This time of the year is generally addled with tons of huge game releases. With that in mind, it's not surprise that the unique indie survival title This War of Mine managed to fly under my radar like a rat scavenging for crumbs. The old saying goes "War is hell", and I've never seen a game more aptly and profoundly convey this sentiment. Ben Hanson mentioned the PC game was bleak when he issued the Top 50 challenge to me, but I wasn't quite ready for what it had in store.
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This War of Mine is a side-scrolling title set in the midst of a brutal civil war that's rocking an ambiguous Eastern European country. You don't play as some gun-toting resistance member, though. You begin by controlling a set of three regular folks just trying to scrape by amidst the chaos. During the daytime you swap between these survivors Lost Vikings-style. For example, you may command one to make some food, one to build a water purifier, and another to get some rest after a rough night of scavenging. Speaking of, each nightfall players must decide who gets to sleep, guard their shelter, and leave to scavenge for supplies. Scavenging is one of the most important and stressful parts of the game. It's up to you to carefully explore shelters that are sometimes abandoned, and other times guarded by armed goons. You can attempt to sneak past everyone and steal what you can before bolting, or kill innocents and pilfer from their stash.
Deciding whether to kill or not is where things became really interesting for me. In my playthrough, I was caught red-handed while stealing from an old couple's home. The old man saw me and immediately bolted towards a hidden stash. Worried he was going to pull out a gun and make short work of me, I sprinted after him and hit him a couple times. The blows killed him, and after looking through his things I realized he didn't have a weapon. Meanwhile, his wife ran into the basement where she wept in fear and mourning. Survival is heartbreaking, but I still felt compelled to collect valuable food, wood, metalworking parts, and the like. While scavenging I found a note from the old man's grandson, wishing them the best and expressing joy that they hadn't been harmed by any raiders. That's when my heart sank into my stomach. At the behest of Ben Hanson himself, I went into the basement and put the old woman out of her misery.
When I returned with the supplies my character's depression from killing a couple innocents spread through our shelter like a disease. I could've tried to cure it with booze, books, and a little guitar, but we had to burn and sell most of those things just to get by. Eventually the killer had to ween himself out of his funk by sleeping it off and just taking each day as it came.
These emergent stories are one of This War of Mine's most importantl elements. Describing the depressing lives of my characters and the awful decisions I've had to make genuinely made me feel for folks who have to face such difficulties in real life. The effect is something similar to last year's Papers, Please, which places players in the boots of a passport checker at the border of conflicting countries. Having to choose who eats, who sleeps, and who has to risk their life searching through occupied shelters feels like a serious task, even though it's just a game.
But This War of Mine is an unexpectedly engaging game even beyond the social commentary. The core gameplay loop of scavenging at night, building new things during the day, then taking those out again during the nighttime is compelling. But potential players should be warned, the game doesn't hold your hand much. You're dropped into a world cluttered with confusing icons, and no tutorial is there to hold your hand and tell you how important it is to build a bed and rain water collector out of the gate. Additionally, the grim tone is likely to wear on many players. Despite the addictive loop, I find This War of Mine to be best in small doses.
My Vote
This War of Mine likely has my vote for Game Informer's Top 50 Games of 2014. I feel compelled to keep on grinding by in my playthrough, but its place on our list will obviously come down to the quality of its competition. I also recommend the game for anyone interested in something wildly different from other games on the market, and one that will make you grateful for what you have while you're at it.