounded? Do I risk life and limb to steal from armed bandits or inflict myself with moral guilt stealing from the defenseless elderly? Do I give my last piece of food to the wounded guy who has to stand guard tonight or to the sick man on the bed? Do I trade away my last bandages while nobody's wounded so we can all eat tomorrow? There's no do-overs either so I am stuck with my choices. Beyond just restarting the entire story of course.
This is what makes This War of Mine so damn good.
Every day in the game, it's one bad choice or another, all for the sake of staving off immediate disaster. For one more day. For the sake of survival. For the hope that things will be a little bit better tomorrow, if only you can get through the problems right now. Can you survive without resorting to theft? If you can't, who do you steal from, how much do you risk in the process? What about murder, when does that get justified by survival?
If as a player you do not get upset by stealing or murdering for the sake of your group of survivors, then your survivors will. They get sad and depressed, even suicidal, from committing atrocities. Morale is an important part of the game, and the horrorific actions you commit to in the name of surviving are as relevant as the ones that are inflicted upon you. Maybe even moreso.
Because war is horrible and this glimpse of what living in a warzone is like, just so. It is atrocious. It is insecure. It comes with the realization that while this game has plenty abstractions, these stories are real. There are people who have lived through this. Who are trying to live through it in the world today. Who probably will be trying to live through it in the future.
Who only want to survive. Just one more day. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
I have to stop writing now. Marko is sick, but he's the only one who is uninjured after last night when bandits tried to raid our shelter again. We have some rat meat left over so I'd best cook him a meal. Maybe he'll finally find some medicine tonight. Hopefully the trader will come by today, we have a few bottles of moonshine ready. If not, I might drink it. All of it. Who am I kidding. Tomorrow won't be better. Things will only get worse.

Entered a building with other people.
The building's description had said "Danger" which ment hostiles. Bandits.
I grabbed my knife and was ready for those bandits.
I saw one bandit and after breaking in through a window, she ran calling for backup.
One guy showed up with a shotgun and chased me off but I waited.
He searched, and couldn't find me and then I got the drop on him.
We fought, he couldn't shoot, and three stabs later he fell.
I grabbed the shotgun and went inside.
My friends needed food, and these bandits were killers. They deserved what they got.
I grabbed food, supplies, and another bandit showed up!
I fired at them with the shotgun, and they dropped with a gurgling scream.
One bandit ran after me! Surely they had a knife!
No... she ran past me to the man's corpse.
She was crying. She called me a murderer.
I fired again and she dropped.
There was silence then, and I had to hurry up and grab the rest of the supplies before more bandits showed up.
I opened a closet, and snagged the food.
But, the inventory of the closet said "Private"
Someone owned this wardrobe?
I looked outside toward the other building, and between the two.. a garden someone built?
One guy had mentioned they were running low on meds.
This.... no.. it couldn't be. It just couldn't be!
This wasn't... this wasn't an abandoned building being picked clean.
This was another group's safehouse.
These people are.... were.... survivors!
...and "I" was the bandit.

This War Of Mine is an emotional, intense, and challengeing experience as you observe and control the actions of various surviving civilians in the center of a war torn city. I've played a few hours of this game, but decided that I would share my most recent experience, in which I ended up dying trying to save a young girl from getting raped...:
It was the third day of this living hell. I was staying with an old highschool friend who I just happened to run into after the city went to shit. After scavanging an old abandoned house the first two days and gathering gathering us enough food for the next few nights, I decided to head to the supermarket under the cover of dark. I creeped in through the entrance and heard the faint sound of shifting rubble behind a closed door. I slowly approached the door, being very careful not to make much noice. As I got down on one knee and peeked through the keyhole, my heart jumped. Not two feet ahead was a large, military-clad man weilding an ak-47 assault rifle. In front of him a young girl was sifting through some rubble, and mumbling about food.
"What is that you're looking for, sweetheart?" the man asked.
"Please... food. I need food"
"Hey, I've got food. All the food you need. Maybe I can trade you some for a favor?"
"I... I... don't think so"
"We can dine together, then have some fun"
"I... better be going home now"
As she begins to walk away, he runs up behind her yelling "get back here bitch!" and smacks her across the face with the butt of his rifle, knocking her to the ground.
"Get up now! Or I will shoot you!"
Wimpering, she crawls to her feet and he escorts her out the back of the supermarket with the rifle in her back. After making sure the coast was clear, I carefully opened the door, and proceeded to loot the main store isle for any food and supplies I could find. After filling my backpack to its full capacity, I began my walk back towards the entrance when I heard loud crying coming from the back of the store. Being a curious fellow, I decided to investigate. Outside the back of the store, there is a small shed with a large sheet metal door. I press my ears up to the large door, and I can hear lots of shuffling and crying. My heart sinks as I realize what's happening. This poor girl is about to get raped.
I had to make a decision at this point. Do I leave with my supplies and live another day, or do I attempt to liberate this young woman? Without skipping a beat, I drew my crowbar and began prying open the sheet metal door. Finally, after what felt like forever, the door gave way and I finally saw what was unfolding.
Making eye contact with me, the girl screams "Please! Help me!"
To which the man immediatly turns and sprays my chest full of lead.
As I lie dying, gasping my final breaths, I see the girl climb up onto some broken carts and jump over the fence. She had escaped. As I fade into darkness, I smile: knowing that that girl will go on to live another day.
A Screenshot Of My Final Moments
Emotional, Exciting, Realistic, Horrific. 10/10

