This war of mine is the creation of your character. This War of Mine Walkthrough, Guide, Tips. Gameplay and balancing

A small material for assessing and comparing the qualities and skills of the main characters This War of Mine. It was decided to create the article after not finding decent analogues of the list from the original wikia in RuNet.

The characters are in my order. personal rating from unclaimed to irreplaceable. Here I do not consider nameless extras for user scenarios, all the properties of which are already very clear from their professions, as well as characters from the "children's" DLC The Little Ones, because I think that this add-on only spoils the game and therefore is not particularly recommended for installation.

Let's analyze some characteristics, the meaning of which may raise questions.

Morality or mood.
Dynamic indicator of mental alertness. Low morale values ​​can cause a temporary loss of control of your ward, his fights with other characters, running away from home or suicide. By default, morale is reduced: severe hunger, injuries and illnesses, robberies and murders of civilians, death of roommates. The speed of mood change from the actions of comrades depends on the level of empathy.

Bad habits.
Characters with this mark are in need of a certain dope. His long absence - more than a couple of days - will slowly begin to destroy the morale of the character. To be in good shape, each smoker needs 3 cigarettes or hand-rolled cigarettes per day, and coffee addicts need 1 coffee and 1 unit of water per day.

empathy level.
Empathy is the ability to feel compassion for others. Selfish heroes do not know how to bring their comrades out of depression; they are little saddened by other people's misdeeds, just as they almost do not please their other people's exploits. When depressed, Sims with low empathy levels can pick fights with roommates, and are also more likely to take a couple of our belongings with them if they decide to leave the hideout.

Inventory volume.
Indicates the number of slots for things that a character can carry with him from trips home and back. Depending on the size of the item, 1 inventory slot holds from 1 to 20 items.

Combat skills.
The parameter shows the strength and speed of attacks in battles with opponents during night attacks. Standard combat skills for most people include the ability to instantly kill opponents from cover with an ax, knife or shovel. Differences from this standard will be indicated in the characteristics of the character.

Security skills.
Describes the effectiveness of night duty. Sentinels with low guard skills are more likely to get injured; in their shifts, marauders are more likely to steal our supplies.

Guitar skill.
The effectiveness of preserving and restoring the morale of the party in the presence of a guitar in the house. Characters without playing skill can still sit down and rattle something on the guitar, but this is of little use.

Light (Cveta)

Skill: kind teacher

  • Raises the morale of children with the greatest efficiency (the skill is useless outside of DLC).
  • Neighbors are more likely to bring gifts if she is present in the party.
  • Unable to instantly kill opponents even from cover.

Occupation: primary school principal
Bad habits: No

Empathy level: philanthropist (4/4)
Inventory size: minimal (8/17)
Combat Skills: God's dandelion (1/5)
Guard Skills: low (1/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Anton

Skill: good mathematician

  • Catches rats faster with traps.
  • Runs much slower than other characters.
  • Teetotaler (impossible to get out of depression with alcohol).

Occupation: professor of mathematics
Bad habits: No

Empathy level: moderate (2/4)
Inventory size: minimal (8/17)
Combat Skills: low (2/5)
Guard Skills: low (1/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Emilia (Emilia)

Skill: Talented Lawyer

  • Able to commit any crime without a noticeable decrease in her morale.
  • Able to instantly kill the enemy from cover with any weapon.

Occupation: advocate
Bad habits: coffee mania

Empathy level: selfish (1/4)
Inventory size: standard (10/17)
Combat Skills: standard (3/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Marin

Skill: Handyman

  • Crafts furniture, appliances, weapons and tools, saving 20% ​​of resources.
  • Sometimes abandons the started craft, forcing others to complete the work (the savings bonus is not lost).

Occupation: workshop owner
Bad habits: coffee mania

Empathy level: moderate (2/4)
Inventory size: standard (10/17)
Combat Skills: standard (3/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Bruno

Skill: Good cook

  • Craft food, alcohol and medicine, saving 20% ​​of resources.
  • Hunger quickly lowers his morale, prompting him to feed more often than others.

Occupation: chef on his own TV show
Bad habits: smoking

Empathy level: selfish (1/4)
Inventory size: standard (10/17)
Combat Skills: standard (3/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Pavlo (Pavle)

Skill: Sprinter

  • Runs much faster than other characters.

Occupation: soccer player
Bad habits: No

Empathy level: elevated (3/4)
Inventory size: big (12/17)
Combat Skills: standard (3/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: mediocre (2/4)


Zlata

Skill: Heartburner

  • Restrains the fall of morale with his presence in the party.
  • With the greatest efficiency raises the morale of the characters.

Occupation: student musician
Bad habits: No

Empathy level: philanthropist (4/4)
Inventory size: big (12/17)
Combat Skills: low (2/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: perfect (4/4)


Katya

Skill: Experienced businessman

  • Buys items from merchants for 20% cheaper.

Occupation: journalist
Bad habits: coffee mania

Empathy level: elevated (3/4)
Inventory size: big (12/17)
Combat Skills: low (2/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: good (3/4)


Boris

Skill: Heavy tank

  • It has the maximum inventory and health, heals from wounds faster than others.
  • Able to instantly kill the enemy from the back with any weapon, except for a crowbar.
  • Cannot run and makes the most noise when walking, clearing rubble, opening caches and doors.

Occupation: loader
Bad habits: smoking

Empathy level: philanthropist (4/4)
Inventory size: colossal (17/17)
Combat Skills: high (4/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Arica (Arica)

Skill: silent cat

  • Makes the least noise when walking, running and breaking doors.
  • It is able to instantly kill the enemy from the back with any weapon, except for a crowbar (which, thanks to its silence, is almost always possible).
  • Able to instantly kill the enemy from cover even without a weapon.

Occupation: house thief
Bad habits: smoking

Empathy level: moderate (2/4)
Inventory size: standard (10/17)
Combat Skills: high (4/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: mediocre (2/4)


Marko

Skill: Experienced Miner

  • Has a very large inventory.
  • Can find more things in caches.
  • Faster than others, he opens caches and clears rubble without a shovel.
  • Able to instantly kill the enemy from cover with any weapon.

Occupation: fireman
Bad habits: No

Empathy level: elevated (3/4)
Inventory size: huge (15/17)
Combat Skills: standard (3/5)
Guard Skills: standard (2/3)
Guitar skill: missing (1/4)


Roman

Skill: Trained Fighter

  • Has increased health.
  • Deals maximum damage in combat.
  • Able to instantly kill the enemy from the back with any weapon.
  • Able to instantly kill the enemy from cover even without a weapon.
  • Killing aggressive opponents (bandits and soldiers) does not lower his morale.

Occupation: deserter
Bad habits: smoking

Empathy level: selfish (1/4)
Inventory size: standard (10/17)
Combat Skills: killer (5/5)
Guard Skills: high (3/3)
Guitar skill: good (3/4)

Some beginners manage to mess things up at the beginning of the game This War of Mine, the passage of which requires the correct distribution of resources and an adequate response to various factors. For successful progress, all users can apply several strategies, but in any case, you will definitely have to adhere to the rules that are common to all. This article provides a description of a variety of tricks or tactics recommended by experienced players that anyone can use.

