Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 299 sampled Steam reviews (258 positive / 41 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing21% mention it
- World & exploration9% mention it
- Music & audio7% mention it
- Difficulty & balance6% mention it
- Visuals & art6% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Bugs & crashes27% mention it
- Story & writing22% mention it
- World & exploration17% mention it
- Visuals & art15% mention it
- Grind & repetition10% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
73%
52 reviews
5-15h
88%
65 reviews
15-40h
85%
88 reviews
40-100h
94%
47 reviews
100h+
94%
47 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 85 | 17 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 88 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 94% | 88 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 86 | 54 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 89% | 83 | 90 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 256 reviews sampled · 226 total reviews in window · weighted 182.2 up / 22.2 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (87)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 90
“ What truly sets This War of Mine apart is its dignity. It doesn't trade in its message for cheap cry-bait, and it doesn't batter you senseless with its despondency. Don't expect to be presented two dramatically contrasting, woefully transparent choices and then watch the game preen itself over how clever it's been. You'll be dropped into a blighted world and be left to figure out your own path, making fatal mistakes and incurring tragic losses before coming to the conclusion that precious few videogames have ever had the nerve to draw…”
read full review ↗ - 90
“This War of Mine is strategically introspective; a work of art from the Indie scene with great music, an excellent setting, graphics as beautiful as a Sin City comic and gameplay made with great care by those who want to see you have fun for countless hours!”
read full review ↗ - 60
“This War of Mine is possibly something many gamers *should* experience for a few hours, but would they enjoy any part of it? That’s a completely different question.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“This War of Mine has some flaws, but all in all it's a great, strong game to remember. It pulls you in and generates lots of emotions just like the biggest and best games but it's not easy and pleasant: the gameplay immediately takes the player to the deep end without explaining the rules. The developers have managed to create a playable game without sacrificing a really difficult theme, and that's not an easy task.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“This War of Mine encompasses most of the difficulties you’d expect from the survival genre and throws on a pretty grim and depressing layer of reality to boot. The tests here aren’t just of your ability to figure out what the best crafting paths or things to prioritize in gathering may be but also of your ability to manage very human problems as well. There will be many ways the game can frustrate you as you try to figure out how to survive in this bleak situation but it’s the glimmers of hope, small successes, and human stories in this horrible situation that also make it memorable.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“This War of Mine is arguably one of the most powerful games ever created at conveying the troubling reality of war in an emotional and thought-provoking way. That it does these, not through big explosions and fancy textures, is all the more impressive. These are real stories; this is a game that takes risks. There are no punches pulled in a world where everyone suffers, including children, and are shown as casualties, something other games have in the past shied away from. However, this is not just some experience to make a point. This is a damn fun game to play, it is incredibly hard to put down due to its incredibly tight mechanics, which all blend together to create something really special. Quite simply, buy This War of Mine.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“In This War of Mine you control a group of civilians, who are struggling to survive during a war conflict. Based on the siege of Sarajevo, the game offers a great experience the real terror of war.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“As you begin to learn more about the systems with each passing day, it's easy not to notice real-world minutes turn into hours. I found myself restarting a campaign quite often after discovering a new strategy and my enjoyment increased each time. This is definitely one of those games that if you play late at night, you might just find yourself trading in some sleep to get through just one more day.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“A recommended expansion for fans of the original.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Perhaps the problem is my own, and maybe I'm too content to morbidly tinker with my survivors to push them towards another miserable day. This War of Mine is a game whose simple message - that war is hell, and that we're all capable of being sucked into its moral depths - might be slightly compromised by its strengths as a game, but at least it's a message carried with a great deal more conviction than other, more bombastic portrayals of conflict. That, for certain, is something to be thankful for.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“This War of Mine is survival horror game of a very different, very literal kind.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“This War of Mine: Forget Celebrations Charity DLC is a neat little upgrade that adds a nice mode to the game. It's very cheap and since all proceeds go to charity, I don't see a world in which this is a bad purchase.”
read full review ↗
The Jimquisition
GameFM
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GameGrin…and 75 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Quick Steam Files ReorganizationFeb 18, 2026
- [UPDATED] Modding Tools FixJan 23, 2025
- Steam Deck fixJan 9, 2025
- Forget Celebrations DLC updateDec 18, 2024
- Forget Celebrations Charity DLC UpdateDec 9, 2024
- A minor update. 29 April 2022.Apr 29, 2022
- Our fundraiser has ended at $850.000Mar 4, 2022
- This War of Mine: Final Cut | Hotfix UpdateNov 18, 2019
- This War of Mine | macOS Catalina FixOct 29, 2019
- This War of Mine | PatchSep 6, 2019
- "Fading Embers" gets a patch update!Aug 14, 2019
- Update 5.1.0 - fixesDec 19, 2018significant · resets scoring window
- Update - minor bug fixes.Apr 6, 2018
- Update - minor bug fixes.Apr 6, 2018
- Patch [20.12.2017]Dec 20, 2017
- Patch [20.12.2017]Dec 20, 2017
- Father's Promise DLC Update!Nov 22, 2017
- Father's Promise DLC Update!Nov 22, 2017
- Holidays are coming! Here's a holiday update, called 3.0.3!Dec 23, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Babel Update - Czech language is online!Nov 28, 2016
- Babel Update - Czech language is online!Nov 28, 2016