Protect The Little Ones As This War Of Mine Comes To Console

This War of Mine isn’t meant to be a particularly joyous or uplifting experience, nor does it conform to the kinds of testosterone pumping “grit” or “realism” of other war games. That’s because, instead of sending you out onto the frontlines of with a gun, a recharging health system and a small group of highly trained characters to support you, you find yourself having to try and survive amidst the destruction and chaos that war creates.

Though it was released on PC two years ago and is set during the Siege of Sarajevo from the Bosnian war that lasted from 1992 to 1996, the years of upheaval that we’ve seen in the Middle East and the Syrian Civil War in particular mean that This War of Mine has never been more relevant. As the game comes to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at the end of this month on January 29th, with more content added over the original release, your only task within the game is to try and ensure the survival of a small group of civilians trapped within this warzone, struggling to make it through to the end of the siege and the declaration of a ceasefire.

It’s the perils of the outside world and the threat of snipers which keep your small group cooped up inside during the day, but that doesn’t mean your time is wasted. Especially early on, you’ll be switching between all of the people in your care and, from a side on view into the game’s charcoal-like aesthetic, setting them to the task of opening doors, sifting through piles of rubble from the battle worn building you’re in, and just trying to find as many supplies as possible.

You literally start with nothing, so you’ll have to build a stove before you can cook food, a bed in order to get an actually restful night of sleep, a metalwork bench to make lock picks, and so on. Some tasks take longer than others, so while you set one person to cook a few meals, you can switch to another person and head off to open the last door and cupboard in the house that you’ve yet to explore.

But there’s only so many supplies to be found in the house, and you’ll need to venture out into the city in order to scavenge for more. Each playthrough is different and picks from a selection of different buildings that become your shelter, as well as picking from a selection of different locations that you can venture out to. They unlock a couple at a time, gradually expanding your horizons and ensuring that you’ve got more potential sources of food, medicine and other vital and limited supplies.

It’s during the night that the real dangers present themselves. Not only are you likely to encounter other scavengers as you search, but your base is also a potential target, so while some of your group try to sleep, one will have to stand guard while you explore the rest of the city. It’s an important factor that plays into the wellbeing and morale of the group.

While some places will be relatively safe to explore, and you won’t encounter anyone else, it pays to be careful. You can peak through keyholes to look for dangers on the other side, and it’s here that I came across a story event in a supermarket, as a man with a gun was forcing himself upon a woman. Without a gun of my own – something that you can acquire or make later in the game – intervening was risky, and so I had to make a decision whether to look after my own skin or try and help someone else. Either one would have a knock on effect later in the game.

Unfortunately, I fumbled the situation entirely. Though the controls aren’t overly complicated, there are a few little quirks and nuances to get used to on a gamepad. There are often several things nearby that you can interact with, and I would get myself in a muddle and forget to deliberately select between them. It adds an extra layer of abstraction, however slight, to the need to learn just what it is that you need to do in order to survive.

In the instance of the supermarket, my mistake was worse. I failed to switch from scavenge mode to combat mode and accidentally pushed too hard on the analogue stick, bursting into the room and getting myself killed a few moments later. Even if I had been in combat mode, I don’t know if attacking with bare fists would have worked.

At least the woman was able to make an escape of her own, but when Henrik didn’t return in the morning, it impacted the morale of the group in a major way, and none more so than his grandson, Ivano. It’s with the addition of children that the console release gets the subtitle, The Little Ones, and it will lend a slightly different perspective on the game for those who’ve already experienced it – there’s no official word on if The Little Ones content will be brought to the PC version, at this time.

They’re another person for you to look after, but they’re not quite like the adult members of your group. They’re still children, for one thing, with a different outlook on life. If you take control and walk them up to a locked cupboard door, they’ll ask if maybe a magic key might open it, and they can be distracted from the conflict by playing with toys. Even then, they do understand what’s going on, and will ask questions about why people are fighting or will plunge into depression if their parent, grandparent or guardian doesn’t return one night.

Will it maybe make you act differently as you play? Will you dote upon the children, bringing and making them new toys to try and keep them sheltered from the world, or will you try to involve them in the every day life, teaching them how to cook and contribute to the maintenance of your hideout? Can you survive and protect those who can’t protect themselves?