Good game start

A smart way to organize a shelter plays a very important role in the project. At the beginning of the passage there is a random selection of characters. You can start over each time in order to get the most useful heroes. Many come to the conclusion that the whole game is built on This circumstance forces players to always make decisions and choose the most suitable option. further development plot.

load capacity

This characteristic depends on the specific characteristics of the character. Strong and slow Boris will pull as many as 15 cargo cells. The same indicator for Marco. When sending miners on a sortie in the game This War of Mine, the backpack must be emptied and only the knife should be given to the character. So you can collect more useful items. You will have to use stealth tactics and remain unnoticed in order to sneak up on enemies and stab in the back.

Arrangement and security of the shelter

As the game progresses, you will have to rummage through various heaps of garbage and extract everything that can be useful from there. First you need to create to craft scrap. The tool will be needed to break into locked cabinets.

Everything except the safe can be cut with an axe. Remember that one container is needed to store useful inventory. The resulting materials can be used as fuel in winter. Beds are also made from them so that the characters in This War of Mine 2 do not have to sleep on the concrete floor. The remaining materials must be used to upgrade the workbench. You will also have to close up every hole in the room. To make the shelter more comfortable, you can place several chairs or armchairs there.

Containers

For the safe, you need to select a closet and leave one item there. If there are no free containers left, you will have to cut unused furniture with an ax. In the heap of the resulting garbage, you can put items. An ax can be crafted at a workbench. You need to look for boards and weapon parts if there are not enough components. The ax can be exchanged for medicines in the garage.

Signaling

This War of Mine is full of surprises. Alarms, for example, will help the Sims not be taken by surprise if thieves come into the house at night when everyone is asleep in their beds. To successfully repel attacks on early stages it is enough to supply our heroes with a few knives. It is recommended to put Roman on guard. A tired hero should never stand at his post. Increases the likelihood of injury during the defense of the home. In this case, some things can also be lost if they are not hidden in a safe.

Night raids in This War of Mine

Versions of this game require a plan of action for each day. You need to make a choice of location, as well as select the necessary tools. This is due to the specific purpose of the upcoming sortie. First you need to put all the available inventory in the safe, except for the weapons that your comrades will use to protect themselves from marauders.

If there are no problems with provisions, you first need to look for something that will be useful for subsequent crafting. In large locations, it is recommended to put all the collected inventory in a container located as close as possible to the entrance. Next time you won't have to spend a lot of time searching in the same location.

Many uses for knives

This is one of the most dangerous defenses in the game. Knives are good to use in stealth mode or in combination with firearms. In order for the enemy to come closer, you will have to make a little noise, and then hide. It will start moving towards the player. The blow must be delivered at the most opportune moment. To work without noise, you can use master keys. If this is not done, the enemy will definitely hear the sound of a breaking door. In this case, it will not be possible to sneak up unnoticed.

Morality

This is one of the most important characteristics each character in This War of Mine. Characters behave in the game according to their morality. Depressed characters are prone to conflict with roommates. For this reason, fights often occur.

To improve the mood, the characters need a cozy shelter where they can forget about the war. The house can be placed various items interior and provide heating. You will need several beds, armchairs, chairs, a radio and some books.

The morale of the characters rises when they help other people. Heroes may worry about those who have been denied support. The player in such situations often has to choose between the resource provision of all comrades or their mood.

As a token of gratitude for the support, passers-by may, for example, point to the location of various caches.

If one of the characters dies, the comrades may begin to become depressed, prone to develop into grief. In the game This War of Mine, codes can be used to increase the morale of heroes.

Firearms

Protective equipment is best kept in a shelter. Characters spend a lot of expensive ammo. It is better to spend them in order to defend the shelter. Experienced Players I recommend using shotguns. Bullets fired from assault rifles rarely hit a target at a distance and, accordingly, deal much less damage.

Trainers

In the game This War of Mine cheats allow you to get an infinite inventory, stop or reset time, carry out instant crafting of items, get an unlimited number of components. Thanks to the installation of some trainers, you can play in immortality mode, improve the condition of game characters.

useful items

In This War of Mine, characters can use several basic items.

With the help of "crowbar" locks are broken. The rubble can be disassembled with a shovel. During night outings, the knife will be simply indispensable. The usefulness of the ax can be felt from the very beginning of the game. It allows you to disassemble furniture for firewood.

It is desirable that each game character had one pistol each to be able to repel attacks on the shelter. With a hacksaw, you can cut some grating and get to valuable items. Each character will need a body armor. The water filter contributes to the extraction of vital fluid. Bandages and pills should be saved and not used for minor illnesses or injuries.

Alcohol can be exchanged for drugs. The books help keep the morale of the characters at an acceptable level. Tobacco and coffee are both used by addicted characters and traded.

Characters

In the game This War of Mine, the passage and decision-making depends on the peculiar characteristics of the characters. Some qualities can be useful, others are neutral. Some may develop dependence on tobacco or caffeine, as well as alcohol intolerance.

Pavlo's character runs very fast and can be used in locations where, in the end, you will need to make legs. Roman is good to use in combat, but in a bad mood, he can pounce on one of his own. Marco, an experienced miner, will be the main looter in the game. Chef Bruno consumes less food for cooking. Anton gets along well with math, but there is not much else to say about him.

In the game This War of Mine in Russian, lame Boris, a strong but slow loader, is able to carry Weight Limit. Mechanic Martin uses crafting items economically. Secretive Arica makes little noise on sorties. Sveta, a former teacher, is nothing at all. Can become depressed when refusing the quest about children.

Emilia is able to find an excuse for bad deeds. Journalist Katya trades well. Zlata lifts the spirit of the team by playing the guitar.

Combat system

In the game This War of Mine, the passage in combat mode is not difficult. Naturally, you must first prepare the characters. Here you can use cold and firearms. The real goal of the game is not to kill as many opponents as possible, but to collect ammo. Tactics must be developed with the main need in mind.

To enter combat mode, you must activate the corresponding button next to the inscription "add". The image of the weapon on the intended targets can make it easier to aim. The maximum probability of hitting, of course, occurs at a relatively small distance from the enemy. Characters can hide in deep shadows and attack from cover. When sneaking up on a target at close range, the maximum possible damage is increased, as well as the probability of a successful strike.

In the game This War of Mine, the passage is facilitated by the implementation of several recommendations. Every character in the hideout must be armed. Neighbors, as well as merchants, begin to walk around the shelters from ten in the evening. There is no need to rush to end the day prematurely.

When surviving in the autumn period, it is necessary to quickly create and install rainwater tanks. Eating is best done only when the character is very hungry. A master of all trades is able to improve machines without wasting extra resources. Regular rest on the bed will help heal minor injuries and illnesses.

