Game: This War of Mine: The Little Ones
Consoles: Xbox One (reviewed), PS4, PC, iOS, Android
Publisher: Deep Silver, 11 bit studios
Developer: 11 bit studios
Most games that put you in the middle of an ongoing war lets you run and gun for your chosen alliance. This War of Mine: The Little Ones deviates from the usual formula of military shooters by making you play from the perspective of civilians caught in the middle of intense warfare. Your heartstrings will be tugged and you’ll repeatedly question your actions throughout the harrowing trials of your survivors. This console version of the once PC exclusive title adds an important factor that ups the ante even more than before.
This War of Mine: The Little Ones presents the perfect visual style for its overall theme of sadness and desperation. The 2.5D art design brings the environmental destruction caused by the ongoing conflict to life. Peering into the past lives and current problems of your survivors hits hard thanks to the implementation of photos of actual humans. Although they’re most certainly hired actors, you’ll begin to envision them as actual civilians due to their hurtful facial expressions and personal observations. Your daily struggle involves living within a once abandoned building, keeping the people who live within it alive and upgrading your home with a myriad of helpful items. This is your main concern during the daytime, but the gameplay truly shines once nightfall hits.
Once darkness falls, you choose one survivor and travel to your chosen location. You’ll have to rely on your stealth prowess in order to invade houses, schools, Churches and buildings that house military personnel. The stakes are high – it feels immensely satisfying when you scavenge a ton of helpful items and escape a home full of gun wielders unscathed, but you’ll truly feel bothered when you lose one of your survivors after being clipped by sniper fire. Every time you leave your fort, you’ll have to weigh your options and select the right place to run into with the appropriate survivor. With the inclusion of children, the daily proceedings are even more important to your success than ever before. Providing the kids within your settlement with teddy bears, keeping them alive and reading their thoughts about what they’re going through increases the melancholy factor of the game.
This game is definitely not for everyone. The high difficulty and reliance on stealth are two big factors that may keep most gamers at a distance. And for those who tend to let their emotions get the best of them more than usual, playing through this game might just be a bit too painful to do. If those aforementioned factors aren’t an issue, then This War of Mine: The Little Ones must be experienced in order to be fully understood. Console gamers should take a journey into a world that’s despairing but deeper than most games of its ilk.
Bottom Line
This War of Mine: The Little Ones ports over one of the finest PC exclusives to the Xbox One and PS4. On top of the newly added factor of keeping young children alive, the game’s core experience still excels. Keeping your group alive, constructing household items, scavenging for food and other assorted gear at night and dodging numerous threats make up the core activities of this morose experience. This title’s theme and gameplay may be too morbid and difficult for most gamers, though. For everyone else, keep an open mind and hop into a great game that offers a differing perspective about war.
Score: 8.5/10
Pros:
- This game perfectly captures the downtrodden state of civilians as they fight for survival during a war
- The art style does a great job at illustrating the depressing nature of your day-today trials
- Adding children to the proceedings makes everything hit even harder during the sadder moments
Cons:
- The tough and stealth focused gameplay is definitely not for everyone