This War of Mine Reviews
Frankly, for all the artistic encounters I've had and valued as a gamer, this crosses a major threshold, delivering a valuable experience that doesn't seek to coddle a player's fragile conceptions of purpose and fun. If the lasting impression you receive is unquestionably bleak, you're doing it right. Nobody's going to reward you for even doing that.
This War of Mine tries to give us the barest taste of what it might be like to be trapped behind the lines of a war, with our entire world crumbling all around us. If that feels uncomfortable, if it is no fun whatsoever, the developers have accomplished precisely what they intended to.
What truly sets This War of Mine apart is its dignity. It doesn't trade in its message for cheap cry-bait, and it doesn't batter you senseless with its despondency. Don't expect to be presented two dramatically contrasting, woefully transparent choices and then watch the game preen itself over how clever it's been. You'll be dropped into a blighted world and be left to figure out your own path, making fatal mistakes and incurring tragic losses before coming to the conclusion that precious few videogames have ever had the nerve to draw…
Perhaps the problem is my own, and maybe I'm too content to morbidly tinker with my survivors to push them towards another miserable day. This War of Mine is a game whose simple message - that war is hell, and that we're all capable of being sucked into its moral depths - might be slightly compromised by its strengths as a game, but at least it's a message carried with a great deal more conviction than other, more bombastic portrayals of conflict. That, for certain, is something to be thankful for.
The reality of war, hammered home through stark visuals and tight resource management, in a game where just surviving another day is winning.
This War of Mine's mechanics are so well polished that you will find yourself playing into the early hours of the morning continually thinking "just one more night", "just one more improvement". Everything from the atmosphere to the characters to the gameplay is presented in a unique and fantastic way.
This War of Mine is a depressing look into how civilians caught in the midst of a war have to survive. It's hard, remorseless and soul-crushingly depressing, but it's also a must play game.
Where Spec Ops: The Line made me question being The Good Guy, this game made me question just how far off the reservation I was willing to go to preserve life.
Using the interactive nature of a video game to great effect, This War of Mine brilliantly conveys this message by forcing the player to not only witness it, but to live it, experience it, and suffer through it firsthand.
In terms of gameplay I found This War of Mine a little tedious and slow. I mostly wanted to hustle through the gameplay parts so I could see the story and my characters develop. It's not an amazing GAME, but it's an amazing experience.
Effectively delivers a strong message about the depressing reality of war, eschewing classic soldier or commander glorification that permeates many games. An emotional, impactful journey, even if the gameplay elements are somewhat simple
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.
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.
This War of Mine conveys some horrific truths about civilian life during warfare, and it does so in a way that only video games can accomplish.
This War of Mine is a fun, uniquely stylish and well-written game that gives players a fresh take on an old setting and asks them to try and survive.
Of course, a great deal of impressive work went into the stylised visual of This War of Mine that might not have gone into something destined for a school computer or a museum plaque. Its pencil-shaded graphics touchingly evoke political cartoons and the dreary, dark colour palate of so much war art to sap life and hope from your course of events. Generally in games, the wonderful efforts put into visuals are to add to your enjoyment, but This War of Mine is instead making use of the medium of art to help put its message across - simultaneously establishing a valid place of its own within. This War of Mine blurs the boundaries of artistic and educational exhibition and in doing so demonstrates, significantly, how effortlessly the medium of videogames can lend itself to much more than entertainment, but if you're looking for fun, you've come to the wrong place. The message here is how fragile humanity can be when the comforts of modern society disappear and a question: Do 'good' and 'bad' choices exist, or just survival of the most ruthless? It's hard to score This War of Mine as a game, because you can't win it. You can survive with enough selfish tact. You can also be more community spirited at your own expense, but then if you die will the community fail without you around anyway? This is a poignant and reflective experience, thought through with meticulous depth. The gameplay is very simple, and that's probably deliberate too - the amount of thrill you get playing it will depend on what kind of beast you are.
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 setting are so well done, it's an absolute must play for anyone looking for an example of how all the different parts of a game can come together to create an affecting and immersive experience for a player.
A rewarding experience that will test your moral system, and brings a whole new narrative of war for people to listen to.
An effective lesson on the casualties of war