War. What pictures flash before your eyes when you hear this word?? Soldiers, shots, attack, defense, snipers, blood, death, trenches, tanks, artillery… Something like that, yes? But “in war, not all are soldiers,” as the subtitle of the wonderful game This War of Mine tells us.
Fictional Eastern European city. Civil war. The https://noverificationcasinos.co.uk/litecoin-casinos-ltc/ city is under siege. Neither leave nor enter. Shops, pharmacies, hospitals – forget it. No benefits of civilization. War, hunger, disease and all the dirt of human essence. Soldiers, militia and survivor units. And it’s not a representative of the first two categories that will be placed under your supervision, no. From now on, you must look after ordinary people who once in a past life were journalists, athletes, chefs, school teachers, firefighters. And now they just want to survive in this hell. And you, the player, must help them with this.
Morning. Pavlo and Katya are sleeping off after the night shift. This night was calm, the marauders did not come. Marco has just returned from a night outing that turned out to be rich in catches. Several canned goods, bandages and various crafting materials. Canned food and bandages are shelved until worse times. Marco also goes to bed to get some sleep. Bruno, who slept that night, gets up for the day watch. Checks rat traps, collects rainwater, prepares food for everyone. Shots are heard nearby and sometimes screams can be heard. It blows unpleasantly from holes in the wall. We should beat them up. At night, looters can get through them.
The next night, a rested Marco went out again. The main goal is to find food, which is sorely lacking, so we visit a destroyed supermarket, suddenly there is something lying around? As soon as we open the doors, we hear women’s screams. An armed soldier tries to rape a girl. Help or silently continue your search? Time is limited, the soldier is armed, we only have a pathetic kitchen knife, and hungry friends are waiting at home. Marco, under my control, cannot stay away. I carefully approach the soldier from behind and thrust the knife. The body falls lifelessly on the cold floor. The girl gives me a quick “thank you” and then immediately leaves the location. I look after her knowingly: that’s right, what if I’m just such a rapist?. Man is a wolf to man. Marco receives a hero’s welcome at home. Katya is the most happy. This girl especially loves to help others. The whole team is inspired and is a little easier to bear the lack of food.
Several days pass, it’s winter, it’s cold outside. Pavlo doesn’t look well, he has a fever. Katya is worried about him, she has a decline in morality. The unsightly stove-stove cannot cope with heating the house, we urgently need to improve it before the whole team gets sick. The rats are avoiding traps, the nearby ruins have long been looted, and the market, where in the summer you could meet merchants and buy some food for a bottle of moonshine, is covered with snow. There is nowhere to get supplies. There are only 7 cans of stew in the refrigerator. Will it be enough until summer?? Will at least one damn rat get caught in the trap?? And where to get firewood for heating..
Pavlo is getting worse, he urgently needs medicine. On the next street there is a house where an elderly couple barricaded themselves… And we know for sure that they have medicine, food, and fuel. Night is approaching, but I can’t decide whether to let Pavlo die or rob the old people? The desire to survive wins… As night falls, Marco is on the threshold of that very house. The old people are scared and ask not to touch them. “I would just like some medicine and a couple of cans of stew,” I would like to say. But the game doesn’t give you this option… Either steal or leave. My heart is squeezing, there’s a lump in my throat… How low I’ve sunk. I try not to meet old people again, I look for food and medicine. I find. I put it in my backpack and bashfully leave the location.
Everyone in the shelter was already saddened by Pavlo’s condition. After Marco returned, things got worse. Katya is depressed and refuses to follow my commands, Bruno is on the verge of a breakdown, Marco himself hates himself and only Pavlo lies indifferently in bed, unable to get up… I give him antibiotics, hoping that it is not too late and my fall was not in vain. I’m staying in the shelter tonight. Disgusting..
The morning brought news of a fight between Bruno and Marco. Both are wounded. There is only one bandage in the first aid kit. Whom to save? Pavlo is clearly better now, although he still has to lie in bed. I force Katya to listen to the radio to somehow lift her spirit. Between Bruno and Marco I choose Marco. He is more useful for everyone else… I bandage the wounds and send him to the next bed with Pavlo. I chop down the last furniture in the house to light the stoves. In the hope of at least ridding Bruno of depression, I drink moonshine. What if it lasts until the summer, and then I’ll find bandages… There’s a knock on the door. Two children, a boy and a girl. I understand that they will ask for help, but I have nothing to help them with. I don’t even want to open the door, I don’t want to press the refusal button. Disgusting. I finally give up. Children say their mother is seriously ill and ask for medicine. In my medicine cabinet I only have throat lozenges and one package of antibiotics. Winter is not over yet, the rest of my team may get sick like Pavlo and then I will need these medicines… Disgusting. I close the door on the children. I can’t help it. Excuse me please.
I’m mentally preparing for the loss of Bruno. He’s getting worse, there are still no bandages. There’s another knock on the door. Neighbors whom, somewhere at the beginning of the game, I helped board up the windows in their shelter, when I could still afford it. A lump comes to my throat again… Help again? And again I can’t help. Pavlo is still sick, Katya doesn’t listen to me, Marco is recovering from his injury, and Bruno isn’t even bandaged and walks around with an open wound… Still, I open the door. Neighbors give me bandages and a couple of cans of stew, in gratitude for the past. God, thank you people! I bandage Bruno’s wounds, feed everyone and hope for the best..
Overall: at first glance, This War of Mine is simply a wonderful game about proper resource allocation. On the second, more attentive, this is a game about human essence. And about the fact that no matter how noble we are and no matter how much we shout that even in war we will never stoop to robbery and murder – when grief and need come, we all just want to survive. And we all go down. After all, there is simply no strength to talk about morality and ethics.