This War of Mine: The Little Ones

On one hand I believe it’s a truly brilliant game and an experience that everyone should play. On the other though this is one of the toughest games to play and I can’t say I “enjoyed” any of it. At the end of the day I think it’s a game that everyone should play.

An interactive discussion of the darkled human spirit.

Even two years after its premiere this game still packs an emotional punch. Subtle and quietly the tragic everyday aftermath of war with moral decisions and bitter consequences makes you think, laugh and cry.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a different kind of war game, an amazing experience that focuses on the harshness, the injustice and the cruelty experienced by the innocents and the defenseless.

This War of Mine is still the same great game now in consoles. The adapted controls suffer compared with keyboard and mouse, but new additions such as taking care of children and the customization of the games are good arguments to survive again in this cruel war.

Maturity in videogames is achieved walking the same way 11 bit Studios has walked with This War of Mine: The Little Ones. Sad, distressing, with the terrible chance to traverse your screen and deeply, emotionally, hit you.

A relentlessly savage take on survival that puts players in control of the fleshy collateral damage that other war games merely gloss over, This War of Mine is a bleak, grim and ruthlessly entertaining affair quite unlike any other.

This War Of Mine: The Little Ones is more than a game, and can be considered one of the most effective anti-war tools ever created. This is not a game you play for fun or to unwind, and the addition of children for the console release makes it even more poignant, as the realisation dawns that all over the world people are living through these hellish conditions. This War of Mine: The Little Ones doesn’t just drive home how desperate people get in times of war, but also makes you take note of how lucky so many of us are to live in a more stable place.

This is brilliant mix of harrowing survival interspersed with moments of joy. Having fun really isn't the point here: this is a game that will challenge anyone desensitised to the real sufferings of war – and that's a bold move.

11bit studios brings us a really adult, complex, original and innovative view of the war. Instead of shooting anything that moves it puts you on the weakest side of the war: the civil one. Mixing survival and strategy mechanics it's a really fresh approach to the war, but the gameplay is too repetitive for it to be considered a masterpiece.

This intense game puts you right in the middle of war but not in the perspective you'd expect. As a civilian you will need to survive, while encountering a lot of emotional issues. The choices you have to make are fascinating all through to the end.

This game isn't fair - just like war. Even a hard earned victory tastes bittersweet.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones is as good as when it first launched on PCs back in 2014, but with the addition of the "write my story" mode which lets player customize their game, along with the kids now thrown into battle - a must play tittle now on consoles.

The Little Ones ups the survival stakes, testing restraint-or-risk strategy and morality. There are frustrating bugs, and too much signposting, but it's a powerful, brave experience. [March 2016, p.93]

The gaming’s equivalent of Russell-Einstein anti-war manifesto.

The Little Ones is a strong addition to a game that was solid in its own right. The children are a real game-changer in more presumably realistic, and more interesting, ways than I had imagined. They are a welcome addition to This War of Mine, both for the player and, seemingly, for the adult characters.

While better on PC, the PS4 release brings this remarkable game to a new crowd.

It’s the most real feeling simulator of war out there and that in itself makes This War of Mine: The Little Ones quite terrifying and truly memorable.

When I step back and think about This War of Mine: The Little Ones, I am left with thoughts of a profound and meaningful experience, in spite of its limiting structure, and one that will make you feel like you never had before. This War of Mine: The Little Ones provides an essential illustration of what is the inescapable fact of our existence: we are all human.

It’s a game with something to say while providing an emotional experience to the player. You’ll be surprised by how much you care that one of your survivors totally got shot down like a dog while scavenging. It’s a hard game to be heartless with because the developers did such a great job of really shoving their emotions down your throat.

This War of Mine - The Little Ones looks great and depicts a realistic view of survival in wartime. It is an unforgiving game with a lot of moral choices, but the replay value is pretty low. Still it is a game worth playing.

This War of Mine is brutal in showing the player the misery of the war.

A game like no other, and even though it can be hard to play at times, it still offers a unique and rewarding challenge.

It’s still a touching, dark and powerful experience, but the limited impact of the children on the gameplay, the interface problems and the higher price make us favour the PC version of the game.

This War Of Mine successfully evokes emotion with a gripping tale and deep gameplay. However, limited replay value and a number of technical problems hamper the fun.

It's an overall good porting, and the night-time stealth works well. Shame for the lack of a deeper narrative, and of more precise controls.

Controls could’ve been tighter, given the high-stakes nature of things. Otherwise, this randomising, very replayable experience is hard to put down. [April 2016, p78]

Despite a few little things that we'd change, this is an interesting and, at times, thought-provoking experience that deserves to be exposed to a wider audience on PS4. [Issue#267, p.66]

For what it’s worth, this is still a good game, and the exclusive addition of the children survivors makes it a more compelling experience at that. But really, if you can play the PC edition instead, it’s easy to sacrifice all those kids for a much smoother experience.

A daring, and largely successful, attempt to show the civilian side of war, that succeeds as an interactive drama even when it occasionally fails as a game.

A good transposition on consoles of a quite good, but a bit redundant and rigid, survival game. A unique experience in which every decision can have the worst consequences on adults... and now kids, that could have proposed more gameplay ideas to make the experience more consistent.

As an emotional experience, This War of Mine: The Little Ones is peerless. As a game, it's a sluggish chore.

As it stands, it's a great premise that struggles to deliver a compelling experience thanks to spending far too much time on crafting and not nearly enough on humanity.

The Little Ones is light on actual children but heavy on despair. An emotional insight into the impacts of war on civilians, but not a substantial expansion on the original release.

But just because a game is fuelled by good intentions doesn't mean that you have to play it — and personally, considering how readily available these traumatic stories are in real life, I'd much rather play games that act as a safe space away from it all.