This War Of Mine is a gritty tactical game by 11 Bit Studios that, as you can imagine, takes place in the middle of a war between unnamed forces. However you are not the invulnerable soldier leading the charge on the frontline. You play as a small group of survivors trying to do exactly that - survive. Each member of your group has a specific skill to aid the party in this time of need. Bruno for example is a good cook and can therefore make meals out of less resources. Arica is good at sneaking making stealth and theft easier. There are a handful more for you to discover and some people obviously outweighing the others in terms of worth. Each day has two distinct stages: in the sunlight hours you search your house, feed and medicate your people and deal with any NPCs who may come to your door in search of trade, help or even refuge. It is here that you can also craft items such as beds, cookers, tools and weapons to use for various things. This half is pretty tame. Then comes the night. First you must choose who gets to sleep for the night, who is guarding the house from bandits and who will be going out to scavenge for materials. This is an important choice. Do you send the person who is slightly wounded but has a bigger inventory? Do you put your ex-military man on guard for the night or allow him to gather strength and rest? The choice gets harder the further into the war survive. Once you choose a scavenger you must then gear up and choose a location to visit. Each has certain resources and some even have trade possibilities while others pose danger like the military outpost or the sniper junction. Each has a certain degree of risk and reward should you survive the night.
The gameplay during the scavenging is super tense, especially for what is a two dimensional game. Many times I've found myself wanting the best loot and therefore having to sneak and steal from the elderly or hide in little nooks as an armed guard patrols past. If you manage to get your hands on a weapon though you can simply gun down anyone in your way - this is highly risky but can be rewarding. One example where this worked was where I had my ex-army fellow sneak onto a balcony of a school overrun by armed bandits and gunned down about six people until I was finally killed due to my lack of ammo. Moments like this really get the better of you especially when a vital resource like ammo is scarce. Upon this characters death the remaining surviors in my group became sad and lamented their friends death as anyone would. This was a big blow but in this game you have to make the best of any situation as if you were in this war. So I sent my sneak expert and looted the body of my recently deceased comrade as well as the entire school which was now practically deserted thanks to the efforts of my soldier. And that is what the game really boils down to. Survival. Yes you will lose people. Yes there will be times when you don't have enough food for everyone. Yes you will have to make harsh decisions. This War Of Mine is brilliant at bringing out the survivor in all of us. I find myself being ruthless and stealing from a defenceless elderly couple who cannot defend themselves. Not because I want to but because I HAVE to.
Despite this great atmosphere there are some little moments that are a tad inconsistent. For example when you kill someone for whatever reason - mainly over wanting resources. Your character will become sad or depressed depending on the situation. (One exception to this was when I knifed a soldier who was about to abuse a woman in a supermarket and my character was happy she helped) You see them lament having to kill when back at the house which is understandable but I wanted to test this. So, one night I want to and old destroyed house which had one homeless man inside. He asked me for food so I beat him to death with a shovel and still my character lamented, saying "I had to do it, there was no other way" now I know the producers didn't have this kind of thing in mind when making This War Of Mine but it would be good to see the character question their sanity for mercilessly beating someone who posed no threat rather than using the stock of phrases used for a more understandable kill. Apart from this minor issue the only fault I can find with the game is the inability to manually save which can be overlooked as you will be playing this game for hours at a time and no major progress is ever lost.
This War Of Mine is a beautiful game that really puts wars for the average person living in a city under siege into perspective. The gritty choices, the dark and sketchy art style and the urge you have to make your group survive is truly amazing.