This War Of Mine - Review

At the end of last year, Steam was offering a great deal.  Basically, you buy Frostpunk (a masterpiece in my mind) and This War Of Mine.  Eagerly I bought them, played Frostpunk and forgot about This War of Mine, until recently.  Being on top of most games I wanted to play that been released this year I decided to give it a go.


Salmon Wellington.  For those who have not tried let me give you a breakdown, it a massive piece of salmon covered in usually a dill or prawn sauce, all wrapped up in pastry.  It is a mammoth eat, and leaving the table there is no way you still be hungry.  I usually share one between two of us and finish feeling like I have fought a battle and won, barely.  Well, why don't you buy salmon parcels, same thing but smaller and you won't feel that way?  That's good advice and is exactly what I now do.  Playing This War of Mine, I found asked was this too much for me to swallow and was I left satisfied?

Story


This War of Mine is set in the fictional city of Pogoren in Graznavia.  A war has broken out between the government and the rebels.  Outside of this, there is no back story so you never know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, in honesty though wars are never that black and white.  Exploring the locations around you and listening to the radio gives you a small insight into the world that was and now is.


The game is short on story, but in many ways that is not important.  The game is about survival and very quickly you realise that nothing else matters.

Visuals


The visuals are incredible and each scene looks like images from a sketchbook.   This along with many other elements make the game feel very haunting and are a constant reminder of how bleak things are in Graznavia.  Even during the day when sunlight pierces through parts of the house it still feels dark.  The house you and other survivors call home is beaten up and is barely a shell of a house, most of the places around you are in a similar state.

The game has a 2D style and has you looking at cross-sections of buildings similar to dolls houses.  This works well for the most part but on occasion can be difficult to tell if you can walk forward or have to find another route.

The visuals are impressive if not other reason that the emotions it stirs inside you,  it isn't about winning or losing, it's about surviving and 11-Bit Studios the creators are very good at instilling this point.


Music


Easily my favorite video game soundtrack from last year was Frostpunk composed by Piotr Musial.  He also created the score for This War Of Mine, Witcher 3 and Anomaly Warzone 3. The soundtrack is downbeat and offers little hope, of course, this all helps in making the world you are in seem more desperate.


The soundtrack comes in a little under an hour, my favorites tracks were; 'This War Of Mine', 'Still Alive Inside', 'No Good Choice', and 'We Keep Going'.


Overall it well put together soundtrack and is a perfect example of how a well-written soundtrack can really help set the tone and mood of a game.

Gameplay


This War of Mine is a pure survival game and it never lets you forget it.  From day one you and your group of survivor need to spend time raiding the house and building items before nightfall.  One night comes you will have options to scavenge.  This is where things can get tough. You need to ensure someone is on guard in the house, anyone sick should be asleep and where ever you visit you need to ensure the pay off is worth it.  Especially in the early part of the game, there will be a number of low-risk places to visit, as you move on this will change.  If a character gets wounded during scavenging or gets killed it can massively effect if your group will survive or not.  There will a lot of trial and error and even then you will often be left wondering will you survive?


Scavenging is essential in the game, you will need it to upgrade your house, keep everyone fed and healthy along with making sure everyone is armed and can defend your home.  I found the game could be unfair at times, even with bulletproof vests and guns some character would get severely wounded.   The game also doesn't seem to like if you are doing well, characters can go from perfect to exhausted in a night even if they are well rested and there is no drama in the house.  Equally, if things are tough it likes to pile it on, for example, one person had died and one was quite ill but was getting better.  I go out scavenging, I come back and damn Anton started fighting with the other guy in the house, two days later they were dead.


Peoples mood have great importance in the game so having someone who can boost morale is great.  Build a guitar, radio, make sure defenses are good and if someone like coffee or cigarettes makes sure you have them.

The game offers you the options to kill people, some are fairly innocent and others are far from it.  This can affect the group's morale but sometimes there is no choice if you want to survive.  Luckily people will come to you for help and this seems to help in balancing this out


When it comes to survival games I kind of have a love-hate relationship.  I really enjoy games like The Flame In The Flood and Frostpunk, they offer a challenge and while they can come close to toeing the line of wanting to pull your hair out it stops just shy of it.  There are others like The Long Dark and This War of Mine which continually beat you down, pushes you over the line and makes you pull your hair out.  This is likely a reason why I am almost completely bald (that and a number one razor blade).  While some people may like this level of torture, in the end, it wasn't for me.





