This War of Mine

A game to endure rather than enjoy, This War of Mine paints a harrowing picture of survival inside a war-ravaged city. Overseeing a small band of survivors you’ll take sanctuary from the chaos outside during daytime, cooking, crafting tools, healing, and upgrading your hideout. Under the cloak of night time darkness your survivors must venture out in search of materials, resources, and medicine, encountering NPCs both friendly and hostile. Whether you choose to trade, rob, or kill those you meet depends on the desperation within your group; all morals go out the window when you’re besieged, fighting for survival. This War of Mine tells an intimate tale laced with guilt and shame, with the mental wellbeing of your survivors just as important as the food in their bellies and roof over their head.

Announced via the game’s official Twitter, This War of Mine: Final Cut will be released for PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S with newly updated 4K visuals and UI adjustments for easier playthroughs using controllers. The port, dye out on May 10, is being handled by Crunching Koalas, who are known for porting various indie projects to consoles. Alongside the above-mentioned platforms, the game will be available to play on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

11-bit studios CEO Prezemek Marszal says: “We believe it’s especially important to educate people on the realities of war right now, while its horrifying reality has become a daily struggle for people that are close to us.

“We’re proud that recent This War of Mine fundraising helped us create a wave of spontaneous help for war victims in Ukraine, and we hope we can further spread our antiwar message with This War of Mine: Final Cut.”

This War of Mine: Final Cut will launch for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 10.

This War of Mine: Final Cut crafted by our friends from @CrunchingKoalas with newly updated 4K visuals and UI adjustments is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 on May 10th. It will also be available on Day One on @XboxGamePass. pic.twitter.com/ifORO5aMri

— This War of Mine (@ThisWarOfMine) April 27, 2022

Mass Effect 2

BioWare made it pretty clear that the final mission of Mass Effect 2 was “The Suicide Mission” so it’s a given that bringing everyone back alive would be tough. However, actually accomplishing this meant recruiting all possible companions, completing their Loyalty missions and getting all of the ship upgrades. Oh and when you’re actually at the Collector Base? You need to choose the right person for each task, lest death take them. Do all of that and you’ll get the happiest ending…which is everyone finding out that the Reapers are coming to kill them all. Speaking of which…

Though Playdead’s Limbo is currently the latest PC game free on the Epic Games Store, next week will see two games given away for free. Digital Sun’s Moonlighter and 11 bit Studios’ This War of Mine will be free on July 25th via the storefront. It’s an interesting first, and again, you just need to make an Epic Games account, download the launcher, and claim the titles on your account.

Digital Sun’s Moonlighter combines Zelda-style dungeon exploring with pixel graphics and item selling. You head into dungeons, fight of all manner of foes, ransack any available materials, and sell them for a profit. This usually goes into new weapons and armour to allow for further exploration. Next week is actually a good time to try out Moonlighter, since its first paid expansion, Between Dimensions, is out on July 23rd.

This War of Mine is 11 bit Studios’ critically acclaimed survival title set during the Siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War. Players must manage a group of survivors, sending them out to gather the necessary resources by any means necessary. It’s received a fair bit of DLC, including the Stories Season Pass for three new tales.

11 bit Studios has been quite busy with its publishing efforts, not to mention releasing the excellent survival city-builder Frostpunk. However, the company is still best known for This War of Mine, a survival title that takes inspiration from the Siege of Sarajevo of the Bosnian War. It’s four years old at this point, and the developers have announced that the title has managed to sell 4.5 million copies since launch.

Even more important is that the developer has raised $500,000 for the War Child charity. Proceeds from the War Child Charity DLC, which contained street art from numerous artists for the game, was donated to the charity. It’s a monumental effort to be sure, and 11 bit Studios’ continued support is worth making note of.

This War of Mine has seen numerous updates and DLC since releasing. Its Stories Season Pass has added two new scenarios to the game with Father’s Promise and The Last Broadcast. A third DLC scenario is also on the way. This War of Mine also recently launched for the Nintendo Switch.

11 bit Studios’ critically acclaimed survival title This War of Mine has finally arrived on the Nintendo Switch. The Complete Edition includes the base game along, with all previously released DLC and updates, for a collective price of $39.99. Check out the release trailer below to see how it runs on the platform.

