Highlights

• Fans of This War Of Mine enjoy the survival aspect, dreary tone, and impactful decisions in-game characters face.
• It's impossible to find an exact replica of This War Of Mine due to its unique mechanics, art style, and tone.
• Players seeking similar experiences can explore games like Sunless Skies, Telltale's The Walking Dead, and Don't Starve.

Fans of This War Of Mine enjoy it for a variety of reasons. Some like the survival and resource gathering, others like the dreary tone, and some like that their actions have more weight and impact on the in-game characters that seem incredibly real.

Finding a game exactly like This War Of Mine is impossible as there are so many moving parts that make this dark and disturbing game a masterpiece. If players are looking to fill the void through game mechanics, art style, or tone then the following titles could fit the bill.

Updated February 20, 2024 by Ritwik Mitra: The harrowing gameplay of This War of Mine makes for an experience that is both uncomfortable and riveting at the same time. Players must make it a point to try and help their group of survivors live at all costs in the middle of a tumultuous war.

Losing a survivor feels like a slap in the face, and players must make some really tough decisions to ensure that they survive, even if it comes at the cost of others. Players who want to play other tense games with tough decisions and unforgiving gameplay loops will love the sheer wealth of games that scratch this itch.

1 Sunless Skies

Exploration, Combat, And Storytelling Go Hand-In-Hand In A Wonderful Title Where Players Make Many Tough Decisions

• Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One
• Developer(s): Failbetter Games
• Release Date: January 31, 2019

The sequel to Sunless Sea expands on everything from the first game to make things better, bolder, and more engaging than ever before. The game starts on a rather restrained note before showing its true hand after players spend a few hours in this magical experience.

Exploring colonies, making tough decisions, and forming bonds are a huge part of what makes Sunless Skies tick. It's a step in the right direction for Failbetter Games, who have made a truly riveting title that fans can't get enough of.

2 Telltale's The Walking Dead

An Emotional Tale About Survivors Trying To Make It During A Zombie Apocalypse

The desperation of most people to survive at all costs can be seen in Telltale's breakout game that focuses on The Walking Dead IP. The journey of Lee and Clementine makes for a great time and gets players invested in this bond, which is what makes the conclusion to this title so heartwrenching.

Most people would argue that Telltale hasn't reached the heights set by this game since, which is understandable. The emotions and raw character moments in Telltale's The Walking Dead make it clear that people will do everything possible to survive, no matter how unethical it may be.

3 Fallout Shelter

Manage A Vault And Keep Its Residents Happy In The Aftermath Of A Nuclear Apocalypse

The Vaults in the Fallout games all had unique stories of their own, some of which seemed like success stories while others featured nightmarish experiments as dwellers were treated like live test subjects in the worst way imaginable. So, the very idea of controlling one's very own vault and simulating the lives of residents in such an environment made for a tantalizing prospect that many players would easily gobble up from the get-go.

The free-to-play nature of this game means that players have to bear some intrusive microtransactions, but that's a minor complaint in an otherwise fun experience. The depth of the gameplay mechanics may be another cause for complaint, but, for what it's worth, it's par on the course with most Bethesda games and can be overlooked as well.

4 Don't Starve

A Gothic Art Style And Tough Survival Gameplay Makes It A Perfect Fit For Fans Of This War Of Mine

One of the early indie survival games that wowed players with its unique art style and gritty gameplay, the atmosphere of Don't Starve is easily its biggest selling point. The gothic undertones and the sinister vibe of this game become quite apparent at night, with players needing the cover of light and shelter to try and weather the assault of the horrors that plague them when the sun goes down.

Don't Starve can be pretty challenging at times, but players who learn how the game works will be acing the experience after a point. Surviving night after night is a grueling but welcoming affair as players slowly grasp and master the mechanics of this legendary indie game.

5 Disco Elysium

A Story-Driven Detective Game With Impeccable Writing And Many Emotional Moments

Players who are looking for a more "choice-driven narrative" should check out Disco Elysium. This Indie darling from developer ZA/UM gives players a crime-ridden playground filled to the brim with difficult choices and burning questions. Although the gameplay loop is entertaining on its own, the real beauty of Disco Elysium lies in its overarching story. There is a lot to see and do, with many storylines and plots to uncover.

Thanks to the unique skill system present in Disco Elysium, players are free to see and experience things in a multitude of ways, making it feel like a truly rewarding role-playing experience.

