11 Bit Studios' upcoming survival game, This War of Mine, will flip a war-torn narrative to give players the perspective of civilians rather than soldiers, the developer behind the Anomaly series announced today.
This War of Mine follows a group of civilians struggling to survive in a city under siege. In addition to scavenging for supplies and useful items at night, players will craft items, upgrade their shelter and care for survivors during the day. The game will feature "life-and-death decisions based purely on your conscience," which will give players options such as attempting to protect everyone in their shelter, or sacrificing for the greater good.
"There are no good or bad decisions during war," the game's website reads. "There's only survival."
According to lead designer Michael Drozdowski, This War of Mine was inspired by real-life events and aims to shed light on the fact that "this can happen in your city, in your country."
"While designing a new game, we came across an article that described how one man survived in a besieged city," Drozdowski said. "We learned about his hardships and the horror of that experience. We decided to work around this idea and make something real, something that moves people and make them think for a second. It's about time that games, just like any other art form, start talking about important things."
This War of Mine will launch for Mac, Linux, Windows PC and mobile devices. The game will make its debut at Game Developers Conference 2014, which Polygon will be covering. For more on the game, watch the trailer above.
