Full Circle Magazine FR

Most of the time when we play a war game, we are either a foot soldier in a first-person shooter, we drive a combat vehicle (like in War Thunder reviewed in FCM#93), or we are the prime decision-maker in war strategy games like Empire: Total War. The video-game This War of Mine fits none of those scenarios. In fact, in This War of Mine, you are not really even fighting a specific enemy per-se, except perhaps for the war itself. Erase every idea you may have about a war game, and instead imagine yourself in any war that's ever been – as an ordinary civilian trying to stay alive. This War of Mine is a war, survival & strategy game where you're just trying to stay alive as a civilian in a war that you didn't ask for and you wish would just end. “In war, not everybody is a soldier” is the quote used to promote the indie game This War of Mine. That phrase about sums it up as to the content of the game. This War of Mine was released for Linux, Mac & Windows on November 2014 by Poland-based 11-Bit Studios. Game Synopsis This War of Mine depicts the gruesome reality of the horrors that the average person must endure when a war happens to knock at your front door. It's most certainly a war-survival game, but it is also definitely a strategy game where you must plan out your course of action from the get-go. I will add right now that This War of Mine is NOT for the faint of heart. It's not your typical combat game where you'll see bloody, gory graphics, but instead the warning I've issued is due to the moral choices you'll be forced to make in order to survive and the unimaginable events you'll witness before the war ends. I've never had to endure a war first-hand but playing this game reminded me of when I was reading Viktor Frankl's account of surviving in a WWII concentration camp in his book Man's Search for Meaning. You will definitely need to make some tough choices in this game – which is one of the reasons it's gotten such rave reviews since its release. The game itself is very well polished and, out of all indie games I've played in recent times, it's without a doubt the most accomplished and best all round. I have not encountered any bugs yet, and, from what I've read in various forums, I don't expect to find any bugs at all.

La plupart du temps, lorsque nous jouons à un jeu de guerre, nous sommes soit un fantassin dans un jeu de tir à la première personne, soit le conducteur d'un véhicule de combat (comme dans War Thunder dont une critique fut faite dans le FCM n° 93), soit le décideur principal dans un jeu de guerre stratégique du type Empire: Total War. Le jeu This War of Mine ne correspond à aucun de ces scénarios. En fait, dans This War of Mine, vous ne combattez même pas un ennemi précis, sauf, peut-être la guerre elle-même. Oubliez toutes les idées que vous pourriez avoir au sujet d'un jeu de guerre et, à la place, imaginez-vous dans n'importe quelle guerre qui ait existé - comme un civil ordinaire qui tente de survivre. This War of Mine est un jeu de guerre, de survie et de stratégie où vous essayez simplement de rester en vie en tant que civil dans une guerre que vous ne vouliez pas et dont vous souhaitez ardemment la fin. « Au cours d'une guerre, tous les gens ne sont pas des soldats » est la citation promotionnelle de ce jeu indépendant This War of Mine. Cette phrase-là résume bien le contenu du jeu. This War of Mine fut publié pour Linux, Mac et Windows en novembre 2014 par 11-bit Studios, basés en Pologne.

Synopsis du jeu

This War of Mine reflète la réalité macabre des horreurs que la moyenne des individus doit souffrir quand une guerre vient de nulle part frapper à sa porte. C'est très certainement un jeu de survie en guerre, mais c'est aussi sans conteste un jeu de stratégie où vous devez, dès le départ, établir votre plan d'action. J'ajouterai ici que This War of Mine NE convient PAS aux âmes sensibles. Ce n'est pas un jeu de combat typique où les graphismes sont sanglantes et « gore » ; mon avertissement concerne les choix moraux que vous serez obligé de faire pour survivre et les événements inimaginables dont vous serez témoin avant la fin de la guerre. Je n'ai jamais dû endurer une guerre personnellement, mais jouer à ce jeu m'a rappelé le compte-rendu de Viktor Frankl d'un camp de concentration pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale tiré de son livre « Man's Search for Meaning ». Vous devrez absolument faire des choix difficile dans ce jeu - une des raisons pour lesquelles les critiques depuis sa sortie sont très élogieuses. Le jeu lui-même est soigné à tout point de vue et, de tous les jeux indépendants auxquels j'ai joué récemment, c'est sans aucun doute le plus abouti et le meilleur sur toute la ligne. Je n'ai pas encore rencontré de bogues et, d'après ce que j'ai lu sur des forums divers, je ne m'attends pas à en trouver.

Playing the game You start out the game with a team of survivors, usually three or four, and, as the days pass, there's a chance that at least one other person will knock at your door and ask to join you; it's completely up to you whether you accept the other person or leave them outside to fend for themselves. Not having a tutorial at all, the first couple of times you play, it may be a sort of trial-and-error learning experience, but, after a couple of tries, you should have a handle on what you're doing and begin to plan a well adjusted strategy. My first time playing I actually made it to nine days before my first character was killed. The only, and I do mean the ONLY, downside to this game is that you don't have the luxury of saving your progress like you do in other games. The only options available to you when you play are “Continue” or “Another Try” which should be self-explanatory.

