Imagine, if you will, that EA unveiled a new entry in its venerable Sims franchise; wherein players are tasked not just with keeping their Sims happy and healthy, but also with keeping them alive in a much darker setting than the norm for the Sims series. That’s a heavily boiled-down explanation of what you’ll find within This War of Mine, a well-known indie title developed and published by 11 bit studios.

As you might have gathered from the game’s title, This War of Mine takes place during an unnamed, yet presumably large-scale war between unknown belligerents. The game doesn’t focus on the actual fighting that’s taking place during said war, however. Instead, it focuses on the ways in which the war affects civilians and the environments they call home.

Within This War of Mine, you control a group of civilians who find themselves trying to make the best of a terrible situation. The civilians you control have taken shelter in a dilapidated, heavily-damaged building, which they’re forced to call home for the entirety of the game’s events.

The main gameplay mechanics within This War of Mine are relatively simple, but can be potentially daunting depending on certain circumstances. During the day, your survivors can use resources they’ve gathered from scavenging various nearby areas in order to construct useful amenities, such as beds, stoves, and a radio that allows you to listen to news, weather forecasts, and music.

The in-game clock will keep you updated as to the current time; night officially falls at 8PM, though you can end a day whenever you desire by simply clicking the “end day” button. The process of scavenging for resources begins when night falls.

Each night, you can send one of your civilians to any of several various locations to search your chosen target area for any useful supplies that might remain. The game is generous enough to tell you what kinds of supplies a given location likely contains, as well as how dangerous scavenging in a given location might be.

Certain locations are particularly dangerous due to such factors as the presence of military personnel, rebels, or even other scavengers looking for the same supplies you seek. Considering the fact that whomever you send on a scavenging mission in a dangerous area will likely be attacked on sight unless you’re particularly fortunate, stealth is a valuable ally on your supply runs.

The game will tell you exactly how much noise you’re making as you move around and examine various potential sources of supplies. As I said a moment ago, it’s best to move as silently as you can and only begin looking for supplies when you’re relatively certain doing so won’t alert anyone to your presence.

I’ve found that a helpful tip to keep in mind is that you can look through the keyholes of any doors which block your path; this allows you to see if anyone is in the room ahead of you and plan accordingly.

The process of collecting supplies is a point of contention among certain reviewers who have spent time with This War of Mine. You see, each survivor you control has limited space in their backpacks which allow them to carry supplies. In my experience, no civilian I’ve controlled has been particularly skilled at managing their limited carrying capacity.

For example, suppose the survivor you want to send out scavenging has ten slots in their backpack. That’s assuming you didn’t bring any useful items (such as lock picks or a weapon) with you, which also occupy backpack space.

In that case, let’s say your home is running low on wood, so you intend to gather as much of that as you can. Wood can only be collected in stacks of two at a time, whereas most other useful supplies can be stored in considerably larger stacks than that. I’ve honestly never truly understood the rationale behind this mechanic, but it has proven to be somewhat annoying on a rather frequent basis in my experience.

Of course, although you directly control whomever you decide to send scavenging, you’re also responsible for protecting your home base each night. During the process of selecting your scavenger, you also have the option to command your other characters to either sleep or stay on guard duty.

It’s always wise to have at least one character on guard duty, although doing so most assuredly has its drawbacks. For example, even if you’ve got one of your characters set to guard the house overnight, your home base can still be raided by enemies; your characters can also be injured or killed in the process if that were to happen.

On a final note, I’d like to briefly touch on the idea that This War of Mine aims to present. I’m almost certain you’re familiar with the phrase most commonly associated with the Fallout franchise: “war never changes.”

While I agree with the general concept that war never changes, I also think the shift in perspective which players experience within This War of Mine is a unique take on that idea. Those who seek to make war should focus not entirely on the defeat of their enemies, but also on minimizing the toll that such conflict tends to take upon the innocent bystanders who are as far from the battlefield as could be.

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This War of Mine

0.00

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Simple, Yet Effective Gameplay Mechanics
• Some Gameplay Aspects Encourage Player Investment

Cons

• Certain Gameplay Aspects are Somewhat Morbid
• Gameplay Can Sometimes Prove Repetitive