This War of Mine is a war survival simulation video game developed and published by 11 bit studios. The game was released in November 2014 for the PC, Android and iOS ports were released in July 14, 2015.
This War Of Mine provides an experience of war seen from an entirely new angle. I’ve never played a war game that puts you in the shoes of a civilian. Its rather unique, interesting and fun to play.
Craft weapons, alcohol, beds or stoves – anything that helps you survive
Make decisions – an often unforgiving and emotionally difficult experience
Randomized world and characters every time you start a new game
Charcoal-stylized aesthetics to complement the game's theme
Gameplay
In this game, you play as a group of civilians trying to survive in a besieged city; struggling with lack of food, medicine and constant danger from snipers and hostile scavengers. This War of Mine provides an experience of war seen from an entirely new angle through a survival sim.
The game features the day and night cycle. During the day, snipers outside stop you from leaving your refuge, so you need to focus on maintaining your hideout: crafting, trading and taking care of your survivors. At night, you get to take one of your civilians on a mission to scavenge through a set of unique locations for items that will help you stay alive.
The scavenging gameplay plays out as a tense, atmospheric 2D stealth game. While some abandoned locations are looters' playgrounds, the war-torn city features a lot of other unsavory types. Soldiers and militia might be willing to trade with you or simply ignore you, but they can turn on you in a heartbeat. Other survivors might shoot you on sight. Rummaging through a pile of rubble sends sound waves far into the distance, alerting people to your presence. Get spotted in a place where you shouldn't be, and you'll have a choice: run, hide, fight, or die.
Making life-and-death decisions, you can try to protect everyone from your shelter or sacrifice some of them for longer-term survival. During the war, there are no good or bad decisions; there is only survival. The sooner you realize that, the better.
TIPS
If you need to redo anything you did in that day, just before you proceed to the next day just quit to the main menu and continue your game. You can use this method to save your survivor if you happen to get one of them killed during the night while scavenging. Another trick is when you are raided, you can exit to the main menu and continue the game to change the outcome. Repeating this will result in fewer stolen items or none at all.
The Verdict
This simulation game is indeed amazing and stunning as it captures the environment and feeling of the life of civilians during the war. It shows and brings players through the everyday life where each decision made has their consequences. As the game progresses, things begin to go wrong and choices get harder. There are no right choices. Every play-through will be different. This makes the game as immersive as possible and unpredictable with lots of surprises waiting ahead. The game is really fun. After playing for 3 consecutive days, I will rate this game an 8/10.