This War of Mine is a game that I didn't play prior to making a list of top 10 video games of 2014, but if I did it would have definitely made it on my list. This War of Mine is a war survival game that is somewhat based on war in Bosnia (1992-1995). Instead of playing a soldier you are put in the shoes of several civilians and you are basically trying to survive in the harsh environment.
Story of this game is kept to a minimum. You don't really know why and how this war started, you just know that you are a part of this unnamed conflict.You get a small amount of the back-story of each of the playable characters (this back-story is given through text that gives some explanation of who are the characters you are playing). This war of mine provides a bit slice of reality. Usually in games bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. This war of mine reminds us that world (and war) doesn't work that way. It is quite refreshing to have a game that deals with some really complex issues like this game does.
At the beginning of the game you take a role of three survivors with each having some special perk These include things like - good cooking, bargaining skills, trained at combat, good at sneaking etc. Aside from this characters are different in some other things - some are more affected by certain things that happen in the world, some get happy when they aid people while some are apathetic and so on. There is a total of 12 different playable characters. Even though you start with three playable characters, and more survivors will join you down the line
The game consists of day and night cycles. During the day you will spend time in your shelter where you need to focus on crafting and taking care of your survivors. You can craft beds, weapons, radio, reinforce shelter etc. As far as taking care of the survivors goes you have to feed them so they don't starve to death, and if their are wounded threat them with medicine, or have them sitting or laying in the bad if they are tired. Also occasionally some people will knock on your door wither offering a trade or asking for some help.
During the night you go on these scavenging missions. Only one survivor at the time can go on scavenging mission Basically on these missions you will visit different locations in order to get materials and parts you need for crafting and food for survivors you control. On some of these locations you will find some NPC that are either hostile or friendly (of course if you steal their stuff they will not remain that friendly). What you do in outside world reflect the mood of your character. If you kill innocents or if you steal from some people your character might become sad and depressed. Also if your survivor dies this will affect other survivors you control. On this scavenging mission you will mostly approach them with stealth, you can also fight but you will be at disadvantage. Getting firearms in this game is really hard, so when you are about to face a dude with a shotgun and your only weapon is a pocket knife it is not recommended to engage them. Even when you encounter other civilians like yourself who are basically trying to survive decision on how to deal with them can be game changing. You can either help them, trade with them or kill them and rob them. Whatever you do will have some ramifications on your character. You can also hide in shadows and do stealth attack which inflicts more damage but can't actually be lethal, you still have to fight it off. Each survivor has a limited amount of inventory slots in their backpack. The number of inventory slots varies amongst the survivors (ranges from 8 to 17). Your first instinct would be to send those with most inventory slots. But you can't always send the same guy, since every survivor needs to sleep. You need to exit location where you are scavenging because if the time runs out you will have to spend the rest of the night outside, which may lead to you being robbed, wounded or even killed. Before going on missions aside from choosing who will go on scavenging missions you need to pick what will survivors that stay do. They can either guard or sleep. Since you can get raided during the night, having at least one guy guarding the place is pretty much a necessity.
This game can get really difficult at times. Maintaining all the things can be a very daunting task. It is hard to keep track of just about every little thing that you need do from getting materials you need for crafting, getting food. Deciding what is more needed at given time, as far as scavenging missions go, can be really hard. Paying attention on all of the systems can get sometimes get very overwhelming. And trust me the game can get very difficult. Survivors don't only care about surviving, they care about other survivors; they have ethical lines that they will not cross. And even if you cross those ethical lines there are going to be some real consequences. Your character can be emotionally destroyed. So even if you have a lot of food and materials you could still end up with people being so depressed that they simply won't do anything or even leave. Decision making in this game is really crucial for survival.
Because of its difficulty you will be probably replaying it a lot before you get to the end, however each playtrough is different. Locations you visit stay the same with different playthroughs but item locations and situations you encounter at this locations are randomized. Also your game might start in summer and you wouldn't need to deal with keeping place warm. On another playthrough you may start during winter where keeping your place warm at all time can get very hard.Music and graphics in this game are pretty minimalistic but they very well establish the atmosphere that this game is trying to convey. It is definitely one of the most thought provoking games I've played in recent years. It is an amazing game that everyone should try out.
8.7/10
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