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
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