Game Review: This War Of Mine (2011)

This War Of Mine (2011)

This review contains minor spoilers.

Initially released in 2011 by Polish developer 11 bit studios, This War Of Mine is a single-player survival/strategy game set in the fictitious city of Pogoren, Graznavia. Although it is a small game with a fairly straightforward objective, the myriad of available decisions, playable characters, and possible endings adds a surprising amount of depth to what would otherwise be a mechanically flat game.

The game’s setting and plot are inspired by the Siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of any capital city in the history of modern warfare. The siege began in April 1992 and did not conclude until the signing of the Dayton Agreement in February 1996, effectively ending the Bosnian War. But what made this particular conflict distinctive was the high percentage of civilian casualties, due partially to the presence of snipers and frequent shelling of dense urban areas. The staggering death toll, lack of resources, and rampant destruction prompted the United Nations to intervene in 1994.

Unlike the overwhelming majority of video games with a wartime setting, the protagonist is not a soldier. This War Of Mine tasks the player with ensuring the survival of a group of up to four civilians. Each character has a unique skill, such as combat proficiency with a certain weapon, increased movement speed, or the ability to craft an item with fewer components. These skills are directly tied to the character’s personality, which is sequentially uncovered through a series of “diary” entries that are revealed as the player progresses through the game. Regardless, each character must eat, sleep, and remain healthy - both physically and mentally. Physical health is nurtured by sleeping, eating, bandaging wounds, and providing medication if they fall ill. Mental health is primarily affected by the choices of the player, but how much they are affected varies wildly. Some characters have addictions to cigarettes or coffee and will periodically consume them if the player has any in their inventory (regardless of whether one wants them to or not).

Character cards can be viewed by the player during daytime. This is where a survivor's status and backstory can be found.

The game is completed on a day/night basis - daytime hours are spent inside the shelter for eating, crafting, and general upkeep while at night, one member of the party can leave and scavenge for supplies at various locations. During this time, the player can choose to enter combat (either with an equipped weapon or bare fists) or simply sneak around potentially hostile strangers. Some NPCs will be hostile on sight, but others may ask for help or offer to trade. This is where my main criticism of the game lies - the combat controls are quite clunky and require some time to get acclimated to. Switching between cover and active combat is a hassle and occasionally makes it easier to simply avoid combat altogether. Given how much of the game is rooted in narrative, however, the relative clumsiness of the controls is forgivable.

At night, the player can choose one of the party members to scavenge resources. Whether they fight or run is entirely up to the player.

The game’s narrative aspects are further expanded upon with the release of downloadable content titled This War Of Mine: The Little Ones. The Little Ones added the presence of children into the game, but whether or not they stay in the shelter is ultimately decided by the player. As with the adults, each child has a unique backstory as well as physical and emotional needs. From a strictly economical standpoint, sheltering a child is a liability as they cannot scavenge outdoors the way adults do. They can, however, be taught to do certain tasks such as cooking and growing vegetables (albeit at a lower speed than an adult). Children also consume less food than adults, but require the same amount of sleep. How the child is treated by the members of the shelter (which is largely indicated by the choices of the player) is reflected by the game’s ending sequence, which varies depending on several criteria; how often they were talked to and whether they were given toys, among others.

One particularly outstanding facet of the game is its subtle inclusion of mental health. Unlike attack power or carrying capacity, a character’s predisposition towards a change of mental/emotional state - positive or negative - is a hidden statistic that the player cannot view. As a result, the player finds out while playing that some characters are more positively affected by “good” actions (some will be content or happy when a member of the party helps a stranger, for example) and also more negatively affected by bad ones (such as theft or murder). This is unofficially referred to as the character’s “empathy score,” and is heavily implied to be tied to their personality. A higher empathy score indicates that they are more prone to emotional changes, while a lower one indicates the opposite.

While watching my roommate’s playthrough, I noticed that he often killed or stole in order to obtain food and other resources. Two party members were unaffected, but another received the “sad” affliction, expressing regret that people were wounded. Later on, a member of the survivor party died in combat, which changed him from “sad” to “depressed.” While depressed, he performed tasks slowly, had difficulty sleeping, and his dialogue noticeably changed. Since his emotional state was unaddressed as my roommate was mostly focused on accumulating resources and keeping everyone alive, he went from “depressed” to “broken”.

Eventually, this character took his own life. While the visual indicator itself was not graphic in nature (the message was delivered via on-screen text), it was both emotionally piercing and a testimony to the consequences of the player’s actions. The other characters grieved his death, and their emotional states were affected as well. This - in my opinion - highlights the impressive depth of character that This War Of Mine offers.

During one of my playthroughs, I was concerned when one of my survivors, Bruno, became depressed, partially because I wasn’t sure how to respond. But while crafting, I noticed that one of my other characters had a new dialogue option when standing near him.When I selected it, she began speaking to him and encouraging him to press on. After repeating this for several days, his mood improved and survived the remaining days. I later learned that this is the largest advantage to having a party member with a high empathy score - characters with higher empathy are demonstrably better at comforting others (including children).

Rather than a simple plot device, the game's handling of mental health is something that must be carefully and responsibly mitigated throughout the course of the game. This mechanic also applies to the children from the aforementioned DLC to a slightly lesser extent (they do not take as drastic measures as described above). They will, however, react to how the adults treat them and will verbally lash out if they feel they are being ignored or neglected. If not for the mental health factor, the most effective solution would likely be to keep only two survivors that rotate scavenging and daytime chores, allowing for the collection of resources while consuming the least required amount. But having the survivors be affected by each other’s actions adds an entirely new dimension to the game. Even though the emotional interactions are incredibly distilled compared to real life, emotions and consequences are expertly woven into the game’s mechanics instead of simply being tacked onto a linear plot.

I found This War Of Mine to be a moving and emotionally engaging experience. I cannot recommend this game enough.