This War of Mine: Complete Edition Review

This War of Mine is an emotional anti-war survival game with a twist. Instead of playing the role of the solider, you play the role of the civilians, the people on the outside, the people who have no idea what’s going on or even if they’re going to live through the night. Those people. The game focuses on the reality of living through a war, and how people endure it.

This War of Mine: Complete Edition consists of all previously released DLC, This War of Mine Stories, as well as all future updates. So, you’re getting a lot of content here. Let me explain a little about the game modes here. You of course have the original, classics mode. This is where you are given 3 ‘random’ characters to look after. Each with their own backgrounds and stories. You can also create your own scenario by selecting your starting characters, selecting how long you have until winter comes and you can also choose how intense the combat is. You essentially create your own story. This War of Mine: Stories is almost like a campaign mode. You play through a set scenario with its own characters and objectives. There are going to be three different stories to choose from, but at the time of writing this review only one is available; Father’s Promise. A story of a father’s struggle to not only find his little girl, but also cure her illness before it’s too late. Each mode you choose has its own unique challenges to overcome, but one thing that stays the same throughout is the fact that it is incredibly emotional.

So, what do you actually do in This War of Mine? Well, you simply survive and how you survive is completely up to you. You must gather food, resources and even healing items whilst keeping yourself (and others around you) sane. You need to make sure each character isn’t depressed, or hungry or tired but you also need to make sure that each night you go out and scavenge materials and also have someone guarding your base. So many responsibilities. Anything can happen in this game. From raids to people committing suicide. A decision you made days ago that you may not have thought too much about may come back to bite you in the butt. Trying to look after 1 character is difficult enough, but having to look after 3, maybe more is insane! It’s incredibly tough and will require a lot of trial and error.

This War of Mine uses a completely hand-drawn art style and it’s completely dark colours used. It’s that dark almost everything looks like a shadow. Which really emphasises the heavy story that comes with it. It does look stunning, and you can really see the detail that has gone into drawing every room and every item. You can literally see the pencil strokes, and I love that.

The game’s soundtrack compliments the art style really well. It’s dark and gloomy. It’s packed full with emotion and actually makes you feel sad, like you can feel what emotions the characters are feeling? It’s weird to say, but it’s true. One little detail I loved about this game also, was when you’re in your base, making some food, building furniture, whatever you’re doing, the sounds of gunshots rings outside. Actually making you feel like you’re in a warzone, and adding to that fear you already have.

Overall, This War of Mine: Complete Edition is a great survival experience, full of emotion and great story-telling. It’s a great pick up and play game that you will be hooked with after the first 10 minutes and thinking about hours after you have put it down. The complete edition is bursting with content and packed full of heart-wrenching stories just waiting to be heard. If you’re a fan of excellent story-telling or even just survival games, you have to give this a try.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Switch code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.