This War of Mine: The Little Ones

My first play through of This War of Mine: The Little Ones ended early, with three simple words: Marko committed suicide. Marko had been the last of my band of three surviours, trying just to survive in this war torn city. Kept inside during the day by the fear of snipers, and having only limited resources, there was little that could be done, make a bed to give your band of men better rest, try securing your bombed dwelling a little better to stop night time raiders, or rig up some sort of rain water collection device.

The when night time came, one of you would have to go out on a scavenging run. This is how both Bruno and Pavle died. By scrounging for much needed supplies and bumping into the wrong people. Stronger people. Armed people.

So it fell on Marko to go out that night, and scrounge for resources, food and much needed medicine. But when I git Marko home all he wanted to do was sit ion the chair. He had had a good night out scrounging, but I just could not budge him from the chair. Oh well, maybe I’ll give him the day off and click to end the day and start the night and see of he will go out and scrounge. Only he didn’t. He hung himself instead.

I was gutted. This side scrolling platform game that is part exploration and resource management and part survival horror (where the horror is much more grounded) had just bough home the stark realities of war like no other game has ever done. I had not recognised the signs that lead Marko to take desperate measures. I had just thought that I could run around taking what I wanted to build up my little home base. I had figured that my wartime skills honed on many a First Person Shooter would see me dominate. But when I sent Bruno out, we had no weapons. Pavle managed to find and improvised weapon, but was just too weak and tired to defend himself.

This War Of Mine was going to demand a total re-think of tactics.

And I hadn’t even got to a level where I would have children to look after.

At it’s heart, This War Of Mine is a simple game, with a sobering look at the often forgotten victims of war: civilians. But in reality it is a much more complex game of morals and management. To call it addictive and fun would be to miss the point, but it is a game you will find yourself wanting to come back to time and time again. Though the brutal nature of war might give you pause between sessions.

Rating: R13 Violence,offensive language and content that may disturb.

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