This War of Mine: An Initial Playthrough and Introduction

on

This War of Mine is a 2D survival game set in a unnamed, war ravaged city. Rebels or terrorists, (the correct term dictated by whether one believes government pamphlets) are engaged with soldiers, in a despondent and protracted battle for each city block. The player controls two to four survivors who've taken shelter in an abandoned, wrecked, four story house (with a pleasant treehouse in the backyard). By scavenging and crafting, the survivors hope to endure until the end of the conflict.

Before explaining anything about the game, following is a short summary of my introductory playthrough:

The large house feels empty with only Marko the Scavenger (has the most inventory slots), and Pavle the Fast Runner (runs the fastest!) to occupy the enormous space. The automatic scenario of the first play-through includes these two because they have no addictions (they do not need coffee or cigarettes to maintain morale). Any additional game is a randomized setting. Within the first few days Bruno, the Good Cook, joined the crew, but he became depressed with the lack of cigarettes. Pavle succumbed not more than a week later to knife wounds incurred while stealing tobacco from an occupied house. The civilians, after cutting him up, let him limp home in critical condition to die in bed. Marko wasn't so lucky, shot down while trying to escape a gang held position, and Bruno, all alone and without cigarettes became mired in withdrawal and faded away as hunger and sickness encroached.

It wasn't an easy first game, and the second won't be much simpler. The game seems unforgiving, both intentionally and unintentionally, and next week there will be further discussion of this aspect. Today lets stick to the main parts of the game and some of their foibles.
Characters, scavenging, and crafting are the core elements of This War of Mine. The story is only a setting: minimal progression occurs. Characters are introduced with a name, title, and a short bio. The title indicates the skill the character has. Sometimes, like Bargaining Skills, it's pretty obvious what bonus the character brings. Other titles are inscrutable. Bruno, the Good Cook, doesn't produce healthier food, but cooks food with fewer ingredients.  Emilia, the Talented Lawyer, suffers less morale damage when she steals or injures someone. The strangest is definitely Anton, the Math Professor, who's Good at Mathematics. What could he possibly do, fix the house? No, it seems, after searching through online guides, his skill reduces the amount of time it takes for a trap to catch a rat, assuming he is the one who sets it (rats become tasty raw meat).

Just as the characters' titles are vague, there are a number of other intangible skills. One character's title is Fast Runner. A player might assume all characters aside from Pavle are the same speed, but this would be a mistake. Instead, there seems to be a number of different speeds, but determining them requires trial and observation. The same is true of combat, which has five tiers of proficiency with no method to know in advance who has what proficiency. General observations about a character based on gender, age, and athleticism provide a starting point, but experience is the only certain guide.

Character's unascertainable differences are not even as simple as running or basic combat. Combat tiers are compilations and approximations of a number of skills: health, ability to backstab, ability to hide, and chance to connect with melee weapon.

The developers created unique characters which adds replayability. But no where does the game indicate their uniqueness, and by offering vague titles and no hints to the character's true variety, the player ends up frustrated. It would be as if someone played Final Fantasy VII, but the game didn't show any of the character stats, or Civ 5 but the game only provided the name of each Nation's Unique ability with no explanation. The Americans have the ability Manifest Destiny, but if one didn't know it provides 'All land military units have +1 sight and 50% discount when purchasing tiles' it would be both discouraging and useless.
And since the player is playing as these characters, they are the avatars, they are the player. Shouldn't the player as the characters know their own strengths and weaknesses?

Characters have a number of statuses: Hunger, Morale, Tiredness, Health, and Injury. These are pretty straightforward, but as one might expect by now, characters differ slightly in how their statuses function. Food reduces hunger, Tiredness is reduced by sleeping in a bed, Injury is healed by bandages, if a character becomes ill, Health is returned by medicine, and morale is maintained by coffee, cigarettes, and not harming others.

The game is split up into day and night segments. Each day the characters mill about the abandoned mansion, and can be ordered to fulfill basic tasks. If left to their own devices most will sit or sleep (assuming enough beds and chairs have been constructed). But they should be building appliances, crafting equipment, and eating.

The house comes with (in addition to the holes in the roof, the piles of rubble everywhere, and the many locked closets), a brand new crafting station. A number of items can be built there, like beds, chairs and a water filtration system. It can also be used to construct the tools and weapons crafting station or the medicine and tobacco crafting station.
Occasionally the house has visitors; a trader, children requesting supplies, or another adult wishing to join your community (four maximum).

The day segment lasts till about 6pm or until the player chooses to conclude it. Normally there isn't too much to do, and after ten minutes the player voluntarily advances to the night segment.

During this part of the game, first the player assigns a choice to each of the characters; scavenge, guard, sleep, or sleep in bed.

Guarding will protect the house from a random chance of other's stealing from it.  Failing to guard the house can also result in injuries as those who break in may wound sleeping inhabitants. Any guards will not receive any sleep and become tired.

Sleeping in beds is preferable, but they have to be constructed. Sleeping in a bed will make a character more rested and also helps with minor illnesses and wounds.

Only one character can scavenge and it's crucial to pick the optimal one. Characters have inventory slots with as many as seventeen and as few as eight. Also, certain characters are (as already noted) better at fighting, while others are faster, or can run silently. Once a character has been chosen, a map shows a number of locations with a brief description and a list of materials at the location. Upon choosing one the game returns to its 2D view.

Starting from the edge of the screen the character explores the building under the control of the player. The game does have controller compatibility but it's clumsy and a mouse is preferable. As the player explores they can search through debris, closets, and fridges to find supplies, or use tools to open locks, break down doors, or saw open metal grates. Sometimes combat is necessary.
Locations can be broken down into four types.

The easiest one are those which are abandoned. No one is there to resist, and therefore there is no danger. They may not have the best stuff, but they are good a place to learn the mechanics.

Some buildings have people who are willing to help, such as traders or doctors. It's safe to wander about and on the fringes there may be abandoned stuff, but if they discover you stealing from them, watch out.

A number of buildings have survivors such as yourself. Some will defend themselves with weapons, while others will only use words.

Finally, there are locations guarded by soldiers, rebels, or gang members. These people will shoot characters on sight.

Once the character has collected all they can, or die trying, the game returns to the house and begins again.

There are roughly fifty different items which can be collected and carried, from the most basic components such as wood and water, to the more valuable such as body armor, assault rifle, or bandages.

After playing at least part of one run through the game offers a build you own adventure style set up. The player can chose the characters, the number of days to survive, the onset of winter, the difficulty, and a huge number of settings.

This covers the basics of (and some frustrations) This War of Mine.

Next week, expect another article with a completed (hopefully) playthrough and further insight on the characteristics which make the game both interesting, but difficult.

Comments

Post a Comment