This War of Mine

So, last night I was just opening up my Steam account and looking at the "Recommended for You" section and I see something pop up called "This War of Mine." I thought that maybe it was another good strategy game, maybe one focusing on guerilla combat. I saw that it was a sidescroller of all things and that very nearly put me off of it entirely. Then I read one line of the description, which dragged me to the next, and then the reviews. I was sold, so I figured I would take a look. Never have I been so wrong, and because of it, I discovered a game that is amazing for what it is, not what I expected it to be. I hope others of you have discovered it like I have, and if you haven't, check it out.

The Backstory: There's a war on. A rebellion against someone for some reason, but that doesn't really matter. You're a civilian trying to survive the war through any means necessary, even as the shells and snipers disrupt daily life.

There's crafting, building, feeding, and surviving. The backstory and game design is what set it apart from every other survival game on the market right now. There's always the faint hope that any day now, the war will end, and you will have survived despite the odds.


Currently I'm at day 17 in my current game. I've fortified my home, have sustainable food sources to a degree, and a decent stash of weaponry. Unfortunately, that is only because my scavenger beat a man to death with a shovel in front of his cowering elderly parents. Then he stole all of their stuff. This led to a wave of sadness and depression in our household, and a suicide.

I'd really like to hear other stories, and really hope that some of you pick this up and enjoy it as much as I have.

Pretty much the best game all year.

Also one of like two from this year I have actually played, but still, I really really really like this game.

I had a soldier come to my door after he deserted his unit, seeking refuge. His name was Roman. That night, so my usual scavanger could get some much needed rest, I sent Roman to an abandoned supermarket so we could secure enough food to feed the group; all he brought with him was a crowbar to unlock doors and use as a weapon.

While he was scavenging, he heard a couple of people through the next room, so he looked through a keyhole. He saw a soldier and a woman in the same room, the woman scavenging for food. The man told her he would give her some food if she gave him a favor and came back to his camp, and when she refused, he tried to attack her. Roman jumped in to try and save the woman, beating the soldier over the back of the head with his crowbar. Sadly, right as he was about to deal the killing strike, the soldier managed to send a burst into Roman's chest. Roman died instantly, but the woman managed to escape.

His death lead to two of the remaining members of the group to become depressed, one even getting into an intense argument with the other one night. After I got back from scavenging, he had stormed up to the top levels of the house and I had to talk him out of his rage so he could get back to work.

Yeah my first playthrough ended badly. Lost two people to fights, one more got severely wounded by a sniper and later hanged himself, Roman left with half our stuff, and I guess I lost someone else too.

I've found combat a bit odd, it does depend a bit on the character (roman has a bonus, and so does the really strong but slow guy who can reliable do 1 hit sneak kills, other characters often only do 90% damage with those), and I've found that as soon as you do the first attack just start spam clicking on the enemy and I usually seem to get the next attack.

Seems really interesting. I wonder about replayability though. is it closer to lineal gameplay or more sandbox style?

Anyway as a general rule i dont buy games above 10€ unless i have a very special interest on it. So will wait till price goes down.

There are a bunch of different characters and you start off with a random amount of them (usually seems to be 3, and I usually have the same people at first or soon after, but it definitely does vary). The map is similar to Dragon Age 1 and 2, you can send someone to scavenge at night and you choose which location they can go to. Not all of them are available in every game, there are a couple of events (heavy fighting, snow) which can block some of them off for a few days, and some of them have two different 'versions'. The supermarket is one of those, you can go there and either come across the soldier trying to rape the woman or there could be some armed looters there. The central square can be either a marketplace or have a sniper shooting at you as you run from cover to cover and a neat little 'quest' (there are opportunities to help people, although some of the ones you come across when scavenging you do need to complete in one night).

There is a decent amount of replayability for sure, even if some of the stuff will be the same goals (what to build and how fast you try to build them).

Glad others actually playing this, and it wasn't just me. I've been playing fairly regularly, as it's a good game to play in between doing other things. Has anyone else had a start with just a single person yet? That's a heck of a way to be challenged.

Link to video.

New update which adds a new starting location and unlocking characters so you can choose whom to start the game with.

Gotta say, really looking forward to trying it out once I get home.

It's currently on sale for $13.99 with a free soundtrack included at Gog.com, I haven't played it yet but I've been interested for a while:

http://www.gog.com/game/this_war_of_mine