10 Games Like This War of Mine
With our list of games like This War of Mine you’ll discover other survival games with strategy, story and survivor management in dark settings where survival is not guaranteed.
This War of Mine was released in 2014 and unlike other war themed video games that focus on the fighting it instead focuses on the struggles of the civilian population during war time. While inspired by real wars in the mid to late 90s the game world is mostly fictional with players commanding a group of survivors as they try to scratch out a living and deal with the consequences of their actions. The primary mechanic revolves around survivor management with each survivor having their own traits which bring positive and negative bonuses to your shelter.
In This War of Mine your group of civilian survivors have bunkered down in a makeshift shelter with the single goal of surviving the war with the available tools and materials that they have or can scavenge. With no military or survival training each survivor will need constant attention and direction to stay alive until a cease fire is declared. Gameplay is split between the day and night cycle where players can perform different actions from raiding and trading at night time to upgrading the shelter, cooking, crafting and healing survivors during the day.
The games like This War of Mine below have a similar focus on survival, consequences, randomisation and managing the physical or mental states of a group of survivors.
The Banner Saga
Enter the world of the Vikings in The Banner Saga an experience filled with deep story and tactical role playing elements as you lead your own caravan through a range of trials in order to survive the harsh environment and a harsher enemy. With vital decisions falling to you as the leader players have the ability to guide the direction of their caravan as they cross the unforgiving lands. The story in this Viking fantasy follows the adventures of your caravan as you try to survive attacks from t...[Read Review]
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Valiant Hearts: The Great War offers a tear jerking story adventure with a few basic puzzles to deliver an intense emotional experience on a wide range of platforms. Following the story of several characters and a dog Walt through World War I it also aims to be a highly historically accurate game with references to events, settings and weapons throughout the story based on factual evidence and tied to the collectible item system. This focus on story and factual information was intended to help p...[Read Review]
Sheltered
Sheltered puts you in charge of your own family (two parents and two children) as you try to survive in a harsh post-apocalyptic world from your underground shelter. Focused on careful resource management and ultimately survival can you lead a family through these difficult times? With a family to care for each step outside into the wasteland is a necessity albeit a dangerous gamble that might not see you return home. To help you build this connection with your family to really drive home the im...[Read Review]
Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville
Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville is all about strategy, survival and zombies with your objective to return society to the glory days before the zombie apocalypse devastated the cities of the world and left them in ruin. With the series starting as a free browser experience the franchise has added significant depth since those early days and now made itself available across Windows, Mac and mobile platforms (Android and iOS). In Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville your objective requires you to utilise ...[Read Review]
Zafehouse: Diaries
Zafehouse: Diaries has you guiding a group of survivors through the zombie apocalypse across a number of campaigns with their own difficulty and objectives. The title is dialogue heavy with much of the story being told through diary like entries. As the game presents you with a rag tag group of survivors managing their relationships with each other is key and facilitated through the relationship screen which summaries how each character feels towards others from friendly to hostile. Each of thes...[Read Review]
State of Decay
State of Decay combines the open world genre with a zombie outbreak to create a large and challenging adventure that has you leading a settlement of survivors through a number of trials. First released on the Xbox 360 in 2013 the title was quickly brought to Windows and eventually remastered in a Year-One Survival Edition version that also added Xbox One support. The fictional Trumbull Valley is the setting for this zombie adventure and feels like a small to medium sized rural area in the real w...[Read Review]
NEO Scavenger
Awakening from cryogenic status and finding yourself alone in a post-apocalyptic world is a scary situation for anyone. NEO Scavenger attempts to capture this fear and disorientation in a turn based survival title with permanent death. To start your NEO Scavenger adventure players will get the opportunity to develop a unique character from various skills and flaws. By taking on such flaws players can accept more abilities in the hopes that they’ll balance each other out. While this selecti...[Read Review]
Dead State
Dead State combines the growing demand for zombie themed video games with classic turn based RPGs to deliver a lengthy zombie themed adventure. Set soon after the zombie apocalypse begins you’ll command your group of survivors in the fictional Texas town as you scavenge and explore while maintaining control over your home base, an abandoned school. Given the large range of mechanics that Dead State employs it’s very easy for players to have entirely different experiences. This is mostly due to t...[Read Review]
Darkest Dungeon
Battle stress and monsters in Darkest Dungeon, a roguelike dungeon crawler with a dark setting. Manage your roster of heroes as you explore the depths of a gothic mansion while paying close attention to the building stress level of your adventurers. In terms of plot the game begins with players inheriting an estate from a relative who had planned to excavate underneath for fame and fortune. Unfortunately instead this relative unearthed something much darker, releasing plenty of evil creatures ou...[Read Review]
Fallout Shelter
Fallout Shelter brings the Fallout franchise to mobile platforms with a vault management game that has players fighting off raids, scavenging the wasteland for resources and even growing their population through child birth. Released in mid 2015 to boost hype around the soon to launch Fallout 4, the game has been able to gross millions in revenue while jumping up the ranks in the respective mobile app stores. Despite the original intentions don’t rule Fallout Shelter out as an addicting mo...[Read Review]
