This War Of Mine

[FlowerChild]

Well, Icy just posted a video today doing a little LP of This War Of Mine, and it reminded me how much I liked this game. I came back here looking for the thread related to it to post a link to the vid, and much to my surprise discovered there wasn't one :)

Icy's vid:



Back in November of last year I posted some impressions in the Steam sale thread about this one:

I wound up buying it a few days ago due to both my survival game addiction and my obsession with games being used to convey deeper messages :)

What to say? It's an awesome game for the first play through. Not sure it has much replay value though, and while people are going on about how hard it is, I finished it on my second try (made it pretty far on my first too...I think to day 30 or something). It is certainly harder than your average mass market game is right now, but I'm not sure that really makes it "hard". I think it's more a matter that people aren't used to not being able to run into every situation and win via combat. If you play cautiously and with the understanding you are playing civilians I suspect you could get through it on your first try if you don't make any obvious blunders.

Beyond that, I put a few hours into another play through before deciding to call it quits. While there is a certain amount of randomization, I wouldn't say it's enough to justify going through it multiple times.

So...it's an amazing survival experience *while it lasts*. Whether it is worth the 20$ or not is hard to say. Personally, I'd think for around the same price (or cheaper), either The Forest, or The Long Dark would provide more play value, both of which are good survival games, without the political undertones mind you.

Looking back, I think that's still accurate. Steam tells me I only have 23 hours in the game, but they were very memorable hours, and seeing Icy's vid I think I'll go back and give it another run as it reminded me of how much I enjoyed it.

Anyways, just to say if you happen to see it on sale, it's definitely worth a play. I still think 20$ is a bit harsh for the amount of playtime it provides, but for folks into survival games I think it's really something that should be experienced at some point.

[Gilberreke]

BTW, if you played for 23 hours, there's no way you finished the game. You probably just did the starter play-through. There's new teams that unlock which can be a fair bit harder than the first one. For example, there's one where you have to survive with just one character, there's one where you start in winter, with raids on the first two days, etc. Those can be hard enough that you die on the first week.

[Ulfengaard]

BTW, if...

Quite off topic, but I think it says something about the legacy of the mod that when I see these three letters I think 'Better than Wolves' just as quickly as I think 'by the way'.

[FlowerChild]

BTW, if you played for 23 hours, there's no way you finished the game. You probably just did the starter play-through. There's new teams that unlock which can be a fair bit harder than the first one. For example, there's one where you have to survive with just one character, there's one where you start in winter, with raids on the first two days, etc. Those can be hard enough that you die on the first week.

No, I did multiple playthroughs. I'm not sure if I completed all of them (probably not), but I definitely saw the character and location variety, etc. it just wasn't enough to motivate me to keep going.

Things felt way too samey on additional goes for me to say it had substantial replay value. I think it's been like a year since I last played and it still feels quite "been there, done that".

EDIT: Yeah, looking over the Steam reviews, even at 23 hours I seem to be at the higher end of how much time people seem to invest in the game, even if they really like it. There are a few exceptions that have played more, but they seem relatively rare.

I think part of it may be the depressing nature of the game in combination with what I perceive to be a lack of variety. Playing it is pretty emotionally draining IMO so I think there's a certain amount of inertia that needs to be overcome to get yourself to start a new game. Meanwhile, characters may vary, but the fundamentals of gameplay remain largely unchanged regardless, and the nature of the game itself revolves around some pretty repetitive activities that start to drag after awhile.

I know even with the game I started this past weekend, once I had a character die, I slipped into some gaming "why go on?" lethargy as a player, which while entirely fitting to the subject matter, isn't exactly conducive to extended play :)

[Gilberreke]

I think part of it may be the depressing nature of the game in combination with what I perceive to be a lack of variety. Playing it is pretty emotionally draining IMO so I think there's a certain amount of inertia that needs to be overcome to get yourself to start a new game. Meanwhile, characters may vary, but the fundamentals of gameplay remain largely unchanged regardless, and the nature of the game itself revolves around some pretty repetitive activities that start to drag after awhile.

I know even with the game I started this past weekend, once I had a character die, I slipped into some gaming "why go on?" lethargy as a player, which while entirely fitting to the subject matter, isn't exactly conducive to extended play :)

Yeah, I get your point. I'm currently in a run where I just flat out ran out of components, which you need for everything. I can't make filters, so I can't make food or vegetables, things are starting to spiral downwards. When it was suddenly winter too, I just went "oh god, what's the point of it all?", with me contemplating if I can last a few more days if I rob the elderly couple again, but not actually feeling like that at all, emotionally.