This War of Mine: Final Cut, PS5 and Xbox Series X | S.

If there’s one thing This War of Mine can do really, really well, it’s narrate the horrors of war in a cruel and realistic way. A topic that has never been before, given the situation in Ukraine, and, unfortunately, it is very likely that the inhabitants of the cities that were bombed and invaded will have lived long days similar to those of the game’s protagonists.

Hidden within dilapidated buildings, survival characters have been developed 11 bit studios They must try to hold out for a varying number of weeks, battling hunger, cold and fatigue in the hope that one day their city will be liberated. A formula, nearly eight years after its appearance, is being revived for the last time in definitive form on new generation consoles.

How did our new journey through the horrors of war go? We tell you about it in This War of Mine: Final Cut review for PS5 and Xbox Series X | S..

structure

Let’s start with the contents, because This War of Mine: Final Cut presents itself first and foremost as a “Complete and definitive edition From the title that made Polish studio famous: The End of a Journey that reportedly began in 2014 on PC and has also landed all the way on consoles and mobile, albeit with some inevitable compromises on the front end and controls.

From the start screen of the game it is possible to choose Final Cut of the This War of Mine campaign or on storiesthree narrative DLC packs (“A Father’s Promise”, “The Last Transmission” and “Dying Embers”) that apply the same formula to a structure that includes some differences in theme, any detrimental in terms of survival mechanics and a greater focus on characterization and their stories .

The need for storytelling was, in fact, more structured than the random elements of the primary campaign, with greater emphasis on representing the legitimate feelings and suspicions of those seeking to Survive under military siege But it also has to deal with many unexpected and specific events. A goal that the developers have undoubtedly achieved gives us three short but impactful campaigns.

Returning to the original mode instead, it is possible to start a new session with a whole series of random elements, starting with the survivors that we will have to deal with according to their conditions, from the time of the year to the duration of the siege, or create your own story by going to manually adjusting all these aspects and thus determining difficulty of experience.

Play

Whatever our preferences, Play This War of Mine involves taking turns leading a variable number of characters, usually three, all taking refuge inside a destroyed building. The first thing to do is to explore this place in search of useful resources, and then understand whether the materials at our disposal are enough to build a shovel or a file, or perhaps a bed or stove for cooking food.

Hours of the day should be set aside for editing And caring for survivors, who may be tired, sad, sick, injured and/or hungry, of a different and gradual level of severity can in extreme cases lead to dire consequences. Instead, the hours of the night will watch us pick an item from the collection to roam around looking for food, medicine, and stuff, fill up our backpack and try to get back safely.

The potential destinations for our missions increase as the days go by, with the addition of places not recommended due to the presence of other survivors, who will obviously try to defend their possessions in a more or less aggressive manner, or soldiers and snipers who can shoot a view. At first, we won’t have a way to defend ourselves, but at some point in the crafting list, they’ll also start showing up arms Cut and fire.

However, this War of Mine is by no means an action game, so a dedicated approach to violence is often counterproductive and ends up defining death Premature (and final!) for one of our characters, which will affect his friends’ chances of survival as well.

So it is necessary to carefully choose the path to follow, and it is stealthily More careful and silent, it often appears as the best solution. However, the unexpected is just around the corner, and even once back in the shelter there can be situations in which someone can be helped in a humane way (the neighbor who needs to close the doors because she is afraid of the fact that the soldiers can pounce on her house) turns out to be wrong.

Unfortunately PlayStation 5 The wooden character and intricacy of a . are confirmed control system Born with the mouse in mind thus Not suitable for consoleswhich often makes executing operations slow and a problematic practice since you can’t assign an action to someone and pass it immediately to another character, but you have to wait from time to time.

Graphics and sound

This mine war features a Graphics Strangely, almost monochrome and “dotted” as if it were an animation: the effect is even more impressive with 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, values ​​that guarantee unprecedented sharpness and fluidity, enhancing the quality of scenarios and some animations.

As for the soundeffects are absolutely necessary but a musician They are truly inspiring and wonderful, able to capture the sad and dramatic atmosphere of days spent cultivating hopes or fueling fears of what is to come. Just as in reality.