This War of Mine: Final Cut Review

Few developers understand the importance of their platform like 11 Bit Studios. Everything the developer does in This War of Mine is purposeful and designed to further promote a world where children don’t experience the horrors of war. A year after the release of This War of Mine in 2014, 11 Bit Studios partnered with War Child to raise £400,000 ($493,420) for anti-war efforts around the world. Recently, 11 Bit studio contributed to the outpouring of support for Ukraine by donating all proceeds from This War of Mine to the Ukrainian Red Cross. By the end of their fundraiser, they had donated $850,000. The driving force behind 11 Bit Studios and its work is plastered all over This War of Mine. Instead of controlling soldiers or trained warriors, the player is cast as many civilians who survive a siege in the fictional city of Pogoren. With little combat experience on their side, they must grind to a truce, avoiding starvation, bad weather, and flying bullets to the bitter end. There is no central story in This War of Mine other than “there is a war in Pogoren.” What makes This War of Mine’s storytelling so great is its hands-off approach. Everything players learn about a character and the events of the war is entirely driven by their own decisions. Each person players encounter in the game wrestles with war in their own way, and how players experience that reality is up to them. Worldbuilding comes from radio, which provides updates on the status of the war over broadcast. Without a central story, this War of Mine relies on characters to keep the player engaged. All controllable characters have unique backstories that players naturally discover through gameplay. Players also learn a lot about the morals of the characters based on how they react (or don’t react) to what other characters do while out at night. They comment on the actions of the other characters and lament about the abysmal living conditions as they go about their day. However, most NPC stories end after the first or second visit to a particular location. For example, a homeless man in an early game location asks the player for food when they first arrive at his squat. He doesn’t ask for help after that and just walks around aimlessly when the players come back. There is great potential for a longer storyline here, but it never develops. Fortunately, This War of Mine: Stories expansions solves this issue. While sacrificing control over certain aspects of gameplay, players can experience deeper stories through these DLCs. Focusing on a specific group of characters, players navigate custom locales and pre-written scenarios with only a few different endings. Although these stories are more linear than the main game, they convey powerful messages about the harsh reality and forgotten casualties of war. This War of Mine: Final Cut adds a new scenario and character, and it adds all DLC-specific maps to the base game. This gives players more experience in their custom scenarios. The survival gameplay in This War of mine is extremely unforgiving. Not only are supplies limited, but players must also manage a small inventory when clearing. The small stack size of basic items, such as wood, requires players to sacrifice other important materials. Players must also avoid attacks from evil NPCs and navigate through maze-like buildings. All this is done on a strict timer. This is the main tension of the night scavenging sequences. That tension is what makes nighttime gaming so engaging. The transition between safe, homeless areas and hostile areas is smooth. As the game progresses, players will go up against heavily armed military with body armor and stronger enemies standing between them and valuables. Navigating these locations provides an appropriate challenge that thematically reinforces the hardships of the common man while living through war. The core gameplay loop is enjoyable. Seeing the shell-out development of the characters squat in what has become a tidy home gives the player hope that the characters can emerge from this horrific situation unscathed. Where the gameplay falters slightly is combat. Since not every character is the best in combat, it is reasonable to assume that the battle will be difficult. But combat feels clunky regardless of ability, especially on console. Combat usually results in a dead character, so it’s rarely worth the effort. Although the combat is mechanically unrewarding, the difficulty of pulling it off adds a sense of desperation. Choices like whether to challenge an armed soldier for food—all of which affect each character’s ending—force players to make split-second decisions about how much morale they’ll sacrifice to survive life. There is an undeniable emotional impact to every decision players make. Visually, the game is stylish but surprisingly detailed. The game is presented in two-dimensional but modeled in three dimensions, giving physical depth to what could otherwise be a flat background. Each location players visit is carefully crafted to reflect the horrors of war. Abandoned bombed-out houses, crumbling cathedrals, and even entire airports are just some of the interesting places players discover, and all of them balance clever level design with visual appeal. The audio design, while mostly fantastic, does occasionally have a few hiccups. Most noticeable are the strange noises the children make while running, playing, or existing, some of which occasionally overlap. But outside of that, the audio design perfectly captures the atmosphere of a besieged city. During the day, falling bombs echo in the distance as a survivor plays the guitar to keep calm. At night, rapid gunfire too close for comfort echoes through the air as a civilian walks through a pile of debris. The attention to detail is immaculate. The game truly shines when children are added to the mix. Children are noticeably missing from the base game upon release but their inclusion greatly deepens the overall experience. The interactions between adults and children are truly stimulating; players can talk to them through difficult topics, play games with them, and form bonds with them. In our playthrough, Roman (a rebel soldier who fled when he was unable to kill his brothers) became responsible for a child named Iskra after joining him and his father, Christo, in their shelter. Although their first conversation was awkward and uncomfortable, they quickly became best friends. These interactions with Iskra, though brief, add great depth to Roman’s troubled demeanor and selfish personality. Despite some minor technical flaws, this War of Mine remains a fierce and, unfortunately, relevant game to this day. No wonder it was the first video game in history to be added to a school curriculum. Its portrayal of the harsh reality of war for civilians makes it one of the most unique games to come out in the last decade. This War of mine: Final Cut is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. GameRant received a PS5 code for this review. MORE Xbox Game Pass New Games for May 10 Explained