UFG Goes Hands on With This War of Mine!

The narratives featured in war-inspired titles are seldom deeper than an excuse to shoot a bunch of enemy soldiers. Now there are some good stories out there, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that, most don’t invoke strong emotions within the player; the fantasy lies within the idea of being the hero who saves the day. Even fewer ask the player to really think about their actions and how they may affect the world around them (2K’s Spec Ops: The Line comes to mind). Because of this trend in shooters, we tend to forget that in war, not everyone is a soldier…

11 bit studios’ newest IP, This War of Mine deals with this notion that we all aren’t soldiers. Inspired by real events, the game places the focus on the citizens living in a war-torn city. The fighting has gone on for so long that they’ve forgotten who the “good guys” are. It isn’t safe to walk the streets as a sniper could mistake you as a member of the rival army. Or, they could just be bored; some of the soldiers have gone rogue, electing to lay claim to whatever hasn’t been blown up. During the night is the only time people can leave their homes to forage for food, medical supplies, and whatever else they need to survive. Normal, everyday people turn violent as they fight over these once commonplace items. It’s safe to say life has grown more… challenging since the fighting began.

At the start of my playthrough I was randomly given a cast of characters to control. Each had different attributes and bios explaining some of their backstory. They all were holed up in a large house that had suffered moderate damage from a recent shelling. Based on their conditions I’d say they had been in hiding for some time. After looking them over, I started messing around to see what could be done. I used one person to clear some debris blocking a door leading to an adjacent room while commanding another to scrounge around for some food. I then sent the third person over to a workbench. This brought up a menu of things that could be built if they had the right ingredients. Things like beds, chairs, radio, and other work stations could be forged from here. What was interesting was that these weren’t fancy items. The bed, though it allowed people to sleep a little better at night, was makeshift at best; it looked as if you made it using random odds and ends. This helped to keep the game grounded in realism.

At that time I noticed that character clearing the debris said – via a handy word bubble – that he could do it faster if he had a shovel. Looking through the menu of buildable items, I saw the shovel and noticed that we had enough ingredients for it. That was right before I saw someone say that it’s a good thing it wasn’t too cold and that it would be easy to get sick if it was. Scrolling down the menu I saw a stove that could be used to cook food, boil collected water and heat the room. I decided to not build anything and save up for the stove. That’s when there was a knock at the door. Someone had risked their life to trade items. Even though the meds he had would have been perfect for a certain female who was nursing a cold, being at the start of the game, I didn’t have anything to trade.

That night I had to decide who would go out into the neighborhood to get supplies, who’d be on guard duty and who would be allowed to rest. The game brought up a map of the city and gave a brief description of each place of interest. After picking who did what, I set out to nab some supplies. At this point the game changed, almost completely. What was a survival sim quickly turned into survival horror – at least that’s the way it felt. The tone of the music grew dark as my chosen scavenger lurked outside of a large house. Peeking through the front door I could see most of the adjacent room and some of the upstairs landing; most of the house was draped in shadows. I was afraid that I might have to fight someone if I entered the house unannounced. At the same time, I didn’t want to go back empty handed. After a few seconds of internal debate, I opened the front door and crept inside. There were indicators or sound waves emitting from a certain location, letting me known that someone or something was nearby. Readying myself for a fight, I walked forward only to discover that a rat had moved in. With a sigh of relief, I took all that I could carry and made a beeline for home. The first night was over.

My character returned home that morning to find that the house had been raided. No one was seriously hurt and nothing was taken. Still, I thought it would be important to make some weapons to defend ourselves just in case they came back. The second day went on like the first, though I was able to make more items. Another person came to the door, only this time he wasn’t looking to trade items. His wife was killed recently and he wanted to give her a proper burial…in broad daylight. He asked if one of us would be willing to help him. I told him no and he bitterly walked away. I’m pretty sure he didn’t make it back home. My group of survivor’s felt the same way as their mood changed from not quite happy to sad. I wasn’t sure if this would have a long term effect on my group, but it bothered me nonetheless. The last thing I needed to worry about was someone committing suicide due to low morale.

I spent a lot of the first few days learning the ropes. When someone got sick, I made sure to they took some pills. Whether or not they got better was random, again for realism. I tried to raid more houses at night to see if I could find some materials to make a rain catcher. On one occasion I got shot at by a bandit – he who wasn’t too pleased to see me touching his stuff – which abruptly ended my search as I bolted for the door. More people showed up at my door. There was a guy who was lost and needed a place to stay. I cautiously let him join our group. Two kids who needed medicine for their ailing mother showed up as well. I gave them some of what I had, which lifted everyone’s spirts. Too bad that didn’t last long as we’d had completely run out of food and people were starving. After the 8th or so day, things really went south. There was another break in and this time one of my people was seriously hurt; I suspect it was by the bandit group I tried to steal from a few days prior. We didn’t have any wood to burn and it was getting colder each night. On top of that, I couldn’t seem to find any materials needed to make some of the more elaborate fixings (like a garden). At least until I went to a certain house.

There was a house owned by an old couple. The description from the map said that they possibly had huge amounts of food. I tried my best not to go there because I didn’t want to just up and take their stuff. I tried going to other places but they proved to be too dangerous and I didn’t have adequate protection. Days past and nights passed with no luck anywhere else. Finally, out of desperation I approached their house. I figured, at the most I’ll just barter with them like I did with another group. To my surprise, as soon as they saw me they took off towards the basement. I followed and tried to talk to them but the game didn’t give me the option; they just stood there in fear. After a few minutes I went back up to first floor and took some food. I made sure not to take everything, leaving most of their canned goods intact. I felt bad that I ended up stealing from them. So did the character I was controlling. That said, the game did recognize my efforts to not be a jerk by having my character say that he was glad he left them some food.

I wanted to give a brief look at what it was like to play This War of Mine. From all accounts, it is a difficult game. Not just because it’s hard to survive but because after playing for some time, I got emotionally invested. Which says a lot seeing as how there wasn’t much in form of dialogue or story; the narrative was unique to me and how I played the game. For the most part, it offers an engaging look at what it’s like to live in such a terrible situation. Speaking of look, I loved the stylized graphics. The penciled in lines helped to establish a sense of despair. It’s gritty in all the right ways!

Being that this was a preview build of the game, I do think that it was made more difficult then what the final product will be. The reason I say this is because of how badly my characters were fairing despite what I did for them. For instance, the game informed me that reinforcing the house by boarding up windows would make it more difficult for people to raid us at night. It also kept saying that I should make weapons to defend myself just in case things went bad. But after boarding up the entire house and making multiple knives, my people were attacked even worse than before. Then there was the old couple and the fact that I couldn’t trade with them. Of course, this could have just been my luck as everything in the game is randomly generated, including my starting cast of characters.

When I first heard of This War of Mine, I thought that it was one of the more intriguing games coming out this year. After experiencing it first hand, I have to say that it’s shaping up to be one of the most talked about games period! Hopefully, the complete game will live up to my expectations when it drops later this year (or at least remain as thought-provoking as this preview build).