Arrangement by passage

On the first day, every closet in the house must be opened and dismantled for scrap. There is only one stash container left. Haven attacks start on day 3, so you don't have to arm anyone for the first time in the game. Electrical parts need to start saving from the very beginning. These items are used to upgrade workbenches.

Send injured characters to raid the hospital, where you can ask for some medicine. The hospital comes under fire a few days after the first visit. If you go there, you can find many valuable items that you need to give to the doctor. This will have a good effect on the morale of the characters. It is impossible to be treated in the hospital after the shelling.

The Russian version, like the others, requires the creation of auxiliary items that have their own purpose during the game. First you need to craft a bed and a stove, and before the start of the winter season, you need to make an ax and break all the boxes in the shelter, except for one. The resulting junk is used as fuel. Crafting materials that could not be taken away from locations should be left in one cache. It is advisable to make a list of places with folded values.

Trade

Wandering traders visit the hideout in the evenings. They can purchase the necessary components for the missing products. A good deal with traveling merchants is a rarity. This procedure requires a character with a high corresponding skill. Good trading is possible at locations such as a checkpoint, a hotel, a patch, a brothel or a garage.

Conclusion

An exciting game is always rich in surprises. Everyone is given the opportunity to test their organizational skills, to ensure the normal existence of a group of characters in difficult conditions. To be able to learn the game from the other side, special trainer programs are being developed. In This War of Mine, cheats make it possible to simply enjoy the process without worrying that progress will be thwarted.

The game is brilliant. She blew up a bunch of publications a year ago with how quickly and effectively she conveys the horrors of war to the player. Therefore, I propose to get a little "under the hood". I say right away - the game is not ours, and has nothing to do with us.

In general, for a couple of months I will probably start talking about gamedev hardcore, more precisely, what our colleagues call game science. I'll start with simple and understandable things. With far from ideal game mechanics, while working like a clock. Or like a blow to the head.

So, let me remind you: the main task of the game is to immerse a person in the state of “being a civilian in a war and trying to survive”, so that even the most frostbitten people realize how bad it is. Accordingly, everything else is built around this. At the same time, the game itself should be:

  • Interesting.
  • With a simple entry threshold.
  • Realistic for immersive tasks.
Of course, the creators cheated a little - but this becomes noticeable only after a detailed analysis. It is clear that the logic of the setting sometimes argues with the mechanics and gameplay. It is clear that there are a lot of shortcomings, but everything in general is very cool. So we went to get to the bottom of the little things.

Attention, below are some spoilers and a lot of screenshots (traffic).

entry curve

So, you play as a small group of comrades surviving on the outskirts of the city, where fighting. There are three global "external" factors: the lack of food and necessary things (this is determined by the very fact of the war), the constant robberies of marauders and bandits, plus to the heap - severe cold snaps in winter. The challenge is to get through it all. As in the novel "Marauder".


One of the game's most visually powerful screens is the start

This screen with those hitting the psyche "survived" on the photographs - it does not open completely right away. The first clickable stories provide a simple composition and a simple script.

The complexity of the game is determined by the scenario and the composition of the players.

The script is what happens around:

  • The duration of the war (for example, 24 days is easier to survive than 47).
  • The order of external events (on complex stories the game starts with cold weather and huge gangs of bandits, on the lungs - with summer and calmness).
  • Seasons (sometimes you need to warm up and look for cold pills the whole game, sometimes you don’t need to at all).
  • Plus available objects on the map. Their number and their sub-scenarios vary in complexity. For example, there may be such a situation that only those places where it is difficult to obtain resources are available - such as a church where bandits sit instead of monks, or a dilapidated school where instead of homeless people there are militias.
  • To a lesser extent - from scenario game events like guests bringing you something useful.


City map

The characters in the game are not all balanced: there are both very cool and frankly almost useless. The latter are needed just for the training aspect, but more on that below. Naturally, the initial composition of the "stars" also provides a low complexity.

Gameplay and balancing

You start in an abandoned house, where you need to sort out the rubble, open cabinets and generally build infrastructure such as stoves, workbenches, beds, and so on. This is already the first thing for the game, and immediately entering the atmosphere (I remember I used a similar technique in the pavilion role play live action about the consequences of an attack on the colony - in the room where the players entered, everything was turned upside down, and so that you could feel what happened, "with your hands").

This is your base, a place for daytime gameplay. You can’t leave the base during the day: it is assumed that they will immediately shoot you on the street without question. At the same time, NPCs come to you and offer goods, help with something, or ask for help. Judging by some fragments of plot texts, some kind of game part was supposed to establish relations with neighbors, but then, it seems, it was cut out and simplified to these “guests”.

There is a workbench at the base, from which you build the rest of the infrastructure. First of all - beds, a locksmith's table, a stove for cooking, a heater or a fig for collecting water, for example. Supplies are stored in a non-working refrigerator, medicines are stored in a closet nearby.

The main balance is built around missing food. You need to constantly go out into the city at night (in different places) to collect food, boards, all sorts of components such as tape and nails, and so on. Of course, if you managed to establish food production at home, you would not go out at all, and the game would be blown away. Accordingly, the first thing a game designer did was to establish a rule: "the house is not self-sufficient."

This means that you can set traps for rats, but no more than two pieces. You can grow vegetables, but you still need meat and water. You can do something at home in general - but you will still need something outside. At the same time, on batches longer than 40 days, approximately on the 30th day, it is possible to accumulate enough food so that the next two weeks do not go anywhere at all.

You also constantly need components to improve your home - this is the second factor of balance.

At the beginning of the game, you need to fill holes in the walls after shelling, get all kinds of garbage to assemble tiles and other things, make an extremely scarce ax (an inhumanly difficult task in our world - it is often easier and faster to find a Kalashnikov assault rifle than an ax). Accordingly, they must be followed outside.


Character thoughts on base comfort

So, the game is divided into two encapsulated objects: base and night exits. With the same base mechanics as in XCOM. At the same time, the most-most deficit is heavy boards and components. Logically, it would be extremely easy to convey them if the three of us went at once and dragged them. Or go as a character twice or thrice. But no. Per night - only one exit, and only one person.

At the same time, each character has a load capacity limit - this is another factor in limiting the flow of resources, that is, also the level of complexity. Here are the inventory and items on the ground:

The second way to get resources, if you do not go for them at night, is to buy from a merchant who enters the base about once every 4 days.

Every object in the city has valuable things and not so much. For example, a gun, cans of food, jewelry and medicines have a huge game value, but cigarettes, coffee, tobacco, shell casings, and so on have almost none. This is the second factor of balance: despite the fact that the characters have different carrying capacities, main they get things out quickly. That is, the balance on food will converge, but on the boards - no. This only means slowing down the construction of the infrastructure of the base.

Accordingly, a trader is needed to smooth out the wrong choice of a place for a hike. If you find a stash with diamond earrings instead of a stash with food - a man will come and balance it with an exchange. That is, there will never be obviously failed exits to the city. And this dude, although he carries a huge pile of everything with him (which is also not according to the gameplay), cannot be hit on the head and robbed (which would be extremely logical based on the plot below), and although he complains about snipers, he will always survive and will come like clockwork. The conclusion is simple: if you are ever an NPC in computer game, try to be responsible for the balance. So you are completely safe.


