The game differs from most war-themed video games by focusing on the
civilian experience of war rather than front line combat. The title was published
by the Polish game development company 11 bit studios for Microsoft
Windows, OS X, and Linux in November 2014.
The Android version was released on July 14, 2015, followed by
the iOS version on the following day.
‘This War of Mine’ will be placed on the official reading list for
schools in Poland, the first video game to be recognised in that way. The
decision was the outcome of a campaign launched in early 2019. The inclusion of
the title on the recommended reading list for Polish students has now been
confirmed by the country’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.
The title drew on the experiences of the Bosnian people during the
Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. It won widespread acclaim for its realistic
portrayal of the human cost of war, and had sold more than 4.5 million units in
April 2019.
Most of the characters under the player’s control have no military
background nor any kind of survival experience, and will require constant
intervention by the player in order to stay alive. A real like portrayal
of a common man’s life during an ongoing war. How they sustain; how they
survive! It readily carries the message of a common man, how they cope at the
time of emergency when there is dearth of everything around us!
The game will be included in the Polish reading list for the 2020/21
academic year, but will only be available to students aged 18 and above due to
its age rating in the country. The game simply tries to convey an age old
theme, ‘War is futile’!
