This game can create some pretty heartbreaking scenarios and stories. Like Drew said in the Quick Look, you need to create your own story based on the actions you perform and how they turn out, but if you're willing to invest that little bit of roleplaying you're rewarded with a great experience. The only "roleplaying" you need to do is to take yourself out of the picture; the game supplies enough narrative through occasional text prompts.

On day 9 all 3 of my housemates were very hungry or starving. They had some meat, but no water to cook it with (things must be different in Eastern Europe). Pavle was very tired because he spent the previous day helping pull some other survivors out of rubble, yet he was still the best candidate to go scavenge that night. I decided to go to the supermarket, because, although there was danger, I really needed food. Figured I could get in real quick and not probe real deep.

Pavle gets just past the foyer and peaks through a door to see a soldier harassing a young girl scavenger. I keep watching as the soldier, wearing full army gear and armed with an assault rifle, escalates things to where I feel the need to intervene. Pavle only has a knife, but I figured I could get in and stealth kill the guy from behind while he was preoccupied. Turns out Pavle (me) didn't know how to use his knife, since this was his (my) first violent encounter. Pavle walked up behind the soldier. Froze. And was riddled with bullets and killed instantly. Pavle was able to see the girl making a break for it in his last moments, though.

So the next day my 2 survivors are pretty down in the dumps about this. They're so distraught that they have to take a moment, sit down, and console each other. Shit is bleak. That night I decide to send Katia back to the supermarket to retrieve Pavle's stuff, since, besides losing a friend, my 2 survivors also lost their shovel, knife, and lockpicks, and are only getting hungrier.

Katia gets to Pavle's body and wonders if she should tell his son about his death. A woman comes down the stairs and tells me the girl that ran away had made it to safety and was in good hands. My heart wretches.

Katia and Bruno, however, don't make it much longer. With only 2 people they're unable to defend the shelter effectively while scavenging. Katia makes an attempt to grab supplies from a man and his son, but her attempts to look through their things aren't received well. The man's son takes out a pistol and shoots Katia. He follows her as she limps all the way to the exit before putting a final bullet in her back.

Bruno went scavenging at a schoolhouse the next night. 2 of the looters on site were friendly. Their friend upstairs wasn't.

Then you get a nice little scroll summing up the actions of your survivors and what they did/didn't accomplish, along a backdrop of depressing music, of course.

This game is great!

I have no money buy want to play this game so bad. Your story is great, and almost pushed me over the edge!

I found the pace to just be too slow. It seems like it would take at least 5 days to gather enough materials to just build a cooker or a better upgrade bench for shovels to make digging through rubble faster..

@pinner458: Hm. I made a shovel on my first day. I think they really try to get you to make a shovel, what with all the rubble piles in your shelter at the start. You just loot what you can, make a shovel, and continue looking through your shelter. I think they do a great job introducing the elements, actually. Got enough things for a bench upgrade by about day 5, yes, but that isn't that long, and I made mistakes along the way. Took me maybe 2 and a half hours to get to day 13.

I made it to the ceasefire three times, but only after countless deaths. I got happy endings for everybody.

The game is really difficult in the first dozen playthroughs, but after I figured out how the stealth and combat worked, as well as making sawblades as early as possible (a lot of good loot is hidden behind metal grates), as well as seeing all the possible variations of the scavenging locations and t the game gets more comfortable. Some people think it ruins the 'War is Hell' message, but keep in mind that to get to this point you'd need multiple lives, a time machine and knowledge of what exactly is going to happen.

Here's my tip: Kill bandits whenever possible and take their guns. Once you get a gun and some bullets, defending your safehouse becomes a lot less risky. Characters do not get sad from killing bandits, which is sorta justified considering all the monstrous things they do in the game.

Reading this made me want to play the game even more. I just need to finish a few games I'm playing at the moment first.