As you can see, game mechanics are cool so far, but realism suffers severely. But we are used to it, it's a game.

The main problem of game mechanics is revealed in the second game, when you begin to understand in detail why you need what from the objects of the base. A moonshine still, an improved chem table, a hydroponic garden, an improved stove - all this costs so much in resources that it simply does not pay off. In reality, if you know that the war ends in the horizon of 50 days, then the business plan for such investments does not converge. A much more effective strategy - instead of processing resources like sugar into moonshine, just drive them raw to the merchant. This is tritely more profitable, and it really cuts off some of the interest and depth of the game. This is all done for a simple reason - we need, on the one hand, to create a need for resources in the middle and end of the game, but how to do this without breaking the balance of the beginning is unclear. Hence the perversions. In addition, regardless of the order in which you attack objects, you should survive in approximately the same way, which also requires balancing. Given the missing saves (more precisely, returns to the past), the game designer decided that it would be a shame to go the wrong way and die of hunger or cold. This also affected the balance.


Base upgrade continues, see how much micromanagement

"Desktop" limitations of game mechanics

There are a lot of strange things in the game, but they all relate to what we used to think of as game restrictions in board games. Again, considering how many times I've been told by hardened game designers to hone everything on paper prototypes, I suspect that there was a tabletop, like in XCOM. Either the authors came from the desktop market. Accordingly, the same scheme of "cardboard" simplifications is used here:
  • The military will never come to your house. The base is not attacked.
  • Don't try to leave the city. Despite the obvious logic of such a decision, you need to sit still in Pogoren and dig deeper and deeper into the house.
  • Ammunition for all weapons of the same type. They climb into the shotgun and into sniper rifle, and in a pistol, and in a machine gun. Game mechanics - a good simplification, because the game is not about that.
  • The time in the game is abstract - from edge to edge of the house on foot - at least 20 minutes.
  • Heating is determined solely by the cost of resources for heaters. Where and how the stoves are located - it doesn’t matter (a lot of extra space is visually heated), opened door does not affect the temperature of the house, the stove with food does not give heat. By the way, the garden with vegetables at -15 feels great, unlike the characters.
  • The game "cheats" by generation random numbers- for example, when you have really little food, rat traps start to give more meat.
  • The combat system is such that our "pacifist" Roman can cut out an entire checkpoint of soldiers without much difficulty. True, after the third patch, then he will begin to morally kill himself.
  • There are a lot of small bugs, ranging from the possibility of the appearance of the fifth character in the group (and his unexpected disappearance) and ending with a glitch with repeated moral suffering. Plus, classically algorithmic ones, such as restrictions on the length of the path search stack.
  • At the objects of the city, even abandoned ones, someone carefully placed stepladders in key places. No need to carry a ladder or rope with you - everything is there.
  • You can store ready-made food on the stove indefinitely - and looters won't even take it away (they just won't see it).
  • The visual design of the house does not correspond to the game mechanics and the plot. Firstly, there is a lot of deliberately uncleaned garbage that remains until the end of the game. Secondly, with the naked eye you can see a bunch of wood that we cannot get - for example, there remains a bedside table that cannot be cut with an ax or the entire attic in general. Thirdly, it is not clear where the inedible things go - they seem to be somewhere here, but in fact - only in the interface.
  • On military objects there are places to hide, on ordinary ones - no. And you can also hide in such a way that three people who search everything will not find it.
At the same time, the game remains intact. All this does not interfere, but in practice it serves one and only purpose - to drag the player through exactly the desired plot.

History and plot

So, you are already familiar with everyday difficulties. It is worth adding that our heroes are still sick from the cold and, sometimes, just like that, they come from the exits wounded and sometimes they begin to behave not very well. For example, fight with other characters, drink medical alcohol without asking, hang yourself from depression and quit your job. All this determines the constant micromanagement.

The second big part of the game - it is also the main one in terms of the level of plot impact - is the exits to the city. The first couple of points are abandoned houses, where the necessary items just lie somewhere nearby, and it is enough to collect them.

Naturally, on this layer, the player needs to be occupied with something. In a simplified case, we get such a mini-maze with game-mechanical obstacles. In a more complex - interactions with characters in a peaceful ("Don't touch my things") or combat mode. The same level can be played as combat, stealth "get to the refrigerator and first aid kit" or "quietly picked up along the edges of the house and ran away."

As in the base, the main resource is time. But if at the base this is solved by sleeping, building and constantly turning something small (throw a log into the stove, change the filter on a water plant, etc.), then here - with various blockages like this:

Sometimes you should be wary of noises (this is a rat, a dangling window sash or a man with a shotgun can also appear like this):

Locked bars (need a file) guard treasures:

Doors-diodes: on the one hand they are boarded up and can be disassembled, on the other hand they do not open in any way. In life, these do not happen, but in the game they are needed:

There are, of course, ordinary doors that can be opened with a crowbar or a master key.

Plot

First and foremost in the story are the moral choices every time you do something. Here, for example, is a quiet house where an elderly couple lives. You can quietly leave, or you can break in and rob them (they will try to escape into the basement from a scary character):

Definitely everywhere - traces of the war. Each object in the city is someone's tragic story that is developing with you or has already ended. For example, here is a note from an abandoned house:

Here is one of the strongest moments of the game: a drunken well-armed soldier and a girl. Given the lack of saves, either you will try to do something, or you will stand and watch how he rapes her.

The second very powerful moment with a sniper shooting a father returning to the baby with medicine. Here is a very scary (visually) picture of a sniper denouement, very well-chosen effects of flashing lights, good sound - and all this contributes to the fact that in the end you understand how great it is that you helped.

Each choice means consequences. Here - the father gives us jewelry:

Then we will see this story in the final game. Almost every object has a scripted scene depending on its state. For example, you can find a supermarket with a military or looters (and they will rip it off at the same time as you - no less terrible sight).

next layer- "history of the house", for example, like this. This character wants to join us:

Sometimes it happens like this:

Here the militia asks to extradite the person whom we helped, and offers products for this. The bottom line, as always, is very simple. Or something useful for a mean act - or you are left with a clear conscience, but without food. These choices make up the game.

At the end, they line up in moments of war like this:

However, it quickly becomes clear that just like that, without additional incentives, it is more profitable to be a munchkin, mechanically.


Roman starts to cut out the roadblock

Therefore, the game designer decided this way - grateful residents still bring something useful later:

This, too, was not enough. Munchkin was easier anyway. Therefore, they introduced another parameter - morality. As soon as someone does something bad (according to their scale of values), they and those around them begin to kill themselves. A dull character just grumbles and recovers worse, depression leads to nightly fights, scandals, runs for alcohol in the refrigerator, leaving the house, or generally wanting to hang himself. They pull out of depression with the help of persuasion in the spirit: “We need you to survive. Get up."

