This War of Mine: Final Cut

Publisher: 11 bit studios · Creator: Michał Drozdowski (creative director)

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Anecdote

First released in November 2014 by Polish studio 11 bit studios and substantially re-released as the Final Cut edition in May 2022 on next-generation consoles, This War of Mine offers an experience radically opposed to conventional war games: the player embodies not a soldier but civilians trapped in a besieged city. Creative director Michał Drozdowski drew inspiration from the Siege of Sarajevo of 1992 to 1996 and gathered testimonies from inhabitants to reconstruct their daily lives: the fear of snipers, bartering for antibiotics, the choice between robbing a neighbour or letting a companion die. The player manages a group of survivors who hide by day in a dimly lit house rendered as a 2D cross-section, and venture out at night to scavenge, trade, steal or defend themselves. Each session, lasting between twenty and thirty in-game days for a complete cycle, forces unbearable moral trade-offs that the script never judges. The grey-and-black wash art direction evokes press illustrations from the Second World War, and the minimalist soundtrack by composer Piotr Musiał punctuates the solitude with sparse piano notes. The Final Cut integrates all additional content — Stories: Father's Promise, The Last Broadcast, Fading Embers — and a community scenario editor. The game, which has sold more than seven million copies, generated an educational adaptation distributed in Polish schools and was the first video game officially cited by the UN as a tool for raising awareness about civilian conflict. Although set in a fictional contemporary war, it openly engages with the lessons of the Second World War, Warsaw 1944 and the experience of European civilians. It remains a landmark work in the recent history of the medium.

Popularity & reception

Awards — BAFTA – Strategy and Simulation nominated (2015) · Independent Games Festival – Honorable Mentions (2015) · Games for Change – Most Significant Impact (2015) · DICE – Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year nominated (2015)