Test – This War of Mine Final Cut: survival in times of war

8 years after a first release on PC and mobiles then a PS4 and Xbox One edition in 2016, This War of Mine offers itself the luxury of a remaster on next-gen consoles.

When it was first released in 2014, This War of Mine had a lot of talk about it thanks to a spine-chilling storyline and rather original gameplay. For the first time, a game puts us not in the shoes of soldiers during the war, but in that of civilians, fighting for their survival. The title was able to benefit from a reissue in a “Complete Edition” in 2018 on PS4 and Xbox One, and is now offering a second reissue with great fanfare on next-gen consoles. A third release which sadly echoes reality, since the title, developed by a Polish studio, was released right during the War in Ukraine.

And as much to say that the atmosphere in which the title immerses us is absolutely not dreaming. You are at the head of a group of 2, 3 or 4 civilians. They flee the horrors of war and find themselves in a completely abandoned and dilapidated house, which they will try to fix up while fighting against hunger, disease and looting. A tense situation for our characters, which is felt thanks to a unique atmosphere and a furry art direction made up of several shades of gray, pencil-drawn backgrounds and photo-realistic characters with ultra-deep feelings. From a sound point of view, it is also a real success, with very touching dialogues and a soundtrack pleasant to the ear. On the other hand, graphically speaking, absolutely do not expect a revolution allowed by the next-gen: the game seems similar in all respects to the PC or old-gen versions.

By inspecting different elements, rare and very valuable resources are recovered.

Day after day, the characters will try to survive by all means, until a ceasefire is proclaimed in this country with very pronounced Eastern European accents. Thus, the group of survivors will have to build different elements for food, medicine, alcohol or even weapons during the day, while they will seek resources at night in nearby homes and buildings. It is initially in your home that you will find the most wood, electronic or metal parts. However, you will quickly realize that this is far from enough and that exploring will be essential, especially to find something to sustain yourself.

Arrived at 8 p.m., you will then be asked what you plan to do with your survivors for the night. Some may sleep on the ground or on a bed (which influences his mood and form the next day), while others may stand guard or even go exploring. As explained above, exploration is crucial in This War of Mine to recover medicine, food or resources. But beware. If some buildings are completely empty and can be visited without difficulty, others are home to survivors who will not always be inclined to let you take their provisions.

In your home, you will learn very quickly that survival depends on the comfort of your characters, but also on their mental well-being. Build beds and sofas to ensure they have a good night’s rest and be ready the next morning, but don’t hesitate to have your survivors chat with each other so that they can share their doubts and concerns. If, on a mission, you come to be attacked and have to kill someone or steal food from another survivor, your “offending” characters are likely to be seized with remorse, fall into depression and move on to the act if it is not supported by its congeners.

The relationship between the different characters is important.

What makes TWOM strong is the plethora of characters available and the many configurations allowed. Two main modes are available to you. A more scripted mode, in which you play as Christo and his daughter, and a sandbox mode allowing you to fully configure the game and choose your group of survivors. About ten are proposed, including an alcoholic, a thief or even a lawyer. All benefit from their own qualities and defects, and you will have to deal with them in part. If you take a character with a depressive tendency, he risks sinking faster than another survivor. But throughout the story, it’s the many choices that deepen the immersion. Spare a group of civilians or kill them to recover their food, accept the offer of neighbors at the risk of having to return the favor later. At any time, the player may have to make crucial and moral choices influencing the continuation of the adventure.

Unfortunately, that’s about all we were able to do during our game. The game is intended to be quite repetitive, with the same pattern that recurs with each new “survival” phase: arriving at the scene, searching for resources, building elements at home and setting off on reconnaissance after dark. Worse still: within a single game, the days seem to follow each other and resemble each other strangely, since all we do is feed ourselves, feed the treatment plants and animal cages, launch constructions and then go back to explore during the night. . Obviously, the gameplay remained the same from the 2014 version to the 2022 version via the 2018 version, but we might have liked one or the other additional DLC to spice it all up and bring diversity. . We will come back to this later.

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At night, you can explore sometimes dangerous places to recover food, medicine and resources.

On the controller, during the first minutes of play, This War of Mine is quite simply a real pain. The movements are very imprecise and it is not uncommon for people to go down or up stairs without having asked for it and that, on the contrary, they are unable to access another floor when they brutalize the joystick in all the senses. It’s very frustrating, especially since it’s not the only small problem of inaccuracy that we encountered. In terms of readability this time, since many lines of dialogue overlap, making understanding the exchanges sometimes complicated. In addition, the layout of the rooms in some houses means that it is not always very clear.

As we explained above, the choice of editions made by the Polish studio 11 bit studios left us somewhat speechless. While only the Complete Edition was available in 2018, bringing together all the DLCs, the developers opted this time for a Final Cut edition, including only the game, and a Complete Edition, including the Final Cut and all the DLCs released until today. The invoice then goes from 20€ to 27€, while those who have opted “only” for the Final Cut and who want to buy the DLC must buy the pass at … 10€. A rather salty addition for a title which, in the end, is more than 8 years old!

Conclusion

8 years after its first steps, This War of Mine is still as powerful and touching. This survival game lets you step into the shoes of civilians trying to survive in the middle of a war. In urban settings, our survivors try by all means to build a shelter worthy of the name and to collect food, resources and medicines, to hold on. The fight with other survivors is part of everyday life, but beware of the mental balance of your characters, who can quickly fall into depression due to the situation and their actions. Several characters are also proposed, with very different characters and habits, and that we take pleasure in helping. This War of Mine therefore offers a very pleasant and successful gameplay, but which shows a certain laziness and, at the same time, a lot of repetitiveness. Very quickly, we enter a pattern where the day is used to build shelter and feed, while the night allows us to explore the surroundings. Attractive, the title has however aged badly. This reissue on the latest generation consoles is also difficult to convince given its price: the basic game is billed at €20, without any real improvements, and the full version with additional chapters is billed almost €10 more… If you had missed out on this independent nugget, here is, however, potentially a great catch-up session.

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This War of Mine : Final Cut

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