Each character keeps his own "diary", where he writes down thoughts about his actions.

Accordingly, in the diaries of other characters, this can be both condemned and perceived with praise.

In the end, if the characters did everything "correctly", they are fine. If not, they are bad. Another learning moment. AT real life probably not like this:

Morality is visible throughout the game, yes, yes, yes. Pay attention to the biographies of Roman. The villain cannot go unpunished.

Now let's look at the interface

The first beautiful thing is teaching by dialogues. The characters directly communicate what they see fit to do. For example, at the first sign of cold snaps (still safe), they begin to resemble a stove.

Here is a similar Fallout Shelter with a similar system of character management at the level of global mechanics. They also report their problems. This is standard mechanics.

Characters "think aloud", and the player receives game-technical information

Another separate very cool interface is the radio. First, it is realistic. Secondly, to catch the stations, you need to twist the shit from the side, and not just press the button. When you twist this thing and pick up a radio station through the interference, the immersion effect is enhanced:


overlay game actions on the interface: the music from the radio becomes the background music of the game

The focusing of attention works very well, here it is solved just perfectly. Action icons are shown when they are in your focus, otherwise they collapse to a slowly pulsing dot. Look to the left here:

Here's what's in there:

Summer and winter are very different in appearance. Please note, by the way, the whole game is textured with a “pencil effect”, and this especially works for the atmosphere:

And finally, we have another purely "desktop" theme - the generation of night events. This is just a summary of what the rest of the characters were doing while you were out walking at night:

The last part is visual images based on photos. The portraits are so lively and emotional that they alone create the right atmosphere.

climax

Despite the fact that the game loses its novelty very quickly (and in general, like any story-based game, it is not very replayable), thanks to mechanical things, it still becomes interesting.

The two most interesting stories - these are Sveta and Anton (pensioners) and the "lone wolf". Let's start with pensioners. They have almost nothing but a pile of books from a neighbor and beds. They are not combat at all. They carry very few supplies. They do not know how to fight off even single bandits at night. There are no practical skills - no trade, no mechanics, nothing. They are very, very hard. And at the moment when you play for them, it becomes clear how terrible the war is. And how powerless you are against circumstances.

And at this moment, the screenwriter laid miracles:

People come to help our pensioners. They don't ask for anything in return. They just come and give things away. And this changes the whole attitude towards the world, where you used to literally gnaw out every piece of food.

And the second story of a lonely earner is that he is very cool, but being alone, he cannot do anything. Left the house for the night - the house was robbed clean. Slept - did not fight off the bandits. Everything of value must be carried with you. And even a weak pensioner immediately becomes a huge help for him. This also allows you to feel this “teaching team” situation almost in your own skin.

Outcome

It turned out to be an excellent educational game that shows everything exactly as it should. Dexterous movements of balance and game mechanics in the direction of "be kind" are not visible at first, and the first 2-3 games (and so many do not play) seem like a natural choice. That is, the model of behavior that they convey to you.

In Western publications (non-gaming) the game received a very high rating. But even there the point of view often slips through: brilliant, but we won’t play a second time - it’s terrible, disgusting and scary. Add tags

This War of Mine is an adventure game. It was developed by 11 bit studios. It is interesting to note that you will have to play not as one soldier of the elite troops, but as a whole group of civilians who are trying to survive in a besieged locality. They lack food, medicines, and are in constant danger from marauders and snipers.

In the game, you will definitely feel the horror of war, having been in the shoes of a soldier not equipped from head to toe, but ordinary people. Game process depends on the time of day. During the day, snipers do not allow you to leave the shelter, so you have to do a number of other things - trade, rebuild shelter, take care of the survivors.

If you choose one of the unique locations at night, you can go look for provisions that will help you in passing the game This War of Mine. Decisions must be made based on your moral principles. Remember that during the war the main task is to survive and help others to survive, even making some sacrifices.

Introduction to the game


The game is very unusual. You control a crowd of people, not letting them die. The passage of the game This War of Mine concerns the events of the war. Your task is to stay alive for 40+ days. More precisely, to keep alive at least one person.

Every day you will have new puzzles, tasks and goals. You need to fulfill them. At night, send at least one person in search of various useful things. The rest of the survivors will have to defend the fortress, and repulse the bandits who want to destroy everyone and take control of new territories.

Each task is given a specific time limit. Otherwise, the controlled hero either gets into trouble or dies. You will also interact with the rest of the survivors, adhere to the principles of morality. Therefore, when passing the game This War of Mine with mismanagement any of the wards can fall into a state of depression, or even lose their lives due to a conflict with other characters.

asylum


So, your characters live in a huge house, which is divided into several floors, an attic and a basement. During the day, you will be preparing food, strengthening doors and windows, preparing to go to the city. In the city you will explore other locations.

When night falls, you must defend and protect the fortress from the bandits. They want not only to kill you, but to take possession of your supplies. Therefore, there is constant activity among those characters that are available to you.

Characters


bruno- A cook saves food while cooking. He needs reassurance with cigarettes.

Pavlo- Able to move quickly.

Marco- a very experienced miner. In addition, it quickly finds items and can drag up to 15 items.

Arica- makes little noise, quickly picks locks.

Novel- one can protect the house from robbers, not having a weapon with him. Good in close combat, has a lot of health.

Katia- the girl without any problems achieves good discounts when trading.

Boris- can carry 17 items at once, but does not run.

Mairin- crafting professional. Thanks to him, you can create items, waste less resources.

Protection


When passing the game This War of Mine, you should not be afraid of the enemy during the day. But at night they will try to rob you. For this reason, at least one person must be left on duty.

Weak grouping. People from this gang are very afraid of you. Therefore, you can easily scare them away and deal with them. They can be driven away even with a conventional shovel.

Confident bandits. To defeat such a detachment, it is necessary to leave at least two people on watch. The rest of the survivors must take up defensive positions, carrying firearms.

Serious gang. All your men are to be on duty with their firearms. Keep in mind that there will be a lot of enemies. If you lose the battle to them, then all supplies will be taken from you. Some of your fighters can also be killed.

Weather Conditions and Events


The game has all two seasons. This is Winter and Not Winter. By the way, it's hard to say what exactly the developers mean by "Not Winter". Let's take a closer look at the difference between the seasons.

Passage of game This War of Mine. When it is winter, you will have to heat the house, otherwise the heroes will simply freeze and get sick. In addition, at this time of the year there will be problems with water, as snow will have to be melted. To maintain a high temperature in the house, you need to create a stove and heat it with firewood. But at other times of the year, the opposite is true. That is, there is no need to heat the house, water is easy to get. As for diseases, they are practically non-existent.

It is also worth considering the most key moments of the game that affect the lives of the characters, as well as the development of the situation in the house.

Robbery. Throughout the week, the bandits have been actively trying to seize the house, as well as crack down on civilians. When the week of robberies starts, it is better to take care of strengthening the protection. Give your people firearms.

