This War Of Mine
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Posted: 9 months ago, last updated 5 months ago.
Author: Andy Robertson.
Overview
Inspired by the 1992–96 Siege of Sarajevo, this is a war game where you play the civilian trying to survive during the fighting. You face tough decisions on how to spend time and resources each day to maintain health, hunger and mood levels until a ceasefire is declared. At night you must venture out to gather materials and food.
The experience is intensified with The Little Ones version, which includes children to look after. The Little Ones optional expansion content, which can be bought with the game or purchased as downloadable content on PC, Mac, iOS and Android.
It’s a chance to experience the near-impossibility of survival and making the right decisions in these situations, doing the best you can with limited resources.
Play the game yourself before sharing with older teenagers or other appropriately-aged family members. Once you understand the civilian wartime narrative, together you can make choices about how to use your resources and prioritise your time.
Discussing which risks are the right ones to take, and how to spend your meagre resources, not only brings home the stark reality of war but can also balance more frivolous use of this setting with other video games like Fortnite or Call of Duty.
The experience is intensified with The Little Ones version, which includes children to look after. The Little Ones optional expansion content, which can be bought with the game or purchased as downloadable content on PC, Mac, iOS and Android.
It’s a chance to experience the near-impossibility of survival and making the right decisions in these situations, doing the best you can with limited resources.
Play the game yourself before sharing with older teenagers or other appropriately-aged family members. Once you understand the civilian wartime narrative, together you can make choices about how to use your resources and prioritise your time.
Discussing which risks are the right ones to take, and how to spend your meagre resources, not only brings home the stark reality of war but can also balance more frivolous use of this setting with other video games like Fortnite or Call of Duty.
Details
Release Date: November 2014
Platforms: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and iOS.
Genres: Narrative, Role-Playing, Shooting, Simulation and Strategy.
Tips
Commitment
Costs
Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.
There are three paid expansions, "The Little Ones", "War Child" and "Father's Promise". Each adds new aspects to the game. Some of these are included for free in more recent releases of the game.
This game is free with PlayStation Now. This game is free with Origin Access.
There are three paid expansions, "The Little Ones", "War Child" and "Father's Promise". Each adds new aspects to the game. Some of these are included for free in more recent releases of the game.
This game is free with PlayStation Now. This game is free with Origin Access.
Age Ratings
This game was rated PEGI 18 for violence against innocent human characters and strong language. Not suitable for persons under 18 years of age. The examiners report expands this rating with the following: This game features multiple instances of violence against innocent human characters. Players control a small group of regular people, caught up in a brutal civil war, who can choose to interact with people peacefully by trade and negotiation, or take what they need by violence. As such, the player can kill a host of innocent people – including an elderly couple, civilians hiding in a church basement, doctors and nurses or a man incapacitated by a sniper – with heavy melee weapons and firearms. Their reactions are realistic, as they flinch with each blow and sometimes expel blood or beg the player to stop.
Strong language takes the form of ‘*!@?*’, in both dialogue and the graffiti scrawled outside of the characters' dwellings.
One scene features a soldier threatening a young woman with a gun, and marching her into a darkened bedroom. Sexual violence is heavily implied in this part of the game.
Strong language takes the form of ‘*!@?*’, in both dialogue and the graffiti scrawled outside of the characters' dwellings.
One scene features a soldier threatening a young woman with a gun, and marching her into a darkened bedroom. Sexual violence is heavily implied in this part of the game.
This game has been rated ESRB MATURE 17+.
Accessibility
Accessibility for this game is as follows:
System Settings
Nintendo Switch has some built-in features, including a lockable zoom, that can be used on all games. Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators. PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping). Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games. iOS has a very extensive suite of accessibility settings including ways to navigate with voice and comprehensive screen reading, though most of the features don't work with games... read more about system accessibility settings.
Similar Games
The following games are like This War Of Mine. They address a similar topic or offer a similar way to play. They are good options to play next and also good alternatives to This War Of Mine for younger age ratings.
This War Of Mine is in These Lists
In addition to the similar games listed above, which have been linked to this game specifically in the database, you may find games with a similar theme to This War Of Mine in the following lists:
Face Tough Decisions
Games create virtual worlds where you can experience life from other perspectives. This can be entertaining and light-hearted, but also presents ethical scenarios that require you to think carefully about consequences.
The games selected here each place you in a challenging situation to give you a first-hand experience of what it’s like. It may be nail-biting, heart-breaking or desperate, but often, through all the trials and tribulations, there is still hope. Either way, unlike reading books or watching films about these subjects, here you are emotionally implicated in the choices you are faced with.
The games selected here each place you in a challenging situation to give you a first-hand experience of what it’s like. It may be nail-biting, heart-breaking or desperate, but often, through all the trials and tribulations, there is still hope. Either way, unlike reading books or watching films about these subjects, here you are emotionally implicated in the choices you are faced with.
Educational Games That Are Also Good Games
These games have an educational element to them, but also offer experiences that are good games in their own right. This isn't busywork to trick you into learning, but clever and innovative ways to encounter history, physics, engineering, maths, geography and language subjects without feeling like you are in school. They also teach softer, deeper skills like long term strategy, planning, balancing systems, emotional intelligence, compassion, team-work and self-care.
