In This War Of Mine you do not play as an elite soldier, rather 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. The game provides an experience of war seen from an entirely new angle.
The pace of This War of Mine is imposed by 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, take one of your civilians on a mission to scavenge through a set of unique locations for items that will help you stay alive.
Make life-and-death decisions driven by your conscience. Try to protect everybody from your shelter or sacrifice some of them for longer-term survival. During war, there are no good or bad decisions; there is only survival. The sooner you realize that, the better.
This War of Mine Complete Edition for Nintendo Switch is a game that reflects the crudity of war like no other. It is not intense or spectacular at the visual level, but it is capable of transmitting like few others, putting us in the shoes of survivors trying to survive with difficulty in the middle of a warlike conflict.
This War of Mine delivers a setting that is depressing and unsettling. It's a slow-paced resource management strategy game that will hang over you long after you walk away from it. Admittedly, it tip-toes into being melodramatic at times, and the controls could benefit from some hotkeys to back up the point-and-click interface. But the mechanics and...
Though I certainly believe that video games are an art form, there are precious few games that I would hold up as works of art, which for me – in its narrative varieties at least – has something to do with extending one's capacity for empathy or adding depth to one's sense of the human condition. On both counts "This War of Mine" succeeds.
This War of Mine is a powerful and intimate portrayal of war through the eyes of ordinary civilians. An immense weight is put on the value of human life and moral decisions that can put your own well-being at risk. It's a thoughtful and heavy game, but one that's well worth playing.
If I'm being entirely honest, This War of Mine is one of the best all-around games I've played all year. A crisp, consistent atmosphere, intuitive gameplay, and surprising depth create a fantastic experience.
