If, once in a while, someone flicks the cut you’ll feel a sharp jab of profound pain, but if they persistently prod the wound your nerves will become damaged and your skin will become calloused. See, if you scrape your elbow, your body will realise that it is in pain. But, these effects were quickly nullified, by the character repeating the same dialogue every five minutes and the ‘sad’ status effect bearing down on me like I was some alexithymic robot.

Katia wasn’t hungry, tired or wounded she was sad.Īt first this struck me fairly hard, and I was even more ashamed of myself than I previously was. This was one I hadn’t seen before, because up until now I had played the game as morally as I could. And feeling like a terrible person, I noticed a status effect under her name. Her dialogue reminded me of what I’d done, and told me that the old couple would surely die. To my absolute horror the character who looted the house wondered this same thing. And as we got better, I couldn’t help thinking about how that old couple would only get worse. I remember returning with the loot, feeding my party and bandaging my wounds. He was telling me how he needed what I was taking. All the old man could do was follow me while I pillaged his house, begging me not to take his food, telling me that he would die. I remember, in my first play through, stealing the food and medical supplies of a peaceful old man and his dying wife.

See, things quickly become uncomfortable, and when they do This War of Mine excels. You’ll be desperate, and when you’re desperate, I promise, you’ll be surprised what you’ll do. Sooner or later you’ll be out of of food, and short of supplies, which, in turn, will lead to you being short of happiness and short on luck. The times are tough, and the game does an amazing job of conveying this. And despite your best intentions, you will quickly learn that you are human as well. People are desperate, and more than that, people are cruel. But hope and happiness are in short supply, as are food and weapons. You’ll start out admirably, scavenging for supplies, determined not to steal or kill. When the game begins, it’s easy to make promises of altruistic survival. I spent more than a few hours contemplating my decisions and their morality, wondering about certain characters and how my actions affected them. I was only half joking when I mentioned PTSD. The monochromes of the black and grey colour scheme should tell you all you need to know about the mood of the game. The game is dark and unforgiving, both in difficulty and psychology.

This war of mine pc gameplay