This War Of Mine Is A Harrowing Lesson In The Cost Of Conflict
I’ve got Jewish and Arab heritage, so war is a large part of my family history and present. From World War 2 all the way to Israel’s war against Egypt, the current occupation of Palestine, and the US’s involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya, the atrocities of war are never out of my mind for long.
Thus it feels wrong to call This War of Mine a game. It’s not fun, nor should it be. It’s more like an educational resource than a recreational activity, a grim yet perfect way for those completely untouched by war to consider the lives of those most deeply affected by it.
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I’ve been playing the Final Cut, an upgraded version of the 2014 title, and it hits hard. You control a small group of civilians trapped in a besieged city while war rages all around. It’s especially poignant today given the prevalence of media coverage surrounding Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the IDF killing a journalist in Palestine, but unfortunately, this is a story that has stayed relevant since the dawn of modern warfare.
I was born in the UK so I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid any actual conflict myself, and I hope This War of Mine is as close as I’ll ever get. It would be disingenuous to say it’s like actually surviving a warzone - nothing can prepare people for that - but by putting you in the shoes of people just trying to survive, it forces you to consider their perspective in a more personal way than any news report.
In one scenario, three people—a cook, a football player, and a firefighter—manage to find a house to seek shelter in, but it’s been hit with a few stray
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