Could you survive in a besieged city?
This War is Mine is a game that asks you to prove it.
Syria has shown us the horror of besieged cities, places in which civilians fend for themselves, cut off from outside aid, sniped at, blown apart.
How would you cope?
Polish independent developer 11 bit studios is basing a game around that idea.
It's called This War of Mine and it's in development for PC (Windows, Linux), Mac and mobile devices, presumably tablets. It's due out at some point this year.
It's not clear if this is the game those two former Witcher developers recently left CD Projekt Red to work on, but it sounds like it - it's a game that certainly has something to say about the world. [Editor's note: It's since been confirmed that it's not.]
In This War of Mine, "a dark survival game", you control a group of civilians trying to stay alive. During the day, snipers will prevent you going outside, so you'll craft, trade, upgrade your shelter, feed and cure your people.
You'll scavenge at night, searching for food, medicine, weapons and anything else.
"This can happen in your city, in your country," said Michal Drozdowski, lead designer, in a press release.
"While designing a new game, we came across an article that described how one man survived in a besieged city. We learned about his hardships and the horror of that experience.
"We decided to work around this idea and make something real, something that moves people and make them think for a second. It's about time that games, just like any other art form, start talking about important things."
There's a scene-setting trailer below.