This is an INCREDIBLE game. It was recommended to me by a close friend because, me being a former war refugee from the Balkans, he thought I might find the content "a bit familiar." It went a bit further than that, in fact it kind turned out to be some uncanny early-childhood simulator for me. I still remember the visceral terror of being a child in that war; I will never forget howling and begging my mother not to go outside to buy bread, out of fear that she would be shot dead by a sniper. Asking why my grandmother couldn't go instead.
This game captures moments like that with a masterful hand. It is never heavy or hamfisted. I can't explain how well the developers have encapsulated the hoplessness and the mundane brutality of the Balkan civil war, and it leads me to think that at least one key person involved in the development of this game had to have lived through it, too. The tone is just perfect, striking that difficult balance between terror and absurdity, and reminds me of all the films I love that came out of Former Yugoslavia after the war. This is not Angelina Jolie painting Balkan politics with a broad brush dipped in ignorance and a skewed western perspective insensitive of nuance--this is an authentic work of art that is sensitive to the complexities of its subject matter and the individual stories of the thousands of people whose lives were shaped and altered forever by this horrible, unnecessary war.
It's an emotional playthrough, even for people who haven't had any experience with the historical event. It is a "war game" like no other and I can't recommend it enough. Take it from someone who was there.

This War of Mine has an interesting take on survival games by putting the player not against zombies, or the wilderniss, but against human nature. You begin with three survivors in a city under siege during a civil war, supplies are running low and they just arrived at an abandonned building. This will be their holdout for the war.
You will then manage their daily lives, making workbenches, chairs, beds, and everything else they need to get through the war. Of course, with supplies low, you need to prioritise. Do you really need a second bed? Maybe that material can best be spend on something else..
At night, you go out to scavenge supplies. You bring one (Only one per night) of your survivors to a location that you hope has supplies you can use. Once there, you can encounter many things. It could be an abandonned building with nothing there. There could be a friendly (But well armed) trader, there could be civilians like you just trying to survive, or you could be shot on sight by the locals. Or there can be any other event... Or nothing. There is plenty of variation to be had.
Personally, I went to a church, unarmed, as I had nothing yet. The priest told me about how the place was robbed, and asked me not to disturb the refugees under the church. So I went on to the ruined building behind the church. Scavenging up supplies, when I notice there's sound outside the door. It's just standing there, so I creep to the door and look through the keyhole. Just then, a man with a pistol turned around and made for the door. I looked for a place to run and hide and set off, just as he opened the door.
"Oh, Hello there. Don't worry, I'm just looking around"
He seemed pretty friendly. So I just went on my way to pick out some more nails and wood for my own business. It went alright this time. But plenty of people are less friendly than this guy.
Combat, which you will at some point get into, is not explained in any way. So you will likely have to take a bit to learn about it, and stock up on bandages as you do so. At the same time, the stealth system is not explained, but easy enough to understand.
With all this, you are tasked with making your group survive the war. Or at least as long as you can. It can be easy, challenging, or at times nearly impossible. But that's war, and neither the government nor the rebel forces will help you there - You're not their problem.
And once you've gone through the game, you can ask yourself if you really did win. Did you end up stealing from old people to let them starve? Did you rob a priest for fuel? Shanked a doctor for a bandage? You can ask yourself what winning really means in war. And if just surviving is all you should try to do.

"War is hell"
This game is not about a soldier who destroyes the whole army.
This game is not about a massive cool looking war.
This game is about people like you and me,surviving in hell named war.
Atmoshepre of this game is soo outstanding,that you can feel the pain that war brings upon characters
Also this game gonna make you cry like a bitch when someone from your crew dies.
This game shows you real war,without censorship
It is highly depressing,but i still recommend to buy it.
It is a highly unique experience and if you are sick of games where war is a one man murdering an army,play this,it will be worth it

Like many others probably did, I picked this game up for cheap during a sale and then forgot about it for a long time until I happened upon it again while looking for a new game to play. One thing I can say right now is that if you're interested in this game or just need something new to play for a little while, play this. Right now.
The game itself is based on a pretty simple concept(survive and thrive) split into two rotating phases - day and night. During the day you make food, build new things, have your survivors interact with each other, and deal with ailments or wounds. Nighttime is where you decide wether you want to send out one of your survivors to scavenge, guard the shelter, or sleep. Typically scavenging is the most fruitful option, as it's your main source of many of the important resources needed to create your nescessities. It's also the most gameplay-rich part of the game as you have both a time-limit and an inventory limit to consider. You will sometimes, however, have to adapt to the situation you're in and either stay put, or take a risk and scavenge in a potentially dangerous location.
For me this is the greatest strength of the game. It's quite difficult, and it's VERY punishing if you make a mistake, while also being greatly rewarding if you do something right. The first few playthroughs or attempts, you're quite likely to end up in at least a couple of bad situations, to which the solution might require some pretty big risks or sacrifices. As you play more though, you learn to avoid putting yourself in unnescessary danger as well as preparing for critical in-game events such as winter. The game does rely quite a lot on early-game decisions which can be excessively punishing when you first start out(ex. I barely survived my first playthrough without knowing how to create upgrade items), but again this is something you'll learn quite fast.
The game does lack a bit of replay value though. Every time you either succeed or fail with a new group of survivors, you'll unlock a couple of new ones, which does add a bit of variation. Locations do also have a chance of changing it up a bit in terms of inhabitants and loot, but after your first 3 or 4 runs you'll have mostly seen it all. Once you know how to deal with the different situations as well as how to accomplish your goals, there's very little challenge left in the game unless you go out of your way to assault a military establishment with nothing but a shovel. I squeezed out almost 50 hours of this game and loved every moment of it, but there are easily a lot of things that could've been done to add more content.
+
Incredible atmosphere
Amazing soundtrack
Challenging
Good writing and variation in characters
-
Lacks replayability
Little variation in in-game events