Deficit. When there is a shortage, food prices rise. Therefore, at certain times you have problems with food. It is better to buy everything you need in advance.

Combat actions. When passing the game Zis War of Mine, one or several locations can be blocked for a while. On them there will be a battle between neutral bots. You can wait until the end of the conflict, and then get various resources. But you can help one side.

Resources and their extraction


Water. It is necessary to melt the snow, or use a special device in different places where there will be a source of water.

Meat. You need to create a cage, put bait in it. Then kill the beast from which you can make meat.

Herbs. To get grass, you need to create a bed. Plant a variety of plants, then harvest.

Moonshine. You have to combine sugar and water. Then get moonshine from the pipe.

Fuel. It can be obtained for the most part from logs, another tree.

Ammo. You can craft them at a workbench. But for this, gunpowder and cartridge cases must be available.

Cigarettes. They can be created from shag, tobacco, grass.

Bandages. They are impossible to find. Therefore, you will have to create dressings with herbs and alcohol.

Weapon


When passing the game This War of Mine, weapons play a big role. So, let's look at the types of weapons.

Gun. This is one of the weakest firearms. You need to have a lot of ammo and accurate shots. Only then will the enemy be killed.

Gun. It is very effective in close combat. With it, you can kill enemies with two shots.

Machine. Now that's cool! But it takes a lot of ammo. On the other hand, with its help, you can soak a lot of bad guys.

Axe. One good hit will help to deal with the enemy.

Fomka. This is similar to an axe. Helps to destroy doors, break locks.

Shovel. Helps to dig holes and also to bury garbage. Also, the shovel allows you to deal with the enemy with one blow.

Knife. In everyday life, it is useless, but in close combat it is very effective. Killing shadows with it is easier.

Morality


All your actions, or rather each character, affect the game world. After each act, you will receive morale points. They can be both positive and negative. If during the passage of the game This War of Mine the level of morality becomes too low, then the character can simply commit suicide or kill someone. Conclusion: you need to do as few bad deeds as possible. In order to raise morale points, you can create furniture, or eat a lot. Sometimes you need to help other characters.

Locations


Destroyed house. Is a safe place. In it you can find useful supplies, weapons and much more. Just don't go into the house. You need to master the hacking skill, have a master key with you.

Church of St. Mary. Two events can happen in this building - a dead priest and you need to kill the bandits, or a living priest and you have to buy supplies from him.

Dilapidated slum. In this location you will not see enemies. But meet with the homeless. Feed the bum and learn something about the hiding place.

Supermarket. In this location, events can develop according to two scenarios. In the first case, you will save the girl from bad guys, after which you will receive a morale bonus. In the second case, you will see soldiers who will drive you away. When you come the second time, there will be no one at the location.

Quiet house. A couple of people live in this house. If during the passage of the game This War of Mine you want to rob them, then a minus will be added to the karma. But you will get a lot of useful things.

Destroyed school. In it you will find the poor or the militias. These people are not dangerous.

Hotel. In one room you will find a hostage. Bad guys will fire without warning. Therefore, if you decide to go here, then be vigilant.

Army checkpoint. There is no danger here. The military will gladly trade supplies and weapons for alcohol. (Just like in real life, isn't it?!)

Construction site. There are a lot of weapons in this location. Only it is guarded by snipers or a gang of soldiers.

Small abode. Here you will meet a crowd of bandits or a crowd of merchants. You can buy valuable items at bargain prices from merchants.

Warehouse. Big crowd of bandits. They guard critical resources. Deal with him, and then you will have access to very valuable things.

Brothel. In this place you can buy various items from the seller.

House for two families. There are two events in this house. There is no one in the first of them, and you may meet a couple of people who need to be killed. In the second event, the house is flooded with gunshots.

Hospital. In this location, you will always receive medical help (for free). During the passage of the game This War of Mine, the rest of the time the area is guarded by people with weapons. It is better not to get into conflict with them.

Ruined villa. Find a great variety of useful supplies here. However, for their extraction, you will have to fight very seriously in hand-to-hand combat. You will be opposed by locals who are not happy with those who come to visit.


Tip One- to start, create a stove, beds and other household items.

Tip Two- look for details for things. No need to try to carry various trash home if it is not needed.

Tip Three Do not forget about the extraction of water from the first minutes of the passage of the game This War of Mine. This also applies to moonshine. These resources are very important in the game.

Tip Four- make sure that your characters do not overeat. Otherwise they become lazy.

Tip Five- store the maximum amount of canned food. They are able to restore health and help to survive longer without food.

Tip Six- try to kill only bad guys and bandits. Do not touch the soldiers and civilians.

Tip Seven- you don’t have to buy anything from a huckster that comes to you. He often tries to trick you.

Council Eight- try to have the maximum amount of all resources.

Council Nine- if you have a doctor or a patient, you should not send him on a mission. During the passage of the game This War of Mine, they must often rest and be at peace.

Tip Ten Try to keep no more than five people at home. Large groups require a high workload and a lot of attention.

Tip Eleven- if there are no trees also in other locations, then you can start cutting furniture.

Council Twelfth- the palm icon indicates that you can pick up and examine the item.

Council Thirteenth- no need to create a lot of weak furnaces. It is best to use one modified.


Good luck with the passage of the game This War of Mine!

The game is brilliant. She blew up a bunch of publications a year ago with how quickly and effectively she conveys the horrors of war to the player. Therefore, I propose to get a little "under the hood". I say right away - the game is not ours, and has nothing to do with us.

In general, for a couple of months I will probably start talking about gamedev hardcore, more precisely, what our colleagues call game science. I'll start with simple and understandable things. With far from ideal game mechanics, while working like a clock. Or like a blow to the head.

So, let me remind you: the main task of the game is to immerse a person in the state of “being a civilian in a war and trying to survive”, so that even the most frostbitten people realize how bad it is. Accordingly, everything else is built around this. At the same time, the game itself should be:

  • Interesting.
  • With a simple entry threshold.
  • Realistic for immersive tasks.
Of course, the creators cheated a little - but this becomes noticeable only after a detailed analysis. It is clear that the logic of the setting sometimes argues with the mechanics and gameplay. It is clear that there are a lot of shortcomings, but everything in general is very cool. So we went to get to the bottom of the little things.

Attention, below are some spoilers and a lot of screenshots (traffic).

entry curve

So, you play as a small group of comrades surviving in the outskirts of the city where the fighting is taking place. There are three global "external" factors: the lack of food and necessary things (this is determined by the very fact of the war), the constant robberies of marauders and bandits, plus to the heap - severe cold snaps in winter. The challenge is to get through it all. As in the novel "Marauder".


One of the game's most visually powerful screens is the start

This screen with those hitting the psyche "survived" on the photographs - it does not open completely right away. The first clickable stories provide a simple composition and a simple script.

The complexity of the game is determined by the scenario and the composition of the players.

