GREETINGS Y'ALL!
Welcome to my first post of 2015. What a year. I can see this year is going to be filled with new beginnings, laughter, love, smiles and funtimes.
Just kidding. It's going to be another stress filled nightmare. Enjoy yourselves, because I know I will be.
I was originally planning to start one of my regular segments, but I've been sidetracked over the past week. I finally got my Steam account working, and managed to download the two games I've wanted from it for ages; This War of Mine and Papers, Please.
Now lemme tell you a thing about This War of Mine. It rocks. It's awesome, and I love it. Not a game filled with laughter, love and smiles it is a game that will most likely haunt you and make you question all your moral choices.
The game was recommended to me by a friend months ago, and after finally downloading it I found it was a much simpler format than I'd first assumed. It's a platform point and click style game, and at first I had my doubts, but within the first few minutes I was hooked, (and it may have become my new addiction).
Set during a civil war in a fictionalized Eastern European country, you play as a group of civilians with (with the exception of one character) no military training. With snipers positioned throughout the city during the daytime your characters have no option but to work around the house, crafting tools and objects to help them survive, while during the night they have the option to sleep (on the floor or on a bed if you've crafted one), guard your home from possible looters or go out and scavenge.
Each of your survivors brings a unique skill to the group - one is trained in combat, another is a fast runner, and another is good at brokering deals. They each have a limited amount of backpack space, so you have to choose carefully and prioritize what your group needs that evening. There are one or two locations that are safe to scavenge without any interruption, but most places are guarded or have people living in them, so stealing is needed. If you're caught stealing, you'll be attacked, and depending on how combat-efficient the victims are, your character may be killed, and the supplies gathered will be lost. There are also many options to trade - a character will regularly appear at your house during the day to barter, there is a priest often found at the church willing to trade, and sometimes soldiers will be willing to exchange items for cigarettes and booze. If you're lucky, you'll open the game in the version of the city with the trading center, which is filled with bartering opportunities.
Your characters are affected directly by events in the game. Obviously, they will grow hungry after a day without food, and then three days later will become very hungry. Two days after that they will become starving, and after that they'll die of malnutrition. The death or injury of a character will affect the mood of the other characters, as will stealing, killing civilians, or not completing some actions (such as helping neighbors or saving the women in the brothel.) Being raided and having supplies stolen or characters injured will also affect the morale of the group, so building defenses is advised.
The game is tricky to complete (it took me countless tries and some consulting of the online wiki and it's unofficial counterpart to get to the ceasefire, and even then one of my group members died). But it's worth the ten pounds and half hour download time from Steam. I'd rate it a 9/10 as there are some patches that need to be made (but are more annoying than hindering, and I'm only picking up on them to be nit-picky).
It's gritty, it's difficult, and it makes you question your moral compass. And as it's based on the war diary of a survivor of the horrific events of the Siege of Sarajevo from '92-'96, it becomes more hard hitting and more gritty. Despite this, as an uncomplicated and plotless game, it is excellent, and my top videogame recommendation.
Happy gaming, and as always,
I'm with you 'till the end of the line, folks ♥
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