Based on the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War in the early 90s, but focusing more on the trials of civilians, This War of Mine offers a fairly compelling experience in its base form. Additionally, you also get the Anniversary Edition’s content, along with The Little Ones DLC. If that weren’t enough, the Stories Season Pass is also included.

The Father’s Promise DLC is currently available with The Last Broadcast, while the third episode arrives later. The War Child DLC, used to raise funds for the UK-based charity, is also included. For more information on the game’s mood and presentation, you can check out GamingBolt’s official review of The Little Ones DLC.

It’s been a while, but 11 bit Studios’ This War of Mine has finally received its second DLC pack, called The Last Broadcast. Available separately and as part of the Stories Season Pass, The Last Broadcast focuses on radio broadcaster Malik and his trials with telling the truth. Check out the official launch trailer below.

Set in war-torn Pogoren and written by Meg Jayanth of 80 Days fame, The Last Broadcast features quite the array of content to get invested in. Seven remastered locations, four brand new locations, new playable characters, and a new shelter are all included. Furthermore, there are new mechanics, like the radio, investigating and reporting, dilemmas and so on.

Even if you clear the DLC, there’s still plenty of replay value, with six different endings to unlock. The third DLC episode has yet to be dated, but the developer said its contents would be revealed “soon”. If you’re interested in picking up the base game as well as the Stories Season Pass, both are currently on sale for the next few hours on Steam.

It’s been a while since 11 bit Studios released a new chapter in This War of Mine’s Stories Season Pass. However, out of the blue, the developer has now announced The Last Broadcast for release on November 14th. The expansion sees a radio operator facing moral dilemmas about telling the truth. Written by Meg Jayanth (80 Days), the expansion will bring a lot of new content.

There will be new sites to visit in Pogoren, multiple endings, new radio mechanics, and a significantly larger scale than the base game. And yes, there will be new citizens to play as too.  Project lead Tomasz Kisilewicz stated, “It has to be at least as good as the other stories you can find in This War of Mine. For this reason, when we got the scenario by Meg, we have iterated the episode enormous amount of times.” That would explain why it’s taken this long to release.

Kisilewicz further said, “We had to make sure that in the end, the community will have a story they expect from us and we can’t let them down. And now The Last Broadcast is releasing very soon. I would say ‘Enjoy,’ but a better wording is actually ‘Experience that’.” Along with being included in the Stories Season Pass, The Last Broadcast will retail separately for $4 on steam.

It’s also worth noting that from November 14th, the Stories Season Pass price will be increased from $5 to $7. You can pick up This War of Mine on Steam right now for a discount, along with The Little Ones DLC. Sales end when the Steam Halloween Sale closes, so make sure to hurry.

PUBG 1.0 Dated for Xbox One

Amid its various issues and Bluehole’s desire to fix things, the developer announced that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds would be launching version 1.0 on Xbox One on September 4th. Not only that but the new Sanhok map, custom games and War Mode would also be included with the update. Though PUBG on the Xbox One had a shoddy start and – depending on who you ask – isn’t the best Battle Royale title available, it still has a very, very healthy player base. And they’ve got a whole lot to look forward to.

Devil May Cry 5 Release Date and Gameplay

Arguably the star of Gamescom 2018, Devil May Cry 5 astounded all who played it on the show floor. Along with faster movement, mid-air dodging and a whole variety of combat options, the sequel re-established the Devil May Cry flavour that we knew and loved. Not only that but Capcom announced a release date of March 8^th 2019. Footage for Dante, more details on the mysterious third character “V” and much more are in store but for all intents and purposes, we’re kind of thinking Devil May Cry is back.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Out in March 2019

Perhaps the second most hyped game at the trade fair, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was also playable. Activision took to announcing a release date of March 22^nd 2019 and a Collector’s Edition, complete with a statue of the protagonist. However, it was the gameplay that honestly excited us. Sekiro doesn’t have a stamina meter, boasts impressive movement thanks to a grappling hook and channels a contemporary Tenchu more than you’d think. Despite this, combat is intense, relying on threshold meters that increase with damage taken, leading up to execution-style attacks. It’s bloody, grim and has that From Software vibe to it. Suffice to say, that’s good news.

