14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at 11 Bit Studios working on This War of Mine says that it is looking to break some of the schemes and habits that have become associated with the video game industry and its treatment of war, which has so far been focused on titles such as Call of Duty.
Pawel Miechowski, one of the leading developers working on the new title, tells Gamasutra, “This is why I talked about breaking the schemes. First we broke the scheme with the trailer - you see this Call of Duty, yet-another-FPS-style, and then bang, it's not another FPS - it's the other side.”
This War of Mine is designed to allow gamers to become one of the survivors of an initial military strike, who needs to make choices and act in the middle of the war zone, in order to assure his own safety and that of his companions'.
The team at 11 Bit Studios wants to create an experience that relies on real-world accounts coming from those who survived battles in Sarajevo and in cities in Syria, with Amnesty International also involved to make sure that the game reflects reality.
War and conflict are two of the main elements of modern video games, present in titles based on genres ranging from first-person shooter to role-playing and strategy, and often developers adopt a rather enthusiast tone when it comes to conflict.
But the perspective of the players is always an empowered one, in which they are part of one military force or another, able to kill at will all those who threaten their own existence.
This War of Mine will not give gamers power and will ask them to make difficult decisions and choices in order to get out alive from the situation they are in.
The developer adds, “Wars will continue to happen, and we should be talking about these important things. People survived wars, and we're just trying to make it more or less similar to what we know about that. If it turns out people want to talk about the topic, we're doing a good job.”
The development team at 11 Bit Studios is best known for creating the Warzone titles, which use reverse tower defense mechanics and managed to gain quite a solid fan following.
This War of Mine is expected to arrive on the PC via a variety of digital distribution services before the end of the year.