This War of Mine

This War of Mine This War of Mine is a true-events-inspired post-apocalyptic survival adventure. Lead civilians in rebuilding shelter by day, scavenging by night, and crafting gear while facing illness, requests, and tough moral choices.

This War of Mine

This War of Mine is a post-apocalyptic survival adventure built around real-world events. You start your journey with a group of civilians trapped in a ruined city. Since you don’t have special powers, you must manage your people day by day: during daylight, guide them in repairing and strengthening your shelter, and when night comes, send out different survivors to scavenge for the resources you need to keep going.

As the days pass, new dangers emerge—other groups may ask for assistance, and your companions can fall seriously ill. The game forces you to weigh painful choices: sacrifice something—or try everything you can to keep everyone alive. Your decisions shape the story and change what happens next. You can also craft weapons and useful items using the resources you find, helping you survive longer in the city.

Game Background

Step into This War of Mine and the atmosphere hits immediately—heavy, suffocating, and hopeless, like there’s nowhere left to go. This isn’t a glamorous war where soldiers fight for glory. There’s no triumphant halo, no heroic victories—just the raw struggle of ordinary people trying to live through the worst of it.

The game draws inspiration from the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted almost four years during the Bosnian War. During that time, thousands of civilians were trapped amid violence, hunger, and deprivation. Set in a destroyed city, the game examines the cruelty of war through the eyes of people with no power and no choice.

This isn’t about fame, honor, or winning through superior weapons. You play as a regular person—bare hands, instinct for survival, and nothing more. In the day, you stay hidden in the shadows of a mostly broken building. You can hear distant sniper fire, as if they’re tracking your every move.

When night falls, you must slip out and search for anything you can carry—food, wood, medicine, and more. But you’re not the only one hunting. Every night run is a tense confrontation, where even the smallest sound can be the difference between living and dying.

Key Features

Civilian Survival Experience

Instead of focusing on classic battlefield warfare, the game centers on the civilian side of conflict. You’re placed in the role of everyday people trying to survive in a war-torn urban environment.

Day-to-Day Survival Focus

The narrative revolves around daily necessities: finding food, maintaining a safe place to live, and protecting the people you care about. This approach gives a strong, often overlooked perspective on armed conflict.

Hard Moral Decisions

A major part of the experience is dealing with moral dilemmas that arise during combat and survival. You’ll face choices that may endanger you or others. You might have to abandon your plans to keep everyone safer, support friends even when it puts you at risk, or share scarce supplies you can barely afford to lose.

Time-Based Action System

The gameplay follows a shifting day/night cycle, which directly affects your options. Different times bring different dangers and tasks. For example, hunting can be easier at night, but it’s also more hazardous—while daytime is safer, but enemies may spot you more easily.

Survival Resource Management

Crafting is essential, but it’s only as good as your resource management. Because supplies are limited, you must decide what to use immediately, what to sell, and what to keep for later.

Different Experiences Every Run

Randomized elements are included to make each playthrough feel fresh. Obstacles, events, and resource distribution can vary, giving you a wider range of outcomes and challenges across multiple sessions.

Useful Tips

DISTRIBUTE TASKS

Assign something for every person in your group to do. Each character has limited time available during the day, so make sure that time is used well. Ideally, match each survivor to what they’re best at—see your in-game guidance around this (point 9 in the original instructions).

NUTRITION

Hunger and illness will return quickly if you don’t manage them. Hunger states progress in this order: Well-fed, Normal, Hungry, Very Hungry, Starving, and Starving. Try to prevent the condition from going past Hungry, because after that your survivors weaken. Upgrade your stove as soon as you can—this lets you prepare two portions instead of one, allowing you to feed two people at the same time.

MEDICATIONS

Food isn’t the only thing to monitor. Keep an eye on your survivors’ health too. Health levels are: Slightly Sick, Sick, Seriously Sick, and Deathly Sick. Don’t wait when someone is mildly ill—address it immediately. People can become weak fast, and very quickly they may move very little or not at all.

MENTAL HEALTH

What your survivors experience—especially events they trigger—can improve or worsen their mood. For example, helping people who come knocking at your door can help keep morale steady.