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This War of Mine, released two years prior, quickly made waves, challenging conventional depictions of war in video games. Instead of glorifying soldiers as saviors, it focused on the struggles of ordinary civilians caught in the crossfire. The game’s impact resonated deeply within the gaming community, earning critical acclaim across the board. Two years later, 11 bit studios responded to this overwhelming support with a poignant expansion: This War of Mine: The Little Ones. This review delves into the additions and shortcomings of this DLC, exploring its unique perspective on wartime survival through the eyes of children.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones – Screenshot of gameplay

New Features and Familiar Faces

This War of Mine: The Little Ones offers more than just a simple DLC; it expands the core experience with a wealth of new content. The most significant addition is the inclusion of children. Players now manage groups that include both adults and children, each with their own needs and vulnerabilities. The expansion introduces new storylines, following families like Christo and his daughter Iskra, Henrik and his grandson Ivano, and young Lydia with her guardian Irina. Each story presents unique challenges and emotional narratives, all centered around the shared goal of survival.

Beyond the new characters, the expansion introduces new craftable items, primarily toys like balls, swings, and toy boxes, aimed at providing a semblance of normalcy for the children. Like other items, these are crafted using scavenged resources or traded with other survivors.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones – Children playing

The “Write My Own Story” feature empowers players to create custom scenarios. Using existing characters or those from Steam Workshop mods, players define the narrative, choose the game’s duration, and select locations. These personalized stories can then be shared with the community. Furthermore, the expansion refines existing mechanics. Character interactions are deeper, allowing players to comfort and support group members struggling with the emotional toll of war.

Children at the Heart of War

As the title suggests, The Little Ones focuses on the experience of children in wartime. Their presence adds a layer of complexity to the already challenging survival mechanics. Children cannot perform adult tasks; while they can learn simple chores, overworking them leads to exhaustion and emotional distress. Beyond mere survival, players must strive to maintain the children’s innocence, playing with them, talking to them, and providing emotional support. This echoes the sentiment of the film Life is Beautiful, albeit within a gritty survival setting rather than a cinematic narrative.

Maintaining this “beautiful life” proves incredibly difficult. The children’s inability to contribute to essential tasks adds a significant burden. Moreover, they are acutely vulnerable to the harsh realities of war. The death of a group member, an encounter with bandits, or prolonged hunger can drastically affect a child’s well-being. If their suffering becomes too great, they may even run away, leaving the player with a profound sense of loss and worry.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones – A child drawing

While this mechanic avoids depicting the tragic fates that might befall a child alone in a war-torn city, it carries a significant emotional weight, impacting the remaining group members and leaving a lingering sense of unease. Safeguarding the children’s innocence becomes a constant struggle, a poignant reminder of the devastating impact of war on the most vulnerable.

Lingering Shortcomings

Despite its compelling narrative and new content, The Little Ones suffers from some limitations. The focus on new storylines overshadows additions to locations and events. The game retains the original 21 locations, and events remain largely unchanged, leading to a sense of familiarity for returning players. This can be disappointing considering the two-year wait for the first DLC.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones – Screenshot of scavenging

The lack of a manual save feature persists, forcing players to rely on the daily autosave. This can be frustrating, particularly when needing to interrupt gameplay. Additionally, the initial release was plagued by technical issues, including crashes to desktop. While hopefully addressed in subsequent patches, these issues impacted the initial launch experience.

Conclusion

This War of Mine: The Little Ones offers a powerful and emotionally challenging experience, exploring the realities of war through the eyes of children. While the addition of new characters, storylines, and crafting options enriches the gameplay, the lack of new locations and events, coupled with technical issues at launch, slightly detracts from the overall experience. Despite these shortcomings, The Little Ones remains a compelling and thought-provoking expansion, reminding us of the devastating impact of war on the most innocent.