6 Sunless Sea

Explore The Unterzee And Uncover The Horrors That Await In Its Haunting Isolation

One of the things that makes This War of Mine so enthralling is its dark, foreboding, and isolating tone. Players craving more "alone against the world" style games can turn to Sunless Sea, which does a fantastic job of making the player feel as if they are completely on their own in a hopeless situation. Brave gamers will need to explore the terrifying water-logged surroundings and attempt to find resources to survive.

With roguelike elements and a creepy, miserable landscape, Sunless Sea is very entertaining and unnerving to play through.

7 The Long Dark

A Survival Game Documenting The Journey Of An Airplane Crash Survivor In The Frozen Wilderness

Survival is the name of the game in This War of Mine. Players will need to do anything and everything they can to keep themselves safe amidst their ravaged surroundings. The idea of surviving all odds can be pretty enthralling and there are a variety of games in the same genre that do a fantastic job of making the player feel as if they're barely clinging to life as they attempt to survive monsters, the elements, and other dangers.

The Long Dark is a great narrative that follows a plane crash survivor as they attempt to navigate a frozen Canadian wilderness. It's isolating, nerve-wracking, and sometimes even frightening.

8 Displaced

A Premise And Gameplay Loop Quite Similar To This War Of Mine, With Many Tough Decisions To Be Made

• Platform(s): PC
• Developer(s): Gamexy
• Release Date: July 26, 2017

Displaced’s premise has a lot in common with This War Of Mine. The player is tasked with keeping a group of survivors alive as they escape a country that’s been suffering through war. From the very beginning, players are saddled with tough choices as they can only choose five people to help escape the chaos.

From there on out, players must decide where to go, what to hunt, and whether to engage or ignore various scenarios that play out. Will they choose to rescue an unconscious person in a house fire or loot the building and let it burn? There are many hard decisions to make to ensure the team’s survival.

9 State Of Decay 2

Documents The Struggles To Survive In A Zombie Apocalypse

State Of Decay 2 sees a bunch of people struggling to survive the zombie apocalypse. Building a base, gathering supplies, and taking out hordes of zombies is just the beginning. Other survivor groups can help or hinder a player's efforts to keep the colony alive.

While the State of Decay games aren't as narratively rich as This War Of Mine, the open sandbox can be a welcome change of pace. The player can also incorporate new survivors into their group and slowly work towards taming the hostile undead world.

10 Fear Equation

Help Passengers On A Train Survive Their Nightmares

• Platform(s): PC
• Developer(s): Screwfly Studios
• Release Date: January 15, 2016

Fear Equation is about an engineer trying to keep passengers on a special train alive while their nightmares literally try to kill everyone aboard. The player must understand the passenger’s deepest fears, prepare defenses, and try to fight the darkness.

To make things more complicated, the passengers will form factions and find their own ways to stay alive. Some are helpful, others are not. The result is a tricky strategy game as players fight nightmares, political power grabs, and dangerous beliefs.

11 Rimworld

Help Struggling Colonists Establish A Thriving Base And Escape The Planet They've Crash Landed On

Rimworld approaches dark themes with more humor than This War Of Mine, but it isn’t without its horrors and darkness. A group of colonists crashland on an alien planet and must find a way to survive. The player is there to guide them, but the colonists won't always listen.

The result is an interesting combination of simulation and story-telling. Players can watch as the colonists thrive under their guidance or fall apart and suffer. Aliens, pirates, deranged rabbits, and other threats lurk in the shadows; however, the colonists are just as susceptible to becoming monsters through slavery, cannibalism, and laziness.

12 Project Zomboid

A Deep, Engaging Survival Game Set In The Zombie Apocalypse With Numerous Mechanics To Engage With

Project Zomboid is another zombie apocalypse title that can have the player struggling alone or with friends. People must scavenge for supplies, build a shelter, and fight the undead hordes roaming the environment.

A dark twist in this game is that death is inevitable. There is no cure, no help, no rescue of any kind. The player is doomed to struggle to survive until starvation, an accident, or the ravenous undead finally brings them down.

13 Sheltered

Keep A Family Alive During The Post-Apocalypse By Any Means Necessary

• Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Developer(s): Unicube
• Release Date: August 4, 2015

In Sheltered, players are tasked with keeping a family of four alive during the post-apocalypse. To keep them alive, people must keep the shelter and its components working properly. To do this, players must send out members of the family to obtain items, bring back food, or gather information to help them survive.

Like This War Of Mine, Sheltered is a game of civilians doing what they can to stay alive. To keep the shelter intact and everyone alive the characters must venture out into the dangerous world to bring back what they can, knowing each trip might be their last.

