14 DAY TRIAL // This War of Mine is the most recent title from the development team at 11 Bit Studios, best known for its work on the Anomaly series, and it just might be the first video game based around war that does not have the player living a power fantasy.
The core concept is very simple: the gamer takes control of 3 survivors who are trapped in an unnamed city that is in the middle of a conflict, under siege and cut off from the outside world.
The group can grow or shrink as time passes, but they need to try and do everything they can in order to survive in the harsh conditions and make sure that they stay fed, they get enough rest and get access to rarer items like weapons, firearms or medicine.
This War of Mine features a central safehouse, which the player can explore to get some resources that can be turned into necessary items like beds and cooking equipment, during the day.
Then, at night, it's time to choose which characters will be able to sleep, which ones stay on guard to protect the limited resources they have and which go out to other locations, both procedurally generated and created by the team, in order to try and scavenge.
Resources in the game world are very limited, which means that it's often a good idea to do morally reprehensible things, like stealing from the elderly or lying to get access to medicine or weapons.
The game does not judge the action that the player must take in order to stay alive, but the characters that he controls tend to react to what they have done and they might need time, alcohol or social support in order to accept that the price for survival can be very high.
Even if it is still early in the development process, the game also looks very good, with an art style that renders the bleak nature of the situation that the characters are in and some of them have individuality and quickly convey emotions.
This War of Mine is certainly one of the most interesting titles I have seen during this year's edition of E3 2014 and it will be interesting to see whether the developers at 11 Bit Studios can create an experience that's both engaging in terms of gameplay and relevant when it comes to the feelings it evokes.