Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Publisher: 11 Bit Launchpad
Platforms: PC
Release date: TBA
This War of Mine – Preview
War has been a reoccurring concept in video games, whether it is based on past wars or future wars that are in a way bound to happen someday. This War of Mine from 11 Bit Studios has taken wargames to a whole new level, a completely new experience and it does so quite brilliantly. Instead of being the soldier that completes mission objectives, you can now experience war as individuals whose city has been bombed and left in ruins.
As I mentioned in the intro, you will not be playing as a soldier whose task it is to complete missions in order to save a war and prevent countless of deaths. In This War of Mine, you are tasked with helping a group of civilians survive the war that has ravaged their city. The storyline doesn’t start from the very beginning as the storyline unravels itself the longer that you keep the civilians alive. Thanks to the usage of biography’s for each character in your group, it is one of the few games that truly lets you bond with the characters.
“These days war can break out anytime, anywhere.
If your city gets under siege, you’re not prepared for it.”
The game starts out with this quote and you are truly not prepared for it. War is vicious. It turns angels into sinners – murderers. Your group is struggling. The lack of food will make them fall ill more easily, the cold affects them equally. Medicine is hard to come by yet illness and injuries are common. You will need to choose wisely whose wounds you’ll attend to. Simple decisions that can weigh heavily on your shoulders as these decisions are a matter of life-and-death.
While the game is an emotional rollercoaster, the gameplay is more simple and somewhat relaxed. Everything is done with the mouse, from managing your characters to scavenging to moving them around. That being said, you’ll start out with a group of three to four civilians who have found an abandoned house that they can scavenge and use as their shelter. Not only will various playthroughs give you random groups, it can also give you different seasons in which you need to survive in. Once you’re done scavenging the house for supplies, you can build items to make your shelter more comfortable with household items such as beds, chairs and more. You will also be able to build workshop items that will help you survive such as a cooking station, a moonshine still, a workbench and much more. The workshop can be improved so you can build even more worthy stations that will help you survive the war.
A great and important feature in the game is the day and night cycle. During the day, you can do all I mentioned above since snipers across the city will prevent you from going outside. Once nightfall has come, you can plan the night. Only one character can go out and scavenge throughout the city while the others can guard the house or sleep. Since each character is different, their backpack space and skills vary so you’ll need to choose which character would be more suitable to go on a scavenging trip. When you’re happy with your choice, you can prepare to go out. When you are scavenging a location, you’ll notice that even during a scavenging-trip, your choices weigh heavily. Will you opt to take as much food and meds home or will you focus on materials to build workshops, not knowing when you’ll come across food and meds again.
Both during the night and day, you can come across characters who’d like to barter with you. Bartering can be a good way to survive but you’ll need to remember that food and meds are scarce and will be costly. Occasionally you’ll find good Samaritans knocking on your door to give you useful items or someone who’s asking to join your group. So far I’ve always allowed them to join my group, even when the food and meds were scarce so I wouldn’t feel guilty about leaving them to die on their own but accepting a new member in your group can up the difficulty of the game. Not only can people join your group – if allowed – but they can also die due to illness or leave when it becomes too much for them.
The visuals in the game are dark and provide an eerie atmosphere, one that suits the feeling of despair during wars. The subtle audio design only increases the already dark atmosphere with war-related sounds.
Conclusion
I fell in love with the game when the trailer came out and now I’ve fallen in love with the game itself. 11 Bit Studios has successfully tackled a touchy subject with This War of Mine and has given us a visual pleasing yet emotional loaded game in a unique setting – civilians that are trying to survive in a besieged city. I cannot say anything bad about the game so far, except for the fact that there is no save-game which forces you to replay from the very beginning although the replayability in the game is fairly high with the randomized groups and locations. All-in-all, fans of survival and wargames should certainly look out for this title.
This War of Mine - Preview,
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[…] final build of This War of Mine has come a long way since the preview but every new feature that has been added in the game only makes the game better. This War of Mine […]