This War of Mine Reviews

This War of Mine is ranked in the 95th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Nov 23, 2014

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.

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Nov 23, 2014

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.

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5 / 5.0
Dec 4, 2014

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.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
10 / 10
Nov 14, 2014

This War of Mine is arguably one of the most powerful games ever created at conveying the troubling reality of war in an emotional and thought-provoking way. That it does these, not through big explosions and fancy textures, is all the more impressive. These are real stories; this is a game that takes risks. There are no punches pulled in a world where everyone suffers, including children, and are shown as casualties, something other games have in the past shied away from. However, this is not just some experience to make a point. This is a damn fun game to play, it is incredibly hard to put down due to its incredibly tight mechanics, which all blend together to create something really special. Quite simply, buy This War of Mine.

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9.6 / 10.0
Dec 11, 2014

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.

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9.5 / 10.0
Nov 26, 2014

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.

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95 / 100
Nov 14, 2014

This War of Mine creates a new panorama and provides us of a whole new scope from which we can see the true face of horror, the darkest side of humankind and the bravest color of human spirit.

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9 / 10.0
Nov 24, 2014

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…

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90 / 100
Nov 20, 2014

This War of Mine is one of the most emotionally investing games I've played in years, and it doesn't need a complex set of gameplay systems to be what it is… a great game, and a deep piece of art on the horrors of war. A depiction of things so cruel and of life so horrible that you couldn't imagine these things actually happening, even if you know they do.

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Nov 29, 2014

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.

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9 / 10.0
Jan 22, 2015

Whether you choose to perceive it through a moral lens or not, there's a great tactical survival mechanic driving this game beneath the didactics.

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9 / 10.0
Dec 1, 2014

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.

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Jan 9, 2015

A deeply atmospheric, emotionally compelling game that manages to treat war as a serious topic and examines the hard choices made by those caught in the middle of conflict. You might not particularly enjoy your time with This War Of Mine, but it's definitely a game you ought to play, being one of the finest critiques of war that this medium has to offer.

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9 / 10.0
Nov 18, 2014

This War of Mine is challenging from both a gameplay point of view and a philosophical one because it asks gamers to survive and then confronts them with the compromises and outright betrayals of their principles required to reach that goal.

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Jan 21, 2015

'This War of Mine' is one of the best PC releases I've played from 2014. It is not empowering like other games. It's very difficult, and the first couple of playthroughs especially can be frustrating. It's also poignant and lets players tell their own stories without a heavy script or distracting voice acting. It might make you sad, but it's worth experiencing.

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9 / 10
Jul 23, 2015

Every now and again we like losing because then when we win it's the sweetest victory, though with This War of Mine it probably wouldn't feel like a victory at all

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GameSkinny
Zack Thompson
Top Critic
Jan 28, 2016

Deep Silver and 11 Bit Studios gives you a dark, unsettling look into the Horrors of War.

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Nov 30, 2014

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.

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Digiato
Shayan Karami
Top Critic
89 / 100
Feb 20, 2018

This War of Mine is a wonderful experience which drowns us in its realistic urban war and tells us its tragic story, one that doesn't involve happy endings.

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8.8 / 10.0
Dec 22, 2014

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.

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