For better or worse, so much can change in 10 years. In particular, things continue to escalate and become far more bleak when it comes to war. Some of the biggest video game franchises continue to glorify war by literally gamifying it, making violence and death look like a great time rather than what it is: horrifying. Ten years ago, This War of Mine portrayed war from the civilians’ perspective. The game is dark, dripping in despair. Your morals are constantly questioned, eroding with time as desperation sets in. Strangers become family as people struggle in ruined homes to find food and water, fix the house, stay warm, and stay together. (Children came in future DLC.) When you fight, it is to survive rather than up your body count for points. This War of Mine doesn’t celebrate war, period. And neither does the developer, not even for a big achievement like continuing to evolve and make an impact for a decade.
But there is a little room for some happiness: This War of Mine will be getting new DLC, titled Forget Celebrations. While acknowledging this is good news, 11 bit studios wanted to make a statement with the title. The developer explains why in a press release, stating, “Innocent lives are still being lost on battlefields, new conflicts are erupting, arms production escalates to feed war’s demand, and civilians and soldiers continue to face unimaginable brutality. With the world bleeding, we believe it is vital to keep pushing for change.”
This War of Mine has expanded past the boundaries of the video game industry with exhibitions at prestigious institutions like London’s Imperial War Museum and New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (more commonly known as MoMA). It has influenced academic settings as a new way for lecturers to explain the realities of war. It is the first video game officially recognized as supplementary material by Poland’s Ministry of Education; Polish students and teachers can get it for free via the government. This War of Mine even received a Special Recognition Award from Amnesty International for raising awareness of international humanitarian law. But the world is still heading to hell in a handcart.
11 bit studios has released charity DLC for This War of Mine, allowing for continuous donations to War Child. In early 2022, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, one week of sales income from the game was donated to the Ukrainian Red Cross. And we’re not talking a small amount of money: $850k was raised.
The Forget Celebrations DLC brings us back to Pogoren to follow Katia. She is a seasoned war correspondent struggling to complete a book about its harsh realities. When a missile attack destroys her home, her fight for survival gets harsher. Making the situation even worse, she must recover her gathered materials. This DLC will also result in all its studio proceeds being donated to its charity partners (War Child, Amnesty International, Liberty Ukraine Foundation, and Indie Games Poland).
Developed and published by 11 bit studios, This War of Mine is available for PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series. No release date or window has been announced for the Forget Celebrations DLC.
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When I think about this deplorable use of war in games, I think it’s only in American games? With their geopolitical needs of securing energetic and mineral resources through war, comes the necessity to justify those actions through culture. And so there’s the need to form relations between the army and Hollywood and the gaming industry.
In guess it is one of the reasons I gravitate towards Japanese games. Despite that, we can’t completely turn away from war themed games if we want to think critically about this industry.
Things haven’t gotten better in games because the tendency towards a crisis has not changed in western economies.
Maybe the surprise is that there has not been more games with Israel as the protagonist, where you’re bombing Sudan or Kuwait. I shudder at the thought of how many games are being developed where you’re fighting at the ‘south sea’ (in other words, against China, usually around Taiwan). According to People make games, there’s a lot of wargames about it. It’s only a matter of time until some company puts millions turning it into a video game
Yeah I think the big problem is that a lot of American games about war are made specifically to further the American imperialist perspective of war. And often in consultation with the actual military.
Once you get outside of that the games *tend* to be better. War of Mine is Polish, for example, and they certainly know the miseries of war. I think as long as the game doesn’t treat war like some kind of entertainment in pure form, then it has a chance to be worthwhile.