

The scavenging phase plays out as a tense, atmospheric 2D stealth game. Every morning my game auto-saved, ensuring that I couldn't undo any nighttime disasters. By night, Bruno usually slept in one of the homemade beds while Pavle stood watch over the apartment with a knife, protecting it from looters, and Marko went scavenging in the city.

THIS WAR OF MINE GAME OVER PLUS
They had a series of small workshops where they could build new furniture and appliances, plus an herbal workshop where they could create fresh bandages and homemade medicine. I watched over them from the 2D, cutaway view of their shelter as fresh water came via a rain trap I'd built from assembled raw materials, and fresh meat came in from the homemade animal trap in the basement. This time, my three survivors - Bruno, Pavle, and Marko - had almost everything they needed. Sometimes everyone just dies, with no rhyme or reason.One of my first games of This War of Mine turned out to be one my easiest, but I had no idea how well I was doing until later runs, when I struggled to regain the same ground. But then This War of Mine reminds you, in shockingly effective and heartbreaking fashion, that war doesn't follow predictable rules.

As you try to lead a group of survivors during an unnamed conflict, by scavenging for items, jury-rigging survival aids like heaters and vegetable gardens, and bartering with other survivors for goods, you might occasionally feel like you're getting the hang of wartime survival. Even before you hit the menu screen, you've seen that same Hemingway quote so often trotted out by the Call of Duty series: "In modern war you die like a dog for no good reason." Except in This War of Mine, that quote really is a guiding principle.
