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The Cruellest Survival Game

Ratat

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Today I'm discussing This War of Mine, the 2014 release by 11 Bit Studios, creators of Frostpunk and Frostpunk 2. I'll be going through the base game, and the story DLCs (A Father's Promise, The Last Broadcast and Fading Embers).

We'll also be talking about video game writing, how to put together a good DLC, and generally breaking down what makes a game good. It helps that this game has physical copies (haha playstation 6 and xbox project helix joke haha GTA 6 haha I think that's enough algorithm buzzwords).

Featuring the voice talents of the ever brilliant ‪@sablestew‬
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
05:12 This War of Mine
16:25 Character Writing
21:14 A Father's Promise
29:53 The Last Broadcast
38:58 Fading Embers
47:02 Final Words
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MUSIC
Dark is the night instrumental
Some Place We Called Home (This War of Mine OST)
Polyhedrons (Disco Elysium OST)
Usugurai Residence Houses (Yumme 2kki OST)
Lost Haven (Fear & Hunger 2: Termina OST)
Day Theme (No I'm Not a Human OST)
We'll meet again piano cover
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GENERIC TAGS
Survival game, horror game, this war of mine, frostpunk, frostpunk 2, overwatch, minecraft, lore, ratat, 100 days, video essay, sleep,
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Rat Gang.

20 Comments

@gigagleb9842 2 months ago

>This Game Made Me Evil
>hover over for preview
>overwatch gameplay
Checks out

@MaranTaing 2 months ago

>Incredibly Depressing game
>Its made in Poland

Makes sense.

@bubblegumcrab 2 months ago

ME: oh this game sounds really interesting
Ratat: it's the frostpunk guys
Me, with 42 hours in frostpunk: oh so this game is just evil

@mirusasaki 2 months ago

This hits harder than Frostpunk since it takes its time for the player to get to know the cast. They're not just some numbers getting screwed over by the RNG.

@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303 2 months ago

Holy fucking shit this game. I have distant family who died in Sarajevo, everything This War Of Mine threw at me kinda broke me. It's the kind of game I can only play 20 minutes at a time, it makes the worst moments of Frostpunk look like child's play

@AzerothLatinoamerica 2 months ago

That campaign were you are a father and if something happens to you your daughter stays alone and you have to see her slowing starving
Bruh

@moonmun 2 months ago (edited)

Man, this game is so SO good. I remember finishing it and everyone got a solid decently happy ending... except for Marko. He took one for the team and I had no idea there would be epilogue for each at that time. Man was everyone's hero in my game! I've never felt more proud to save the children even if I struggled hard at the lack of supplies then. It was so worth it!

These short stories are so nice though! Different POV of war. Thank you for making this video! More people need to know more about this great game.

@NoMoreCrumbs 2 months ago

I like to practice what I call "tactical starvation" where I feed all survivors every other day, which makes food and water last twice as long. They end the war pretty thin, but usually without ever having to steal from anyone else. Also it's a good idea to rush production on an axe to break up the useless furniture in the house they occupy in order to get firewood and lumber for building

@KaoChanOfTheBreadClub 2 months ago

This game made me cry. I let in another survivor because I felt so bad for him. Only for him to die when I was still learning the mechanics of looting. And another time, the survivor I "adopted" became unhappy and ran away with my supplies with him when my starting character is a man with his child! I was like that 🏖️! I truly love this game. Broke my heart so many times.. made me cry into my cat's stomach

@lleanerbean 2 months ago

This War of Mine was I think the first game that made me realize how much emotional impact a game could have on me, and I genuinely think it made me a more empathetic person overall. I never realized that they actually released story dlc, because I never really considered going back to it, but this video made me remember so many little things, and I think I'll play a couple of runs this week. :)

Probably the most impactful memory I have is the fear and apprehension I felt when killing other civilians, because of the toll it takes on your survivors. However, I also remember losing that kind of apprehension after repeatedly murdering people for their supplies in these runs. I don't remember playing a game that has made me feel so conflicted about killing people in the first place, and it made little teenager me think about why it became "easier" to commit these acts of cruelty.

Thanks for talking about this game! :)

@kamikazemelon787 2 months ago

This is a very good game. 11-bit never meant to be the “depressing oppressive game studio” but this is the genesis and absolutely worth a play

@ocd_guitartech 2 months ago

Malikt to his wife, "Sorry babe, I can't go scavenge because I gotta stream. Can't let the chat down, going live now pick me up something love you!"

@weezersthebluealbum9479 2 months ago

Having grown up in Belfast following The Troubles, I felt many similarities playing this game and hearing stories about atrocities committed by the British army and innocent civilians suffering the most. Glad to see others have been able to express their experiences like this.

@MacronsKitten 2 months ago

My first, and only, playthrough of this war of mine was before I really developed empathy for fictional characters. I avoided actual fights but I stole from EVERYONE; I kept returning to the same old couples garage every night just to rob them blind. All of my characters being horrifically depressed seemed meaningless compared to getting more components

I played right into the game and I still feel a little bad about that

@mottski1 2 months ago

When I played this game for the first time, I found myself thinking and worrying about the characters while I was doing other things, like they were people I actually had a distant connection to. I've never had a game get under my skin like that before or since.

@konrad8541 2 months ago

Finally, someone made a video about This War of Mine. I played this game the first time when I took a break from playing Spec Ops: The Line which in hindsight is not a great Idea.

@HopefulTomorrow420 2 months ago

I did one run ages ago, one. Everyone that didn't take my stuff and ran made it, but were all depressed. It's a good game, but I don't really want to touch it any time soon.

@apanana3121 2 months ago

I would play this game with my brother on his playstation all the time before he passed back in 2021, as strange as it is I always come back to it for comfort. Very melancholy game, and a very underrated one

@thebigksmoosey 2 months ago

This War of Mine was a rough go for me, as a war veteran.

We are so focused on our mission, sometimes the cost in people's lives gets shoved into the back of your mind, because you have other responsibilities, very real ones, with very real consequences for yourself and others

When you're young, you get sold this bill of sale that says you're doing good and a hero and a warrior and it's important.

You buy in. You go through the training and the propaganda. You just do your job, no war. Easy

Then the war starts. It's all different. You see evidence that maybe it's not what you were told, but you can't stop long enough to think, and you get the propaganda reinforced by group think.

By the time you start to understand the costs, what is happening, what you may have done that has caused harm, you're on the way out.

You're too old, to worn out, too mentally broken.

And that is by design.

If our soldiers were fully developed adults, with understanding of the nuances of violence by the state or by other powers, you would not be a good soldier.

Soldiers can't think about certain things. You have to fill their minds with other concerns. Brains don't turn off, but they can have their bandwidth used up.

Anyways. Great game, borderline made me think of buying a 10 foot ladder and an 8 foot rope

@aeronphillips8876 2 months ago

THIS WAR OF MINE!!! Oh by the gods old and new I love this bleak, horrific, disgusting, beautiful game. I'm so glad to see you talk about it because your insights on games is something I respect deeply, and after seeing the thumbnail and reading "This Game Made Me Evil" I realized... Yeah. It did the same to me too. I haven't finished the video to say exactly how it did for you, and if how we are is the same, but this game did something to me In The World of Pogoren, that has changed me for the better in Reality. This game has destroyed every other potential "Civ" style game with brutal worlds like Frostpunk or After Inc-- It makes them look like sandbox worlds of fantasy even in their worst moments. The war in Pogoren IS ours, and it should be. Because war cannot do anything but destroy. Thank you for bringing more eyes to this game in the Good Year of Our Internet 2026. I'm looking forward to conversing with my screen as I watch~