14 Papers, Please

A Surprisingly Engaging Game Where Players Serve As Border Security And Govern The Fates Of Many People

Papers, Please is a game set in a dark world. As an employee of the state, players are tasked with monitoring the border to ensure terrorists don’t make their way in. This requires them to make judgment calls about each character using only the information in their documentation, which might be forged, and what might be on their person.

Making a bad call could let a terrorist in which results in loss of lives and punishments for the player character, but it could also mean turning away an innocent person desperate to reconnect with their family. Like This War Of Mine, Papers, Please asks the player to make tough calls that put them in an uncomfortable gray area of morality.

15 Dead In Bermuda

A Survival Game Where Players Help A Group Of Plane Crash Survivors Survive On A Mysterious Island

• Platform(s): PC
• Developer(s): CCCP
• Release Date: August 27, 2015

Dead In Bermuda is a survival game without as much grit or emotional baggage as This War Of Mine. The player's goal is to keep a group of plane crash survivors alive while exploring the mysteries behind this strange island.

Players enjoy the more challenging early game than the endgame, but the strange secrets and plot twists might be appealing to some. It’s a short title that might be a nice break for someone who’s a bit drained from the doom and gloom that comes with darker games.

16 Zafehouse: Diaries

A Survival Game Where Players Manage A Group In A Zombie Apocalypse

• Platform(s): PC
• Developer(s): Screwfly Studios
• Release Date: September 28, 2012

Zafehouse: Diaries is another survival simulator that pits players against zombies and their small group of survivors. In addition to fighting off the undead hordes and monitoring supplies, players must also maintain the relationships between themselves and the other five characters.

It’s largely text-based, but it introduces a new dynamic where each action or interaction with other characters affects the others. If players choose to put an infected player out of their misery, their friend might turn against them, but if they refuse to then the others in the group might turn on the player and kill the afflicted person anyway. It’s a hard game that asks extremely hard questions and makes them question their morals and ethics when they’re stacked up against the survival of the group.

17 This Is The Police

Make Tough Decisions As The Chief Of A Police Station

• Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Developer(s): Weappy Studio
• Release Date: August 2, 2016

As a soon-to-require police chief, the player's goal in This Is The Police is to set aside a nice retirement nest egg of $500 thousand while keeping the city and the police department intact. Criminal organizations are creeping into everything and both the mayor’s office, the department, and the main character himself are affected by this corruption.

It’s another ethical dilemma game as players must strike a balance between doing what’s right for everyone else and doing what’s right for themselves. That $500 thousand won’t come without some bribes, blackmail, and under-the-table deals, but making sure those around the player and the city they care about don’t get hurt requires sacrifices and shady tactics.

18 Rebuild 3: Gangs Of Deadsville

Help A Group Of Survivors Stay Alive During A Harrowing Zombie Apocalypse

Rebuild 3: Gangs Of Deadsville is a mobile game with a surprising amount of depth. Instead of a small group, players are tasked with keeping a city of survivors intact during a zombie apocalypse. In addition to hordes of zombies, players must fight back against hostile raiders, cults, and other horrors that threaten their community.

As a 4X game, it’s a bit grander and more strategic than This War Of Mine, but the survival and dark tone are still there. It takes a strong leader to take back the city one block at a time, but it’s the only way to rebuild the world that was lost.

19 Distrust

A Survival Horror Game Where Players Must Survive In An Arctic Research Station Overrun By Monsters

Distrust tasks players with staying alive in the hostile Arctic Research station. Heavily influenced by the movie The Thing, the station has been overrun by nightmarish creatures that grow stronger and more numerous whenever the player sleeps. But putting off sleep for too long makes them less able to handle the horrors they encounter.

It’s a race against exhaustion as they scramble to solve the mystery, gather resources, and stay alive. It’s also a co-op game, allowing them to play with a friend. This is perhaps the one game on the list that makes falling asleep a frightening event.

20 Orphan Age

Trying To Keep Children Alive During A Time Of War In A Cyberpunk World Makes For A Tense Experience

• Platform(s): PC
• Developer(s): Studio Black Flag
• Release Date: July 3, 2018

Orphan Age is still in early access but the demo is proving to deliver an experience that is very appealing to fans of This War Of Mine. Similar to the events of the DLC The Little Ones, players are tasked with keeping a group of children alive, without any adults.

These orphans are holed up in an orphanage in a cyberpunk world that’s at war. This game requires them to expand the base, gather resources, explore the city for other orphans, and maintain some semblance of a childhood amidst the horrors of war.