This War of Mine for Windows

A ground-level view of conflict

This War of Mine strips away the spectacle usually associated with war games. You aren’t an elite soldier or a heroic marksman — you’re an ordinary civilian trapped in a city ripped apart by fighting. The goal isn’t glory; it’s simply surviving another day in a wrecked neighborhood where comforts have been picked clean and safety is fragile.

Setting up a shelter (first day)

Each playthrough begins with a random band of survivors taking refuge in a ruined building. In my run the group consists of three men who make the bombed-out house their only sanctuary. By daytime the shelter offers brief respite from the fighting; at night it becomes the staging point for scavenging missions.

A short status report on day one made their situation clear: one man wounded, another ill, and all exhausted by the fighting. Despite fatigue, I set them to work repairing the place. The daytime activities are deliberate and slow — clearing rubble, assembling basic furniture, building simple tools and mending walls — which mirrors how tedious, hateful chores eat at you when danger is ever-present. The hand-drawn visuals, like hurried notebook sketches, reinforce the sense that you’re reading someone’s personal chronicle of hardship.

• Bruno: sick and resting while others work
• Marco: active scavenger and steady worker
• Pavle: injured but expected to contribute

Night operations: stealth over firepower

Night changes the rhythm entirely. The daytime’s plodding routine gives way to tense, stealth-focused scavenges. I sent Marco out to raid a supermarket while the injured Pavle kept watch and the ill Bruno slept. With no rations left at the house, finding food and first aid was vital.

Every night brings new sectors to explore, each with different loot and risks, and you can only choose one location per night. The supermarket held promise, but it was far from empty: a gang moved through the aisles, forcing you to pick quieter routes and proceed carefully. Marco initially scavenged the edges, then discovered an intact basement with a small medical closet. After leaving some bulky wood behind to make room, he grabbed bandages and medicine — desperately needed items.

A heartbeat later red indicators showed that something was nearby. The 2D overhead view gives a clear layout but keeps hidden dangers off-screen. Faced with a closed door, I had two options: fling it open or peer through the lock. Marco crouched to listen. The noise turned out to be a rat. I exhaled and made a run for the exit, carrying the supplies home.

Seven days later: morale and breakdown

The second day went relatively smoothly, but things deteriorated rapidly after that. A string of unsuccessful scavenges weakened morale, and then Marco was killed one night while searching a house — overtaken and beaten by other raiders. His death hit the group hard.

Grief and paranoia settled in. Bruno’s mood soured; he complained that they had been "treated like animals," and nothing I tried could lift his spirits. Pavle, pushed to go out repeatedly to bring back essentials, grew increasingly fatigued and slow. Even when a new survivor joined, the brief reprieve didn’t last: he was later gunned down in a dangerous area of the map. Depression spread; with Pavle exhausted and Bruno detached, missteps followed. Pavle’s slow movements left him vulnerable while scavenging, and Bruno, disoriented and desperate, walked into a military compound with a weapon and was killed in the confrontation. The group unraveled.

Final impressions

This War of Mine is bleak, oppressive, and often upsetting — qualities that make it uncomfortable to play. But those same elements also make it powerful and memorable. The game accomplishes what it sets out to do: present the civilian side of modern conflict in a way that challenges the usual glorification of war in games. Thoughtful, original, and quietly moving, it offers a rare perspective that lingers long after you stop playing. If you want a game that shows the human cost of war rather than its spectacle, this one makes that experience personal.