Satisfying way to kill a few hours or days – depending on your drive to live through it. Fair game for the survivalist or leader of the purge. Like Sims for the sadistic, how will you survive the war?

According to Steam, I have logged 158 Hours (or a measly 6.5 days) into this game over the last 2 years. I managed to snag this game as part of a Steam sale on a pretty good deal of $5 after seeing a snippet of it being played in a HAWP episode but, since first purchase Phat32 and I have bought a few different copies for the various platforms and systems we can find. I haven’t yet bit the bullet and bought it on iTunes though; I can’t justify the amount of time I would sink into it.

This is the game that really kicked me into being interested in PC/Computer games in more recent years, but I’ve always been a fan of the point and click games like this one. Although its set in a war-stricken country, you are actually discouraged from fighting others to survive (which is a plus for me.) I have played through a few scenarios where I have killed others, but the characters never quite recover when ceasefire arrives. No matter how many stories I run through, I still find new ways to make it better, to help them to survive sooner…

In terms of the characters, I think are Paval and Katia are my favourites, mostly because they are good at carrying a lot of things (when you scavenge) and Katia is “good at bargaining” so I always send her to the door when TradyGuy [AKA Franko] arrives. I tend to ignore their vices like drinks coffee or smokes cigarettes, although I suspect those kinds of things help keep them sane in those trying times.

My game goal is to board up the house, set traps and build up the garden. I want them to never have to leave the house except for firewood in the wintertime. In my most recent playthrough, I have decided to help as many people who as for help ask I can. So instead of letting the starving man in one of the worn-down houses die, I bring him food. I’ve challenged myself to keep them as happy as possible, but I have failed already 2 of my 4 humans have already become depressed. I do need to get the child DLC for this game at some point. I have yet to try the “teach” function for cooking and building.

The only issues I have with the game after some solid playthroughs are as follows:

1. You can’t save unless you come back from a night of scavenging or guarding the house
2. Unlike the Sims, characters can only focus on one task at a time, you can’t queue them up
3. Either you watch them do all the tasks you’ve set, or you end the day there is no in-between

Other than those three minor irritations – probably from my Sims3 bias… This is a pretty solid game and I am still exploring the features of the Anniversary edition to see what they have brought to the table.

What is your strategy for the war? How does your household survive?