Back in 2019, one of my favourite games was released for PC, This War of Mine. Bought for me by my partner, I don’t think either of us could anticipate how obsessed I would become with the game or how many hours I would spend playing it. Now don’t get me wrong, This War of Mine is one of the most gut-wrenchingly bleak games I’ve ever played. Unlike countless other titles that shamelessly use the atrocities of war as the backdrop for action FPS titles, This War of Mine is a harrowing point of view of what war is really like from the perspective of ordinary civilians just trying to survive.
As powerful and eye-opening as I found This War of Mine to be back in 2019, it is more so in 2022. The game is set within the fictional city of Pogoren and is broken up into two cycles, day and night. During the daytime, players control multiple characters at their shelter. Feeding them, letting them improve the shelter and caring for the sick and wounded. Then at night, the characters will split up, and players can choose to take someone to go and scavage through local areas for supplies.
No action in This War of Mine is without consequences, though. Go scavenge and risk being wounded by other survivors or even killed. Stay home, and you risk running out of food and other supplies needed to survive. Sleep and risk being robbed. This is a game where you constantly have to take risks and make choices to survive that may not be moral and that you may not be able to live with after.
When I played through the game back when it first launched, I didn’t have the complete edition, which featured many side stories you could play. However, when playing through This War Of Mine Final Cut on my PlayStation 5, these stories were included, so I decided to jump into this new (for me) content.
The included side stories are mechanically the same as the base mode, only this time there are unique objectives other than just surviving the war. I also didn’t play through these stories alone, opting to take my partner along for the ride and using his input to make the critical survival and moral choices. The result was two 30 something-year-olds up way past bedtime, practically falling asleep with the controller between us but unable and unwilling to switch off until the story was done.
Playing This War of Mine: Final Cut for PS5 is every bit as powerful, moving and addictive as it was back in 2019. The inclusions of the extra DLC content make it a complete package definitely worth playing even if this isn’t your first time and perfect for if it is.