Your survivors are found in a decrepit building that has plenty of items scattered around to get you started. The first order of business is to send your survivors to scavenge whatever they can find in your building. Unfortunately, there will be places that will be unreachable at first until you obtain either a lock-pick or a crowbar, both of which can be built, or traded from someone else. Having gathered as much as you can, you then face the choice of what to build with your materials. In order to have my players well rested, I like to build two beds for them, though at first one will suffice. You may also want to build a metal workshop so you can build your crowbar and other metal needs. Ultimately, all you really need to survive is rest (on a bed is preferable), food, water, and meds. If you have a character with addictions such as coffee or cigarettes, you will also need to provide those, otherwise your character will become depressed and end up broken, catatonic, and/or leave your team. Building a heater is essential when winter comes, an animal catcher will help you catch rats to eat, a distillery will provide you with alcohol for trading, and the list goes on. In the daytime, while staying in your building, it's your job and responsibility to upgrade your living arrangements, cook food, gather water, make alcohol, upgrade your tools, grow herbs, make cigarettes, meds, etc. At night, you send one of your survivors out to the fictional city of Pogoren so they can scavenge for more items. The next day is all about further upgrading your living quarters with the items you have found at night in other buildings around the city. The real danger shows its ugly face at night when you're scavenging around the city. Some places are relatively safe to visit; however, others are not. There are places you can go to where armed assailants are willing to kill you at first sight. Other places have inhabitants still occupying their original abode, and may or may not be willing to trade with you. Regardless of whether the trade happens, if you happen to take any items (especially food or meds) that belong to them, your survivors will become sad because they know that those people's lives might have been shortened thanks to you robbing them. However, taking items from criminals is OK and has no negative feelings associated with it.

For defense there are a number of weapons that can be used throughout the game, such as knives, crowbars, shotguns, etc. What I've found best is not to kill unless you absolutely have to, and, if you do, it's best to kill with a knife or another silent weapon instead of something loud like a shotgun that will alert other criminals of your whereabouts. Playable Characters There are different permutations of people with whom you can start out the game. There are a total of 10 playable characters, and each has strengths and weaknesses. Some combinations of people are better than others depending on what strategic approach you will take. For example, Bruno is a good cook, and your whole team benefits from him in that he uses less resources when cooking food, collecting rainwater, distilling alcohol, or producing meds or cigarettes. Katia is good at bargaining, and whenever you have to barter with someone, she'll get you the best deal. However, for scavenging, the best is no doubt Marko as he can carry up to 15 items in his backpack, and he’s not slowed down when the load is heavy.

The War is Over You eventually beat the game by surviving anywhere between 20-50 days. I've heard of some people beating after only 22 days, and yet there are others who had to reach 47 before beating it. There are different scenarios played out as your game progresses which are decided depending on your in-game choices as well as just pure random luck. For example, your game could begin in the middle of winter, which would make you start the game already owning at least one heater. On the flip-side, your game could begin before winter approaches which means you have no heater but when winter arrives you must build a heater, otherwise you'll freeze to death… literally. I've had a couple of characters actually freeze to death. I've also had characters die of hunger, illness, or even untreated injuries. The quick way to die is getting killed while scavenging throughout the city. Your characters are also prone to getting depressed and contemplating suicide if times are really tough. In short, it is as if you really are trying to survive a war that just landed in your backyard. Like I've previously stated, it is the decisions you make that ultimately determine how likely it is that your characters will survive in this war-torn state. Installing This War of Mine You can install This War of Mine in one of several ways. If you want all of your proceeds to go to 11Bit-Studios, then you can get the game from the 11bitstudios website. Otherwise, you can get it from either Steam or www.humblebundle.com. The download and installation is pretty straightforward. I got mine from Steam, and, after purchasing it, I simply waited a few minutes for Steam to download and install it in the background while I was busy doing other things. The game currently sells for $19.99, but often it is on sale for lower than that. I got lucky and paid half off the full price when I got it.

Minimum Specs These are the minimum specifications as taken from the official game website: • OS: Ubuntu 12.04 • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHz • Memory: 2 GB RAM • Graphics card: Geforce 9600 GS, Radeon HD4000, Shader Model 3.0, 512 MB RAM My Custom-made Gaming Rig: • AMD FX-6100 3.3GHz CPU (overclocked to 3.5GHz) • Asus M5A97-EVO motherboard • Gigabyte Windforce GeForce GTX 960 graphics card with 346.59 proprietary driver • 8GB of Kingston Hyper X RAM & 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS with Unity desktop Conclusion In short, this is by far one of the most entertaining & innovative games I've had the pleasure of playing in a long time. I really enjoyed playing This War of Mine. The game-play is unique and keeps you engaged. The way it stirs up emotions within you is something I've not experienced from a video game before. The charcoal-stylized graphics intertwined with authentic street art pieces made by artists from around the world (included only if you buy the War Child Charity DLC) keeps the game uncomfortably gloomy. The eerie and depressing soundtrack unmistakably enhances the uneasy feeling that permeates throughout the game. I strongly recommend this game.