Review: This War of Mine J. Holder Bennett, FANS Chair This War of Mine, available on Steam, constantly hungry and becomes sullen if he PS4, and Xbox One among others, first does not eat. He will also often gripe about came to my attention via a YouTube Extra the lack of cigarettes and smoke like a Credit commentary on disturbing games. freight train when they are available. Katia This particular genre or field has always is an excellent negotiator when it comes to interested me, especially regarding the moral bargaining for supplies but is emotionally quandaries one encounters in video games fragile and, when she mentally breaks, has where all options are bad. World of the unfortunate habit of stealing the group’s Warcraft, a game I have played since its goods before she runs off into the night. vanilla release, has everything from grave There are several different houses where robbing to genocide. This War of Mine, by play can begin, each with its own contrast, is far more personal and far more complement of obstacles to remove and disturbing in its single player survival story. starting supplies that can be used to craft I would like to thank Nathan Wise for food, tools, weapons, and workshops. This purchasing a copy of this fascinating game last group is particularly important as they for me. allow the construction of still more intricate The action is set in fictional Pogoren, and useful items. Clearance of the starter Graznavia, but the parallels between the house may take two game days for new setting and Sarajevo during the Yugoslav players but can easily be done in one for Civil War are too obvious to ignore as you those with experience. Some of these houses try to keep your characters alive for 50 days are quite small but others are massive, with of fighting. Indeed, a friend who served attics, back gardens, and sub-basements. there with the USMC has declined even to However, whichever starter house you get, it look at the game because reviews made this will have only a limited supply of anything comparison too plain for his comfort and and you will quickly run out of food and PTSD to handle. The game is genuinely that everything else. This is when you must intense, and the greyscale art with limited venture out into the city to scavenge at outlining alongside the minimalist yet night. Take a shovel if nothing else. oppressive soundtrack only serve to enhance Only one person per night can search the this feeling. city. Depending on how many people you Play starts with anywhere from one to have in your group, you may have several four characters, each with their own traits who can stay home. Of these, at least one that give them individual advantages and must always be placed on guard as the other disadvantages. For example, Bruno is an sleep. To assist in their guard duties, it is excellent cook, and therefore requires fewer wise to patch wall holes as quickly as materials to prepare meals. But, he is possible and provide them with some sort of The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 4, No. 1, August 2018 158 weapon. Both of these require the second allowed. When a character dies, they die and stages of their respective workshops and stay that way. large amounts of supplies. It is for these Through the course of the 50 days of supplies that the chosen scavenger character game time, various environmental events ventures into the darkness. happen that affect how you play. Winter Starter locations are generally easy, such comes and makes it deathly cold, so you as the Ghost House. This one has plenty of need to build a furnace and keep it supplied basic materials, food, and medical supplies, with flammable materials. Crime waves and is a good place to practice prying open happen and looters become more doors or using lock picks and saws. You will emboldened and desperate, which means constantly be crafting these items as they patching walls, reinforcing the door, and break after a single use. Crowbars cost more arming your characters is all required. And, in materials and are much louder, but will of course, there are the vicissitudes of war. also last longer in the field. Regardless of Any or all of these factors could make a where you go, though, you will not be able location available one night and inaccessible to carry away all the found goods in a single the next. A place you thought was night. Each person has a different, but abandoned and safe may be crawling with limited, carrying capacity in their backpack. militiamen the next time you visit. A Boris, with the largest backpack, is also the building may be half-demolished when you slowest mover. Cveta, good with kids, has return because of shelling. People become the smallest. injured or ill and have to be treated. While the Ghost House is deserted and Depression and early stage PTSD can and no weapons are necessary, some areas have will affect your characters, especially if they a mix of safe and hazardous zones, while have to kill to survive, and killing is other locations are dangerous throughout. inevitable in this game. Shortages of food, The Warehouse has several armed bandits tobacco, and other items plague the city who celebrate stealing from aid convoys periodically. In short, almost anything that while the Semi-Detached House has women could happen in a real war can happen in guarding their own goods in one part, this game. leaving the other open to scavenging. And One of those things is that people will this is where the moral quandary enters the visit you. The most frequent visitor is a man picture. Obviously the bandits are evil and named Franko who has items to barter. deserve what they get. But you, the player, Others include neighbors asking for or are in turn stealing goods meant for aid offering help. In almost every instance in my workers and other civilians when you games, helping someone resulted in some confront these bandits. You need food to kind of reward a day or two later and no one survive, but so do the women in the Semi- who I sent out came back the worse for wear Detached House and they are unafraid to kill other than being tired and hungry. you to make sure they keep it. And kill you Sometimes a visitor will be a new character, they will, with no resets or backtracking most often encountered in the first three The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 4, No. 1, August 2018 159 days after a previous resident of the house from the premade sets or designing your has died or fled. You will get at most one own, can be an interesting exercise in visitor per day but many have none. min/maxing or it can prove a true challenge. The combat system is my one real Further, you can decide which of the various complaint. Using a firearm (crafted from locations will be available in your game. scavenged parts with the Level 3 Metal Some I have only encountered in this Workshop or found on the bodies of people fashion, never having seen them in any of you kill) of any type is easy and deadly the preprogrammed sets. You can also adjust enough, but equipping a knife actually how harsh the winter is or how damaging makes it difficult to target even if you are the crime wave becomes. These are right next to the person you are trying to unavoidable, but they can be ameliorated or stab if playing via Steam for PC or Xbox worsened through the options you choose. One (I have not played it on the other Crafted scenarios can be uploaded for systems). Strangely, hitting people over the sharing. head with a shovel is more effective than a This game is not for the faint of heart. good blade thrust. Also, and perhaps Despite years of playing games in the counterintuitively, the aged mathematics survival genre, my first play through was professor, Anton, is the best marksman of all upsetting in a visceral sense I normally the characters. reserve for emotionally challenging books. It Also unexpected, you can only have one hurt. And to get as far as I did that time, saved game at a time. This limit may at first only 18 days, I had to kill two people to seem a bit onerous, but, like so much else, keep my characters alive. If you finish the merely reflects the stark realities of war. The game, it is almost certain your kill count will game offers several optional DLC packages, be far higher and you may not have any of a practice that annoys me, but the $0.99 item your starting people left. Most of your goes to children’s charity War Child, so here victims will be just like your characters, just I did not mind. A portion of the proceeds like you would be in such a situation, merely from the other downloads also goes to War trying to stay alive and minimizing the Child. Only one of the DLCs adds any new emotional damage to an already wrecked locations, but they all offer a chance to play soul. This game is not for children and may a few new characters, including the trigger PTSD in someone with similar real possibility of encountering the stark realities life experiences. of Pogoren through the eyes of a child. In Pogoren, war is hell, hell is other There are reportedly two more DLC packs people, and you are one of them.