Final Thoughts

So, after thirty hours how did I feel?  Happy, really happy.  The war finally ended and I survived (well Cveta did).  The story was lacking but it wasn't wholly necessary for there to be more.  The visuals and music were close to perfect and helped in creating the war-torn world.  The gameplay was often grueling and sometimes felt you unnecessarily hard and I certainly felt like I was suffering from my group at times.  I found it hard to best describe the game lucky enough my partner in crime Nolls did, 'it's like The Sims, but depressing and set in war-time'.  The game was pretty solid as a whole, this one gets 3 out of 5

Frostpunk - Review

We are fast approaching the end of 2018 and honestly, I have no idea where the year went.  One of the last games I decided to play this year was Frostpunk.  Frostpunk is a city building survival game that was released earlier this year.  Playing it was an interesting experience.


I like Ramen, well I think I do.   My only real experience eating ramen is at Wagamama, and I really enjoyed it.  It's more than soup, but not quite a stew and I always struggled to finish it all as there is so much.  It's warming, enjoyable and really great if you're not 100% sure what you want to eat.  Playing Frostpunk I found myself asking was this like a tasty never-ending bowl of ramen?

Story

The game is set in an alternative version of 1886, the world has gotten cold, really cold, ice cold in fact.  Millions of people are dead and the whole world is like a giant frozen wasteland.  The story has you play as the leader/captain of the last city on Earth.  It is not an easy task, on top of making sure there are enough resources to keep the city running you also have to keep your people happy.  

Overall the story is simple and thought-provoking. The game will have you asking yourself not will humanity survive but should it?  

Visuals

The visuals manage to be both amazing and grim.  The city you manage looks beaten up but not nearly as much as the people. I remember early on watching people carving a path out through the ice and snow to gather resources, it looked great but was also tough to watch them struggle.  There were many moments in the game like this, beautifully but also very somber. 

Overall the visuals are impressive and if the world was down to one final city this is what I imagine it might look like.

Music 

The score is haunting, filled with somber strings that help ensure you don't forget the struggle and desperation you will face.  The score is created by Polish composer Piotr Musial who created the sounds for Witcher 3, This War Of Mine and Anomaly Warzone Earth.

The score runs at just over an hour, at this point I would normally list out my favorites tracks but I can't.  In honesty, it is a perfect soundtrack that helps to create a dark, punishing atmosphere that I won't soon forget.

Gameplay

At its core, Frostpunk is a city building game but it was so much more.  Initially, you must get your workers to gather resources and help build your city.  However, as your city grows people will make requests, some you can ignore but generally, it is not advisable to do so. There are two gauges, discontent and faith/obedience.  You need to keep the discontent low and faith/obedience high, failure to do will have your people rally against you and if you're unlucky kill you.

There is a Book of Laws, a new law can be passed every twenty-four hours, all of which have an effect not only on your city as a whole but also discontent and faith/obedience. Initially, the laws will all be focused on adaptation but later they are about order/faith.  I found this element interesting and certainly added a challenge.  There is the option to use order to keep people in line or use faith, both are good in their own way.

The main resources in the game are coal, steel, and wood, with enough of each there is a good chance of survival.  If you gather enough resources you can unlock new building and improvement in the skill tree.  It's important to start researching and unlocking building and improvements as quickly as possible.

The generator is probably the most important thing in the game, if you can keep it going and upgrade it there is a chance your people might survive.  Heat is a major factor in the game and you can see how bad the cold is by using the temperature overlay.  Some buildings like cookhouses and medical building need a constant supply of heat or they will shut down.

There were moments in the game that really got me.  Watching the hunters leave in the early hours of the morning unsure if they would make it back alive I always found sad.  When workers sacrificed themselves to keep the coal mines open it felt like a real loss and not just another number.

The game offers various scenarios - the main one being 'A New Home' and there is an endless mode. Both are pretty good and offer a large amount replayability.

Over the gameplay was fantastic with few issues.  The game is bleak and sometimes gruelling but never really found myself pulling my hair out.

Final Thoughts

So, after twenty plus hours how did I feel?  Really good.  The story was simple but interesting, the visuals were great, the soundtrack was amazing and the gameplay was something else. I really enjoyed my time playing Frostpunk and glad to know I have so many more hours ahead of me.  This is probably my favourite game of 2018 and gets a solid 5 out of 5