The Surge 2’s First Look at Combat

If you happened upon that leaked gameplay clip for The Surge 2 a while ago, then nothing in the current trailer really surprised you. For everyone else, it was the first look at a game that’s still relatively Souls-like. The previous game’s special limb-targeting system is looking good, the movement seems more fluid and overall, the world feels more realized. That may not seem like a big deal but those cloaked Hunters and transforming statue gave us hope for what’s to come.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Spirit Trials

Did Microsoft announce a release date for Ori and the Will of the Wisps? No. It did the next best thing though with the reveal of Spirit Trials. This is essentially time trials as players attempt to beat their friends’ best times. Competing against them will be “ghosts” of said friends, amping up the competitiveness even more. Perform well enough and you’ll unlock some rewards. This already sounds like an awesome way to cater to the speed-running and hardcore fan base, having them come back for more after the main story is finished. Now let’s hope a release date shows up sooner than later.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Coming to Xbox Game Pass

It’s hard to forget just how much of a disaster Halo: The Master Chief Collection was at launch. However, 343 Industries has been working to improve it and all that effort comes to fruition when the game launches for Xbox Game Pass on September 1^st. Along with Xbox One X support (including 4K and HDR), it will bring a large patch that improves matchmaking times, lets players pick and choose which games they want, or whether to forgo multiplayer entirely for the single-player experience.

Desperados 3 Announced by THQ Nordic

This has been a long time coming, especially following the lacklustre Desperados 2: Cooper’s Revenge. THQ Nordic unveiled Desperados 3 and pretty much confirmed that it would be the same isometric, real-time tactics, Wild West title that the very first game did so well. Nothing else was revealed beyond that but it’s out in 2019 so there’s still time to learn more.

Supermassive Announces The Dark Pictures Anthology

In an interesting twist, Bandai Namco – who’s been on fire with the partnerships this year – will be working to bring Supermassive’s next horror anthology to all platforms. The first title in The Dark Pictures Anthology is Man of Medan, a story about tourists who mess with some underwater relics and have to deal with a haunted ship. The textures and animation are pretty great and it’ll be out in 2019.

Overwatch’s Shooting Star and New Control Map

A new animated short is always a special occasion for Blizzard’s Overwatch. While “Shooting Star” didn’t do much to advance the main plot, it did give some backstory into Hana “D.Va” Song. The production quality and presentation were stellar as always but it perhaps pales in comparison to Busan, the new Control map. Available now on PTR, it offers new environmental hazards and interesting geometry while still maintaining the Control essentials. Expect to see it sometime in the coming month or two on live servers.

Life is Strange 2 First Gameplay

Life is Strange 2 finally revealed its premise and gameplay aspects, telling the story of Sean and Daniel Diaz who are on the run after an incident. Magic powers are once again at play but thanks to the age difference of the brothers, the decisions of Sean will have an influence on Daniel. Episode 1 arrives on September 27^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC but early gameplay shows that the Life is Strange aesthetic is more or less intact. Let’s hope the story-telling is up to par as well (or ideally better).

Cyberpunk 2077 Screenshots Tease FPS Gameplay

CD Projekt RED sadly didn’t showcase its behind-closed-doors E3 2018 demo. However, it did release some screenshots that gave us a better idea of what the first person perspective would look like. Furthermore, it announced that a major development milestone was reached with the game being playable from start to finish. Bug testing and other optimization still remain to be done but we could be seeing the game sooner than expected.

Dark Souls Trilogy Announced for US

Remember that Dark Souls collection that was only released for Japan on PS4 earlier this year? Bandai Namco announced that both Xbox One and PS4 players in the United States and Asia could pick up the Dark Souls Trilogy on October 19^th (sorry Europe). So you get Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin and Dark Souls 3: The Fire Fades Edition, all for $80. On the one hand, it’s kind of lame for those who recently bought Dark Souls Remastered. On the other hand, if you never played Dark Souls, this is the best way to get into it with all the DLC included.

Metro Exodus Continues Looking Gorgeous in New Trailer

What’s more terrifying than a post-apocalyptic, bombed out Moscow crawling with monsters? Heading out into the great unknown. Because for all the beautiful sights out there in Metro Exodus, from lush green valleys to calm wildlife, there are some nasty things lurking in the dark. Other human factions that nail bodies to walls for fun, wolves, giant bears – you name it and it’s probably trying to kill you. Still, Metro Exodus looks great and we’re looking forward to its upcoming February 2019 release all the more.