Some of these games are aimed at younger players to play on their own, but others (as indicated by their PEGI ratings) are better for teenagers or played together in a family. Find some games that pique your interest, read through the details and decide how your child might benefit from playing them.
Some of these games are aimed at younger players to play on their own, but others (as indicated by their PEGI ratings) are better for teenagers or played together in a family. Find some games that pique your interest, read through the details and decide how your child might benefit from playing them.
Free With PlayStation Now
PlayStation Now is a subscription service that provides hundreds of PS2, PS3 and PS4 games to play on demand. The games are streamed to your PS4, or Windows PC like a Netflix film but with interactions. Because of this you need a fast internet connection of about 5Mbps. Additionally, PlayStation Now also lets you download some PlayStation 4 games to play locally on your system without streaming.
- PlayStation Now costs £8.99/month
- PlayStation Plus costs £6.99/month
- Screen Share – Let's someone in another place watch your game on their PlayStation. PlayStation Plus is not required for either party
- Pass the Controller – Let's someone in another place take turns on a game you own, without owning the game themselves. PlayStation Plus is required for the host, but not for the guest
- Playing Together – Let's you play local co-op or split screen games with someone in another place who has a PlayStation. PlayStation Plus is required for both players
Be A Good Neighbour
In this list, provided by the LTN (Love Thy Nerd) editors, we bring together video games that have the potential to offer more than entertainment. It starts with 12 with a challenge us to be a good neighbour, and follows with others added over time. LTN exists to be the love of Jesus to nerds and nerd culture, you can read more about them on their website.
"What if video games have more to offer than just an exciting diversion into a digital battlefield, fantasy war, or alien invasion? While these types of games are certainly the loudest and most financially successful, there are a growing number of games asking important questions about life, the human condition, and even God."
"Our list is not 'Christian' games, but rather a list of games that pose important spiritual questions to those who play them. These are games that provide us with the opportunity to consider what a truly 'spiritual' life looks like by encouraging us to have empathy for the suffering, love for our neighbours and our enemies, and an imagination vivid enough to contemplate a better world."
Journey's understated yet deep mythology, lack of guidance and mysterious ways it brings players together will have players thinking about the course of their own lives. Dropsy is, on the surface, a silly point-and-click adventure game about a creepy but misunderstood clown, dig deeper and you’ll see this a game that challenges players to love everyone, even their enemies. Kentucky Route Zero is at its core, about rediscovery, of adventure-game mechanics and modernist aesthetics, of a more spiritual outlook on the physical world.
Gris is a platformer about the stages of grief that highlights the indelible impact of our most sacred relationships. That Dragon, Cancer is a game where Ryan and Amy Green share their grief and their hope by drawing us not only into their lives but into the common grace of the Christian faith. Myst, one of the best selling titles of all time, is a puzzle game about the beauty and mystery of creation. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a game about the spiritual impact our most precious relationships have on us. Wandersong is a game about transforming the world with music. Heroism isn’t measured in bulk or recognition but in the melodic tones of compassion and kindness. The Last Guardian confronts us with our own self-centeredness and challenges us to give rather than merely take.
Pyre is a game about mercy that deconstructs player’s perceptions of winning and losing, encouraging them to see and meet the needs of those who are oppressed. My Child Lebensborn is a game that challenges players to care for a child born into a fascist regime--this is a game about the power of empathy. Celeste strikes at the centre of what it means to be a person in all of our messy humanity a wonderful reminder that even when we fall, we are lifted up again through redemptive love, forgiveness, and grace—both for ourselves and for one another.
"What if video games have more to offer than just an exciting diversion into a digital battlefield, fantasy war, or alien invasion? While these types of games are certainly the loudest and most financially successful, there are a growing number of games asking important questions about life, the human condition, and even God."
"Our list is not 'Christian' games, but rather a list of games that pose important spiritual questions to those who play them. These are games that provide us with the opportunity to consider what a truly 'spiritual' life looks like by encouraging us to have empathy for the suffering, love for our neighbours and our enemies, and an imagination vivid enough to contemplate a better world."
Journey's understated yet deep mythology, lack of guidance and mysterious ways it brings players together will have players thinking about the course of their own lives. Dropsy is, on the surface, a silly point-and-click adventure game about a creepy but misunderstood clown, dig deeper and you’ll see this a game that challenges players to love everyone, even their enemies. Kentucky Route Zero is at its core, about rediscovery, of adventure-game mechanics and modernist aesthetics, of a more spiritual outlook on the physical world.
Gris is a platformer about the stages of grief that highlights the indelible impact of our most sacred relationships. That Dragon, Cancer is a game where Ryan and Amy Green share their grief and their hope by drawing us not only into their lives but into the common grace of the Christian faith. Myst, one of the best selling titles of all time, is a puzzle game about the beauty and mystery of creation. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a game about the spiritual impact our most precious relationships have on us. Wandersong is a game about transforming the world with music. Heroism isn’t measured in bulk or recognition but in the melodic tones of compassion and kindness. The Last Guardian confronts us with our own self-centeredness and challenges us to give rather than merely take.