The script is what happens around:

  • The duration of the war (for example, 24 days is easier to survive than 47).
  • The order of external events (on complex stories, the game starts with cold weather and huge gangs of bandits, on easy ones - with summer and calmness).
  • Seasons (sometimes you need to warm up and look for cold pills the whole game, sometimes you don’t need to at all).
  • Plus available objects on the map. Their number and their sub-scenarios vary in complexity. For example, there may be such a situation that only those places where it is difficult to obtain resources are available - such as a church where bandits sit instead of monks, or a dilapidated school where instead of homeless people there are militias.
  • To a lesser extent - from scenario game events like guests bringing you something useful.


City map

The characters in the game are not all balanced: there are both very cool and frankly almost useless. The latter are needed just for the training aspect, but more on that below. Naturally, the initial composition of the "stars" also provides a low complexity.

Gameplay and balancing

You start in an abandoned house, where you need to sort out the rubble, open cabinets and generally build infrastructure such as stoves, workbenches, beds, and so on. This is already the first thing for the game, and immediately entering the atmosphere (I remember I used a similar technique in a pavilion live-action role-playing game about the consequences of an attack on a colony - in the room where the players entered, everything was turned upside down, and so that you could feel what happened, "hands").

This is your base, a place for daytime gameplay. You can’t leave the base during the day: it is assumed that they will immediately shoot you on the street without question. At the same time, NPCs come to you and offer goods, help with something, or ask for help. Judging by some fragments of plot texts, some kind of game part was supposed to establish relations with neighbors, but then, it seems, it was cut out and simplified to these “guests”.

There is a workbench at the base, from which you build the rest of the infrastructure. First of all - beds, a locksmith's table, a stove for cooking, a heater or a fig for collecting water, for example. Supplies are stored in a non-working refrigerator, medicines are stored in a closet nearby.

The main balance is built around missing food. You need to constantly go out into the city at night (in different places) to collect food, boards, all sorts of components such as tape and nails, and so on. Of course, if you managed to establish food production at home, you would not go out at all, and the game would be blown away. Accordingly, the first thing a game designer did was to establish a rule: "the house is not self-sufficient."

This means that you can set traps for rats, but no more than two pieces. You can grow vegetables, but you still need meat and water. You can do something at home in general - but you will still need something outside. At the same time, on batches longer than 40 days, approximately on the 30th day, it is possible to accumulate enough food so that the next two weeks do not go anywhere at all.

You also constantly need components to improve your home - this is the second factor of balance.

At the beginning of the game, you need to fill holes in the walls after shelling, get all kinds of garbage to assemble tiles and other things, make an extremely scarce ax (an inhumanly difficult task in our world - it is often easier and faster to find a Kalashnikov assault rifle than an ax). Accordingly, they must be followed outside.


Character thoughts on base comfort

So, the game is divided into two encapsulated objects: base and night exits. With the same as in XCOM. At the same time, the most-most deficit is heavy boards and components. Logically, it would be extremely easy to convey them if the three of us went at once and dragged them. Or go as a character twice or thrice. But no. Per night - only one exit, and only one person.

At the same time, each character has a load capacity limit - this is another factor in limiting the flow of resources, that is, also the level of complexity. Here are the inventory and items on the ground:

The second way to get resources, if you do not go for them at night, is to buy from a merchant who enters the base about once every 4 days.

Every object in the city has valuable things and not so much. For example, a gun, cans of food, jewelry and medicines have a huge game value, but cigarettes, coffee, tobacco, shell casings, and so on have almost none. This is the second factor of balance: despite the fact that the characters have different carrying capacities, main they get things out quickly. That is, the balance on food will converge, but on the boards - no. This only means slowing down the construction of the infrastructure of the base.

Accordingly, a trader is needed to smooth out the wrong choice of a place for a hike. If you find a stash with diamond earrings instead of a stash with food - a man will come and balance it with an exchange. That is, there will never be obviously failed exits to the city. And this dude, although he carries a huge pile of everything with him (which is also not according to the gameplay), cannot be hit on the head and robbed (which would be extremely logical based on the plot below), and although he complains about snipers, he will always survive and will come like clockwork. The takeaway is simple: if you're ever going to be an NPC in a PC game, try to be in charge of balance. So you are completely safe.


As you can see, game mechanics are cool so far, but realism suffers severely. But we are used to it, it's a game.

The main problem of game mechanics is revealed in the second game, when you begin to understand in detail why you need what from the objects of the base. A moonshine still, an improved chem table, a hydroponic garden, an improved stove - all this costs so much in resources that it simply does not pay off. In reality, if you know that the war ends in the horizon of 50 days, then the business plan for such investments does not converge. A much more effective strategy - instead of processing resources like sugar into moonshine, just drive them raw to the merchant. This is tritely more profitable, and it really cuts off some of the interest and depth of the game. This is all done for a simple reason - we need, on the one hand, to create a need for resources in the middle and end of the game, but how to do this without breaking the balance of the beginning is unclear. Hence the perversions. In addition, regardless of the order in which you attack objects, you should survive in approximately the same way, which also requires balancing. Given the missing saves (more precisely, returns to the past), the game designer decided that it would be a shame to go the wrong way and die of hunger or cold. This also affected the balance.


Base upgrade continues, see how much micromanagement

"Desktop" limitations of game mechanics

There are a lot of strange things in the game, but they all relate to what we used to think of as game limitations in board games. Again, considering how many times I've been told by hardened game designers to hone everything on paper prototypes, I suspect that there was a tabletop, like in XCOM. Either the authors came from the desktop market. Accordingly, the same scheme of "cardboard" simplifications is used here:
  • The military will never come to your house. The base is not attacked.
  • Don't try to leave the city. Despite the obvious logic of such a decision, you need to sit still in Pogoren and dig deeper and deeper into the house.
  • Ammunition for all weapons of the same type. They climb into a shotgun, and into a sniper rifle, and into a pistol, and into a machine gun. Game mechanics - a good simplification, because the game is not about that.
  • The time in the game is abstract - from edge to edge of the house on foot - at least 20 minutes.
  • Heating is determined solely by the cost of resources for heaters. Where and how the stoves are located - it doesn’t matter (a lot of extra space is visually heated), the open door does not affect the temperature of the house, the stove with food does not give heat. By the way, the garden with vegetables at -15 feels great, unlike the characters.
  • The game "cheats" in generating random numbers - for example, when you have really little food, rat traps start to give more meat.
  • The combat system is such that our "pacifist" Roman can cut out an entire checkpoint of soldiers without much difficulty. True, after the third patch, then he will begin to morally kill himself.
  • There are a lot of small bugs, ranging from the possibility of the appearance of the fifth character in the group (and his unexpected disappearance) and ending with a glitch with repeated moral suffering. Plus, classically algorithmic ones, such as restrictions on the length of the path search stack.
  • At the objects of the city, even abandoned ones, someone carefully placed stepladders in key places. No need to carry a ladder or rope with you - everything is there.
  • You can store ready-made food on the stove indefinitely - and looters won't even take it away (they just won't see it).
  • The visual design of the house does not correspond to the game mechanics and the plot. Firstly, there is a lot of deliberately uncleaned garbage that remains until the end of the game. Secondly, with the naked eye you can see a bunch of wood that we cannot get - for example, there remains a bedside table that cannot be cut with an ax or the entire attic in general. Thirdly, it is not clear where the inedible things go - they seem to be somewhere here, but in fact - only in the interface.
  • On military objects there are places to hide, on ordinary ones - no. And you can also hide in such a way that three people who search everything will not find it.
At the same time, the game remains intact. All this does not interfere, but in practice it serves one and only purpose - to drag the player through exactly the desired plot.

