Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
This War of Mine is a single-player survival and shelter-management game about civilians enduring a siege, not a military action game. Reviews are broadly favorable, but its slow resource management, stealth-focused scavenging and emotionally difficult decisions are a better fit for players who want tense, somber survival than fast combat.
What kind of game is This War of Mine?
On Steam, the premise is a group of civilians trying to survive in a besieged city while food and medicine run short and snipers and scavengers threaten them. The game’s central pressure is not winning battles; it is keeping people alive with limited supplies and deciding what risks or compromises are acceptable.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Ares Games This War of Mine: The Board Game | $67.80 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
This War of Mine - Complete Edition - Nintendo Switch | $39.28 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
This War of Mine - Complete Edition (Nintendo Switch) | $43.79 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
This War of Mine: Days of the Siege | $55.54 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PlayStation PS4) | $11.70 | Buy on Amazon |
A day for the shelter, a night for scavenging
The cycle divides your attention. During the day, you maintain the refuge, craft, trade and care for survivors. At night, one civilian ventures to scavenge at a location while the others remain behind. New games vary their characters and world, so circumstances and decisions can change between runs. Steam categorizes it with strategy, simulation, crafting and resource-management tags, alongside its survival framing. Steam’s game page describes the premise and systems.
Is This War of Mine worth playing?
It is worth considering if you enjoy deliberate survival systems where scarcity, shelter upkeep and difficult choices carry more weight than combat mastery. Its civilian perspective and day/night structure give the survival loop a distinct emotional focus: a risky supply run or a decision about how to use limited resources can matter as much as crafting or planning.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
#1 Best Overall
- This War Of Mine: The Board Game is the table top adaptation of the award-winning video game that pictures the drama of civilians trapped in a war-torn city
- TWOM: The Board Game features a multiplayer experience for up to 6 players, as well as a solo variant
- Experience the simulation of a struggle for survival as a group of civilians facing a blind and merciless war
- 45 to 120 Minutes Playing Time
- Ages 18+
It may be a poor fit if you want an action-led war game, rapid progression or a consistently empowering power fantasy. The official description emphasizes civilians, danger and shortages; it does not promise a military campaign. The available review scores can indicate broad reception, but they cannot tell you whether the subject matter or pace will suit you personally.
What do the reviews say?
The scores are positive overall, but they measure different groups and should not be treated as one combined verdict. Steam user recommendations, Metacritic critic reviews, Metacritic user ratings, a single GameSpot score and PlayStation Store ratings each have their own audience and method.
Rank #2
- Control your survivors and manage your shelter
- Craft weapons, alcohol, beds or stoves - anything that helps you survive
- Make decisions - an often unforgiving and emotionally difficult experience
- Randomized world and characters every time you start a new game
- Includes "The Little Ones" and "Father's Promise" DLCs
| Source and measure | Score | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Steam English-language user reviews | 92% positive of 23,080 reviews at access | Steam user recommendations, not a critic aggregate or a measure of every platform. Steam notes the game has experienced periods of off-topic review activity. |
| Steam recent reviews | 88% positive of 255 reviews in the last 30 days at access | A smaller, recent Steam-user sample; it can shift over time. |
| Metacritic critic reviews | 83/100 from 63 critic reviews at access | A critic aggregate, separate from the user rating. |
| Metacritic user ratings | 8.2/10 from 1,301 user ratings at access | User ratings on Metacritic, not professional critic reviews. |
| GameSpot review | 8/10 | An individual historical review score for the original game, not a live aggregate. GameSpot lists its separate review of The Little Ones at 7/10. |
| PlayStation Store Complete Edition listing | 4.34/5 from 3,202 ratings at access | A global player rating for that store listing, distinct from the other measures. |
Steam’s review counts and percentages are dynamic, and these figures reflect the pages as accessed for this article rather than permanent totals. You can check the current figures on Steam, Metacritic and the relevant PlayStation Store listing. The GameSpot database records the original game’s review and score.
What is included in This War of Mine: Complete Edition?
“Complete Edition” is not a safe assumption about identical contents across platforms or store listings. The Steam bundle groups the base game with The Little Ones and the Stories Season Pass. Steam describes Final Cut as including updates and free expansions released up to that point, a new scenario, remastered classic locations and additional locations associated with Stories content.
Rank #3
- This War of Mine - full version of the base game
- Anniversary Edtion update set of new characters to interact with
- Locations to explore and new possible ending, created especially for the second anniversary of the game
- The Little Ones DLC - exploring the hardships of wartime survival as seen from an entirely new perspective - that of a child
- TWoM Stories: The Father's Promise - a stand-alone original tale set in the world of This War of Mine, telling a story of family's struggle to preserve the last pieces of humanity in times of despair and cruelty
The PS5 PlayStation Store listing describes its Complete Edition as including Final Cut, The Little Ones and three Stories episodes: Father’s Promise, The Last Broadcast and Fading Embers. That page lists PS5 and a release date of May 10, 2022. Check the exact edition and included content on the storefront for your platform and region before buying; product names and bundles differ by listing.
| Listing | Contents stated in the source |
|---|---|
| Steam Complete Edition bundle | Base game, The Little Ones and Stories Season Pass. |
| PS5 Complete Edition listing | Final Cut, The Little Ones, Father’s Promise, The Last Broadcast and Fading Embers. |
GameSpot’s database lists the original release date as November 14, 2014 and includes PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S among its platform entries. That database list is not confirmation that every edition is currently sold or compatible on every platform. No cross-platform performance comparison is established here, so choose based on the specific listing, content and input setup rather than an unsupported claim that one version runs best.
Rank #4
- Tension and fear can be felt around Pogoren. Soldiers occupying the city keep disappearing, units of militia gather in abandoned buildings, and harrowed citizens are preparing themselves for the worst.
- It seems another armed conflict is at hand. No one knows who will strike first, while the international peacekeeping forces maintain their aloof neutrality. At the same time, more and more kids are left without parents as people die of starvation and violence. Will players risk their own survival to help the little ones?
- Days of the Siege is the second expansion for This War of Mine: The Board Game, a story-rich game of survival in a war-torn city.
- Forlorn Hope, a story-driven, 3-act War Campaign featuring: over 750 new scripts; a new board with the Map of Pogoren; a set of completely new rules; over 50 new tokens
Is This War of Mine difficult?
The available descriptions establish scarcity, danger and emotionally difficult decisions as core parts of the experience, but they do not provide a measured difficulty rating or a platform-by-platform comparison. Expect planning and resource management to matter: daytime shelter work and nighttime scavenging compete for limited time and supplies, while threats make going out dangerous. If you are seeking a low-stress or combat-focused experience, the game’s stated design may not match that preference.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →
