A war survival video game from 11 bit Studios, This War of Mine is inspired by real-world historical events that occured between 1992 to 1996 in the city of Sarajevo during the Bosnian conflict.
Known as the Siege of Sarajevo, this battle was a devastatingly long one in the conflict and resulted in catastrophic conditions for the population caught in the middle.
In this game you will struggle to survive using the tools and materials that players are capable of gathering through the various avatars they control who have no military background but have to make do with their talents as they are to survive in the war torn city.
A lot of the action of the game involves switching back and forth between these characters and tending to their needs as they arise.
You basically have to maintain this routine for a randomized amount of time after which a cease fire is declared and the game is over.
There are different hazards depending on the time of the day such as snipers during daylight hours and scavenge at night either in cooperation or competition with other residents of the city.
You often have the choice of whether or not to engage in violence but sometimes the game makes it for you and you have to react accordingly.
Balancing out the various talents of your survivors as well as weathering the obstacles the city throws at you results in an absolutely engaging urban survival game that is more tied to reality than many would like to admit.
Indeed, far from being a pure fantasy, This War of Mine is played out in many conflict zones across the world and the struggle to survive is a very real one. As you can imagine such a game has quite a devoted following.
In this list we will discuss 8 games similar to This War of Mine that we recommend you give a try. All a little different, they are nonetheless tied together by a common theme of surviving against great odds.
Sheltered
Developed by Unicube and published by Team17, Sheltered is a post-apocalyptic survival game similar to This War of Mine but dissimilar in terms of narrative and atmosphere.
Rather than existing between two sides in a conflict, you instead are in control of a family in an underground bunker after a nuclear war.
As such you will manage their needs while also keeping an eye out for the inventory and greater needs of the shelter at large. The player will encounter very real threats such as starvation, dehydration, or even radiation poisoning.
Though ostensibly simple in conceit the game is nonetheless challenging and engaging long after start up.
Imagine Fallout Shelter without the microtransactions and you have a good idea of what Sheltered is but even that fails to encompass the emphasis on survival over building the shelter. Basically what you have is what you work with in Sheltered and survival is itself the name of the game.
Project Zomboid
An open-world zombie survival game from developer The Indie Stone, Project Zomboid is, as the name implies, about how long you can survive in a zombie infested world.
With death an inevitable thing in this there isn’t an overarching narrative to complete outside of how long can you survive in this brutal environment.
Naturally, part of survival is tending to things like hunger and thirst as well as overall health but also, in this game, a specific emphasis on maintaining the mental fitness needed to survive in quarantined Knox County.
Coming with two gameplay modes, survival and sandbox mode, Project Zomboid also encourages replayability through challenge scenarios which are specific, preset game conditions that impact the way a session of Project Zomboid plays out.
State of Decay 2
The sequel to the popular State of Decay, State of Decay 2 from Undead Labs takes a lot of the conventions from the first game and expands upon them in an adventure that both graphically superior and more narratively dense than its predecessor.
Like many of the other games on this list State of Decay 2 centers around surviving in a zombie-infested world and emphasizes crafting and martial prowess as two of the things players will need to master to survive.
There is a day and night cycle as well as a necessity to gather materials in an intensely violent world but, unlike some of others on this list, you can take the edge off in State of Decay 2 by playing with others in multiplayer, online gaming options that are robust and fun. Probably best for the fan of zombie games who can’t stomach one more Resident Evil entry, State of Decay 2 keeps it simple and fun in a game that is at times sandbox life simulator and zombie survival sim.
Rimworld
Plopped down onto the surface of an extraterrestrial planet filled with danger, Rimworld is about building a community in an unforgiving environment and is filled with tough-as-nails gameplay from beginning to end.
Don’t let its much more simplistic graphics style deceive you – Rimworld is a tour-de-force when it comes to hardcore gaming.
The simulation aspects are tough and keeping people alive is not only a challenge but one that will keep you replaying Rimworld time and again.
Building a colony is not only an art in and of itself but also making sure you have the right balance between survival and keeping everything going that makes Rimworld a more contemplative piece than some of the games on this list.
Bereft of anything overt like a zombie plague, Rimworld is nonetheless fraught with danger and potential, combining the best of State of Decay 2 with This War of Mine for a unique experience all its own.
Rebuild
A city building sim that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world Rebuild has spawned a series of titles that are firmly rooted in the spirit of This War of Mine but are vastly different in content and execution than that game.
Unlike Sim City, however, you will need to take other needs for your municipality into account in this survival sim that puts you in a world when a city needs more than just fire and police forces to survive. A darkly charming game, Rebuild is perfect for those gamers that want a different pace than This War of Mine.
Fallout Shelter
If you’re a fan of Bethesda’s Fallout series of games, all of which are situated in a post-apocalyptic universe with 1950s Americana overtones and the science fiction and fantasy horror of that era to match, Fallout Shelter presents a different experience that has more in common with Rimworld and Rebuild than it does many of the games on this list.
As the overseer of your own vault you have to tend to the needs of your vault residents while also surviving attacks from raiders and super mutants from the outside world. Done in the kitschy art style of the Vault Tec commercials, Fallout Shelter is a charming title that prioritizes homage to the world of Fallout over doing anything completely out of line with that series.
Another slower paced game like Rebuild, Fallout Shelter is a great game to play on the go or on home consoles as it has made its way to nearly every format since its release in 2015.
Darkwood
This pseudo-open world game set in a Soviet bloc country is presented from a top-down perspective with a daylight cycle, skills, leveling, crafting, stealth, combat, interacting with NPCs, and different storylines to pursue in the game. Told in a nonlinear way, Darkwood puts a special emphasis on story that the other games on this title lack somewhat.
Though it does have elements of the popular Rogue-like genre, Darkwood is not itself a Rogue-like game although higher difficulty levels can open up challenges that are somewhat like that in presentation.
Death in the lower difficulty levels does not quite have the bite that it does at higher levels with penalties ranging from losing inventory and progress to permanent death at the highest setting. The storyline itself molds to the player’s choices and actions taken within the course of the game making each playthrough a unique experience with some elements being randomized and changed each time.
The Long Dark
As a pilot who has crash landed in Canada’s harsh, snowbound northwestern regions, The Long Dark puts survival front and center in the gameplay which features crafting, scavenging, and avoiding emergent environmental dangers like bears and wolves.
Set in a world brought to its knees by a geomagnetic storm, your job is to survive and uncover more about what has happened to the world around you.
Players that would rather skip out on the narrative portion of the game can opt for the purely survival-oriented mode of the same name but The Long Dark’s story mode is where the game truly shines. A game that factors in everything from hunger to ambient temperature, The Long Dark’s enemy is life in a harsh environment itself and much of the tension comes from this depiction of what could be a very real struggle for survival.
I hope you enjoyed this list, I loved making it and if I missed anything then please let me know in the comments below. Have an amazing day!
