CONTENT WARNING: the following review talks about a game that deals with the devastating effects of an armed conflict, as well as its most pernicious aspects like depression, self-harm and suicide.

Probably the first of its kind, This War of Mine came to war games like brandy to a fridge full of beer: at last, something different! And it’s going to make you feel just as sick.

Developed and published by Polish company 11 Bit Studios, This War of Mine is a survival strategy game that will affect you one way or the other. Whether it is by squeezing your heart tight with the inclusion of children in The Little Ones DLC, or by enraging you with its severe difficulty. In any case, it won’t leave you indifferent.

War-theme games gain a new perspective with This War of Mine, in which the main goal is to survive during the siege of the fictional city of Pogoren (loosely based on the 4-year siege of Sarajevo) until a cease-fire is declared.

There is no difficulty setting when you start the game. It’ll be hard and you’ll deal with it. You start in living conditions that are close to nothing, and some parts of the roof are still on fire. You get three characters in Final Cut mode: Marko, Zlata and Livia. Fortunately, none of them is already sick, like it sometimes happens in basic mode, and none of them is a child. Unfortunately, one of them is pregnant, which also has effects on the gameplay, since she is the only character that can’t run and can have her health drop faster if she sleeps on the floor.

My first run lasted eleven days. Probably an accurate simulation of how I would fare in real life. My first day was only to gather around everything already available in the shelter. It was not much, but I still decided to stay during the first night, even though I had forgotten to build at least one bed, so Livia could have a decent night's sleep, but I failed at thinking that much ahead. So, of course, the next day she had “slept poorly” as her status and was complaining quite a lot about it.

The next night I sent Marko to scavenge since he is the one listed as being good at it, which in reality means he can bring more items and has a higher chance of finding something rare. My luck dictated that it would be mostly wood and parts, but at least I could make two beds instead of one, and a cooking stove. Livia is the good cook of the shelter, meaning she uses fewer resources (like water) to cook, so I could get her to make two meals in one sitting.

Having to sneak into dangerous locations is very hard. As you move, your steps make noise, which is signalled by sound ripples. Cleaning up debris and running are actions that create bigger ripples, meaning you are being loud and can alert whoever is taking shelter in the building. Sometimes, they are harmless like the ones in my first encounter: a man and his sick father. He needed medicine and wanted a trade. I mostly had parts and wood planks gathered in that very building, but I still managed to bring home a can of tuna.

The buildings you scavenge have their interiors blurred, except for the parts only inside your character’s field of vision. Signs of life are indicated in red circles that move around the rooms. Sometimes, they are mice, sometimes they are people. You are given the possibility of peeking into a room, even if just a little bit, to confirm who is in there and you can also assess who is hostile from the conversations they have. However, getting shot is fairly easy, whether the people you encounter are hostile or not. You may encounter bandits that shoot you on sight or survivors that are willing to trade but will shoot you if you trespass or rob them.

Trading, at least for me, proved to be the hardest part. However, I say that because I didn’t get the chance to get into a fistfight with armed bandits.

One night, when Marko was scavenging, the shelter got robbed and both Zlata and Livia had been wounded. Zlata was the most critical and needed bandages so I used up the only bandage I had managed to get from Franko. The next night, it happened again and Zlata was critical this time. I decided not to go scavenge that night and have Marko stay guard. I thought Zlata could recover a bit if she had a good night’s sleep.

It turned out that it was something Zlata could not simply sleep off, so she died that night from her untreated wounds. As for Livia, she simply thought she would have a better chance out of that shelter and, the very night Zlata died, she left. According to the Game Over screen, she was never seen again. 

A thing (of many) that I find interesting in this game is that you do not control the characters. You can tell them what to do and where to go, but you have no say in how they react to their situation. Sometimes, they will get too anxious if they don't fulfil their comforting habits like smoking or drinking coffee. Some will get depressed quicker than others and it will affect your gameplay. Some just decide to walk out like Livia.

When Marko came back from scavenging he returned to an empty shelter. Not much left for me to do, but keep playing with one character. I was committed to helping at least one of them survive…

But I forgot that was somewhat out of my control.

Let’s talk about the music. With a soundtrack composed by Piotr Musial (whose most notable works include The Witcher 3), the solemn tunes not only contribute greatly to the game's heavily sombre atmosphere but can also be listened to and enjoyed on their own on rainy days. when you just want to wrap yourself in blankets and fill the air with music that matches your February mood.

All in all, I'd like to say that, in spite of the difficulty, This War of Mine is more than enjoyable: it's educational. Its immersion does not come from realistic-looking scenery, but realistic-feeling scenarios. The situations depicted are fictional but as plausible as can be. It was very carefully crafted to realistically depict the devastation, material, physical and mental, that an armed conflict causes to its victims. So much so that the game was chosen to feature in the elective curriculum of Polish public schools, becoming the "first in the history of Polish education to offer educational material for the core curriculum in the form of a video game" (from gov.pl in Polish).

The layers of difficulty in This War of Mine go beyond its gameplay. From the combat to the strategy, to the heavy themes of war and despair, and the personal stories of its characters, this game, especially in 2022, is not going to be fun to play. It's going to be absolutely necessary.