This War Of Mine
Review

This War Of Mine (2014) is a narrative strategy game inspired by the 1992–96 Siege of Sarajevo, this is a war game where you play the civilian trying to survive during the fighting. You face tough decisions on how to spend time and resources each day to maintain health, hunger and mood levels until a ceasefire is declared. At night you must venture out to gather materials and food.

The experience is intensified with The Little Ones version, which includes children to look after. The Little Ones optional expansion content, which can be bought with the game or purchased as downloadable content on PC, Mac, iOS and Android.

It’s a chance to experience the near-impossibility of survival and making the right decisions in these situations, doing the best you can with limited resources.

Play the game yourself before sharing it with older teenagers or other appropriately-aged family members. Once you understand the civilian wartime narrative, together you can make choices about how to use your resources and prioritise your time.

Discussing which risks are the right ones to take, and how to spend your meagre resources, not only brings home the stark reality of war but can also balance more frivolous use of this setting with other video games like Fortnite or Call of Duty.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked This War Of Mine 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Rich Adams and updated 4 months ago.