History and plot

So, you are already familiar with everyday difficulties. It is worth adding that our heroes are still sick from the cold and, sometimes, just like that, they come from the exits wounded and sometimes they begin to behave not very well. For example, fight with other characters, drink medical alcohol without asking, hang yourself from depression and quit your job. All this determines the constant micromanagement.

The second big part of the game - it is also the main one in terms of the level of plot impact - is the exits to the city. The first couple of points are abandoned houses, where the necessary items just lie somewhere nearby, and it is enough to collect them.

Naturally, on this layer, the player needs to be occupied with something. In a simplified case, we get such a mini-maze with game-mechanical obstacles. In a more complex one - interactions with characters in peaceful ("Don't touch my things") or combat mode. The same level can be played as combat, stealth "get to the refrigerator and first aid kit" or "quietly picked up along the edges of the house and ran away."

As in the base, the main resource is time. But if at the base this is solved by sleeping, building and constantly turning something small (throw a log into the stove, change the filter on a water plant, etc.), then here - with various blockages like this:

Sometimes you should be wary of noises (this is a rat, a dangling window sash or a man with a shotgun can also appear like this):

Locked bars (need a file) guard treasures:

Doors-diodes: on the one hand they are boarded up and can be disassembled, on the other hand they do not open in any way. In life, these do not happen, but in the game they are needed:

There are, of course, ordinary doors that can be opened with a crowbar or a master key.

Plot

First and foremost in the story are the moral choices every time you do something. Here, for example, is a quiet house where an elderly couple lives. You can quietly leave, or you can break in and rob them (they will try to escape into the basement from a scary character):

Definitely everywhere - traces of the war. Each object in the city is someone's tragic story that is developing with you or has already ended. For example, here is a note from an abandoned house:

Here is one of the strongest moments of the game: a drunken well-armed soldier and a girl. Given the lack of saves, either you will try to do something, or you will stand and watch how he rapes her.

The second very powerful moment with a sniper shooting a father returning to the baby with medicine. Here is a very scary (visually) picture of a sniper denouement, very well-chosen effects of flashing lights, good sound - and all this contributes to the fact that in the end you understand how great it is that you helped.

Each choice means consequences. Here - the father gives us jewelry:

Then we will see this story in the final game. Almost every object has a scripted scene depending on its state. For example, you can find a supermarket with a military or looters (and they will rip it off at the same time as you - no less terrible sight).

next layer- "history of the house", for example, like this. This character wants to join us:

Sometimes it happens like this:

Here the militia asks to extradite the person whom we helped, and offers products for this. The bottom line, as always, is very simple. Or something useful for a mean act - or you are left with a clear conscience, but without food. These choices make up the game.

At the end, they line up in moments of war like this:

However, it quickly becomes clear that just like that, without additional incentives, it is more profitable to be a munchkin, mechanically.


Roman starts to cut out the roadblock

Therefore, the game designer decided this way - grateful residents still bring something useful later:

This, too, was not enough. Munchkin was easier anyway. Therefore, they introduced another parameter - morality. As soon as someone does something bad (according to their scale of values), they and those around them begin to kill themselves. A dull character just grumbles and recovers worse, depression leads to nightly fights, scandals, runs for alcohol in the refrigerator, leaving the house, or generally wanting to hang himself. They pull out of depression with the help of persuasion in the spirit: “We need you to survive. Get up."

Each character keeps his own "diary", where he writes down thoughts about his actions.

Accordingly, in the diaries of other characters, this can be both condemned and perceived with praise.

In the end, if the characters did everything "correctly", they are fine. If not, they are bad. Another learning moment. Probably not in real life:

Morality is visible throughout the game, yes, yes, yes. Pay attention to the biographies of Roman. The villain cannot go unpunished.

Now let's look at the interface

The first beautiful thing is teaching by dialogues. The characters directly communicate what they see fit to do. For example, at the first sign of cold snaps (still safe), they begin to resemble a stove.

Here is a similar Fallout Shelter with a similar character management system at the level of global mechanics. They also report their problems. This is standard mechanics.

Characters "think aloud", and the player receives game-technical information

Another separate very cool interface is the radio. First, it is realistic. Secondly, to catch the stations, you need to twist the shit from the side, and not just press the button. When you twist this thing and pick up a radio station through the interference, the immersion effect is enhanced:


Overlay game actions on the interface: the music from the radio becomes the background music of the game

The focusing of attention works very well, here it is solved just perfectly. Action icons are shown when they are in your focus, otherwise they collapse to a slowly pulsing dot. Look to the left here:

Here's what's in there:

Summer and winter are very different in appearance. Please note, by the way, the whole game is textured with a “pencil effect”, and this especially works for the atmosphere:

And finally, we have another purely "desktop" theme - the generation of night events. This is just a summary of what the rest of the characters were doing while you were out walking at night:

The last part is visual images based on photos. The portraits are so lively and emotional that they alone create the right atmosphere.

climax

Despite the fact that the game loses its novelty very quickly (and in general, like any other game, it is not very replayable), thanks to mechanical things it still becomes interesting.

The two most interesting stories- these are Sveta and Anton (pensioners) and the "lone wolf". Let's start with pensioners. They have almost nothing but a pile of books from a neighbor and beds. They are not combat at all. They carry very few supplies. They do not know how to fight off even single bandits at night. There are no practical skills - no trade, no mechanics, nothing. They are very, very hard. And at the moment when you play for them, it becomes clear how terrible the war is. And how powerless you are against circumstances.

And at this moment, the screenwriter laid miracles:

People come to help our pensioners. They don't ask for anything in return. They just come and give things away. And this changes the whole attitude towards the world, where you used to literally gnaw out every piece of food.

And the second story of a lonely earner is that he is very cool, but being alone, he cannot do anything. Left the house for the night - the house was robbed clean. Slept - did not fight off the bandits. Everything of value must be carried with you. And even a weak pensioner immediately becomes a huge help for him. This also allows you to feel this “teaching team” situation almost in your own skin.

Outcome

It turned out to be an excellent educational game that shows everything exactly as it should. Dexterous movements of balance and game mechanics in the direction of "be kind" are not visible at first, and the first 2-3 games (and so many do not play) seem like a natural choice. That is, the model of behavior that they convey to you.

In Western publications (non-gaming) the game received a very high rating. But even there the point of view often slips through: brilliant, but we won’t play a second time - it’s terrible, disgusting and scary.

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