Pyre is a game about mercy that deconstructs player’s perceptions of winning and losing, encouraging them to see and meet the needs of those who are oppressed. My Child Lebensborn is a game that challenges players to care for a child born into a fascist regime--this is a game about the power of empathy. Celeste strikes at the centre of what it means to be a person in all of our messy humanity a wonderful reminder that even when we fall, we are lifted up again through redemptive love, forgiveness, and grace—both for ourselves and for one another.
Branching Stories With Multiple Endings
All games offer you agency. You can win or lose. You can complete them or stop at any time. But there are some games that offer a story that genuinely branches. Where you end up will be different from other players. This not only makes your actions really matter but also gives you a reason to play them again.
Setting aside games that evolve through simulation, or games where once you die it's game over, these branching narrative games tell a story that ends in a certain way because of the choices you made.
Setting aside games that evolve through simulation, or games where once you die it's game over, these branching narrative games tell a story that ends in a certain way because of the choices you made.
Interpret Deeper Meaning
The games in this list have been the subject of a series of articles I have written about video games and faith. Firstly, from 2013-2015 for ThirdWay magazine, and more recently for Youth and Children's Work (YCW) magazine.These are two publications for Christian audiences, that have invited me to shed light on what a range of video games might mean for those communities. I aim to make connections with faith, the bible and the experience of these video games. This is one way to interpret them which of course invites further and possibly counter interpretations from other perspectives.
YCW articles:
Firewatch | Everything | Bury Me My Love | Abzu | Wilmot's Warehouse
Thirdway Articles:
Proteus | Joust | Uncharted 3 | Alan Wake | This War of Mine | Journey | Limbo | Spaceteam | A Dark Room | Altos Adventure | A Year Walk | Bioshock Infinite | The Last of Us | Disney Infinity | Everybody's Gone to the Rapture | That Dragon Cancer | Spec Ops The Line | Papo and Yo
Free With Origin Access
Origin Access is a subscription service for PC, smartphones and tablets, offering access to games include all those published by EA.
- Basic (£3.99/Month) grants access to games but not other in-game purchases. Very new games are sometimes restricted to a demo.
- Advance (£14.99/Month) grants access to even the newest EA games and includes in-game purchases.
Tend and Befriend
Video games are usually thought to be about fighting, shooting and adrenaline. As regular readers will know, there are video games about everything. Recently I've been noticing games that combine the stewardship of the land and the nurturing of resources.
These games, like Animal Crossing, present an "ambience of bucolic" and a "reassuring mix of the pastoral and the industrial," wrote Simon Parkin recently. They offer an escape to simpler times, that provides meaningful work along with the possibility of also working at friendships.
The games collected in this list each offer the chance to escape and absorb yourself tending to a plot of land and nurturing often surprisingly moving relationships. Whether you are diligently cleaning someone's empty flat as in Sunset, setting up a farm after retiring from your adventures in Littlewood, reconnecting with grown-up children in The Stillness of The Wind, nurturing a musical garden in Mutazione, establishing a coffee shop in Coffee Talk or even eeking out provisions while you care for children in This War Of Mine all these games have something to tend to and people to get to know while you do it.
These games, like Animal Crossing, present an "ambience of bucolic" and a "reassuring mix of the pastoral and the industrial," wrote Simon Parkin recently. They offer an escape to simpler times, that provides meaningful work along with the possibility of also working at friendships.
The games collected in this list each offer the chance to escape and absorb yourself tending to a plot of land and nurturing often surprisingly moving relationships. Whether you are diligently cleaning someone's empty flat as in Sunset, setting up a farm after retiring from your adventures in Littlewood, reconnecting with grown-up children in The Stillness of The Wind, nurturing a musical garden in Mutazione, establishing a coffee shop in Coffee Talk or even eeking out provisions while you care for children in This War Of Mine all these games have something to tend to and people to get to know while you do it.
Survive The Night
Surviving in games is often a key element. Some games, however, make it the main focus. With minimal resources and little light can you make it through to the morning? Can you prepare a shelter as the daylight dwindles in time for you to cope with the lurking creatures of the dark?
Whether this is as simple as closing the door to keep the zombies out in Minecraft or as complex as crafting food, clothing and medicine to cope with the freezing blackness of The Long Dark these games are exhilarating as they pose a strategic puzzle with personal consequences.
Many of these games offer an open world in which to survive, which opens up more ways of preparing for and then making it through the night time. This, of course, leads to another day where you need to spend time and resources wisely while exploring your surroundings.
Whether this is as simple as closing the door to keep the zombies out in Minecraft or as complex as crafting food, clothing and medicine to cope with the freezing blackness of The Long Dark these games are exhilarating as they pose a strategic puzzle with personal consequences.
Many of these games offer an open world in which to survive, which opens up more ways of preparing for and then making it through the night time. This, of course, leads to another day where you need to spend time and resources wisely while exploring your surroundings.
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