Battlefield 5 Open Beta Dates Announced

For all the criticism that Battlefield 5 has received over its customization and depiction of World War 2, it does look insanely good. DICE teamed up with Nvidia to showcase the first person shooter on the upcoming GeForce RTX, which was quite the visual feast. However, it also unveiled the open beta for September, bringing the new Rotterdam map to Conquest. It’s available for Origin Access Basic/Premier and EA Access subscribers on September 4^th but everyone else can jump in on September 6^th.

This War of Mine, Windjammers 2 and More Heading to Switch

Nintendo isn’t running out of indies for its Switch platform any time soon. At the start of Gamescom, it unveiled numerous titles like 11 bit Studios’ Children of Morta, This War of Mine and Beat Cop for the platform. Moonlighter also received a more solid release window, which was great, but that wasn’t all. Slay the Spire, Night Call, Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom, Everspace, The Gardens Between, Bad North and so much more looked great. Oh, and did we mention Windjammers 2? Because Windjammers 2 is FINALLY happening. Sure, many of these are already available or coming to other platforms but having them on the go is just fantastic.

Soulcalibur 6’s Libra of Soul and Tira Revealed

Not content with a traditional single-player campaign, Project Soul announced another story mode for Soulcalibur 6. Libra of Soul does have its differences though as players will create a custom fighter and engage with other player-created fighters and main roster heroes. Each of these encounters will have different rule sets to mix up the battles further. The customization system harkens back to Tekken 7 in many ways so hopefully, the voice-acting for Libra of Soul is on point. Oh and Tira is back but as a DLC character. So that’s a thing to either get excited or upset about.

Shenmue 3 Releasing on August 2019

Ys Net’s Shenmue 3 will be releasing on August 27^th 2019. Now, all jokes aside about another possible delay, the sequel is actually looking pretty good. The animation is mostly on point, textures look nice and sharp, and even the story is very well presented. I mean, who didn’t mark out when Lan Di was shown after so long? Honestly, the biggest compliment I can give the latest trailer is that it evokes the same feelings that the original Shenmue’s reveal did in the Dreamcast era. Take that for what you will.

THQ Nordic Bringing Microsoft Titles to Steam

Xbox One/Windows 10 titles that have been relegated to the Microsoft Store are finally coming to Steam and physical retail. THQ Nordic announced a deal with Microsoft for the same and will release games like ReCore, Super Lucky’s Tale and Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection. All these titles will arrive on September 14^th. It may not seem like that big of a deal compared to other announcements but could lead to other Windows 10 exclusives arriving on Steam. No, not Gears 5 or Halo Infinite but some other stuff, probably.

Ace Combat 7 Arrives in January 2019

Bandai Namco had announced that Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown will be released on January 18^th 2019 for Xbox One and PS4. Even better, PC players can get their hands on it in February 2019. The newly unveiled trailer was full of intrigue, political dealings, high-flying action and…more political dealings. Regardless, the game looks gorgeous and a worthy follow-up even if some of the English voice-acting is…different, to say the least.

New Settlers Game Announced

Champions of Anteria? Get out of here with that nonsense because The Settlers are back. Not only is Ubisoft re-releasing all of its old Settlers titles on November 15th but it has a new game in development. Releasing in Autumn 2019 and simply named The Settlers, the game runs on Massive’s Snowdrop Engine and heads to a new world. Will it live up to the old games? Maybe not but hey, maybe it will. There’s always hope, right?

Earlier this morning, Nintendo kicked off Gamescom for the Switch in style with a new, surprise unannounced Indies Highlight video presentation, which included new details about indie games coming to Nintendo’s platform, while also sharing more footage and information about games that had already been previously announced.

The key announcement from the video was, of course, that Windjammers 2 would be coming to the Switch (seriously, a Windjammers 2 exists), but that apart, the video showed off multiple great looking games, including Streets of Rogue, Moonlighter, This War of Mine, Slay the Spire, Everspace: Stellar Edition, Morphies Law, Prison Architect, and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, among many others. You can catch the full presentation below for yourself to see the whole thing. Interestingly enough, Nintendo also added a little tease for “more” at the end- is a Nintendo Direct inbound? It seems like it’s about time for one, doesn’t it?

Regardless, as far as indie support on Switch goes, the little thing is on fire. The likes of Little Nightmares, Night in the Woods, Owlboy and many more have done very well on the Switch, while the excellent Hollow Knight managed to do even better. Hopefully these new games find an audience on the Switch too, just like so many other indie games have on Nintendo’s hybrid.