This War of Mine: Survival Guide

How to keep your civilians alive, sane and together until the ceasefire: the day/night loop, what to build first, scavenging priorities, trading, winter prep, handling raids and morale, and the moral choices that quietly decide whether your group survives.

Researched September 2026 — current as of This War of Mine: Final Cut (the free update that folded in all previous content) with the February 2026 Steam file reorganization. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

What the Game Is

This War of Mine (11 bit studios, 2014) puts you in charge of a small group of civilians sheltering in a ruined house in the besieged city of Pogoren. Snipers keep you indoors by day, so days are for crafting, cooking, resting and trading; nights are for scavenging, guarding and sleeping. The game ends when a ceasefire is declared, at a point you don't know in advance. Final Cut added remastered locations, a new classic scenario and character, new quests, locations from the Stories DLCs in all scenarios, and keeps a vanilla version selectable.

Quick Start

• Clear your own shelter on day one. Remove rubble and search every pile and cabinet before you build anything. Your house is full of starting materials.
• Build a Metal Workshop and a bed early. Tools and rest are the foundation of everything else.
• Craft a Shovel and Crowbar first. They open rubble piles and locked doors in scavenging locations, and in your own house.
• Every night, do three jobs: one survivor scavenges, one guards, and the tired or wounded sleep in beds.
• Board up the holes in your shelter. Unboarded walls invite raiders and theft.
• Keep food simple. Raw food is inefficient; build a Stove and cook meals. Feed people when they are "hungry", not before.
• Prepare for winter from the start. You need a Heater and fuel (wood, or burned furniture and books) before temperatures drop.
• Scavenge from safe locations first. Some locations have armed residents or soldiers; learn a map's danger level before sending your best person.
• Your moral choices affect morale. Robbing the elderly or killing unarmed people makes your survivors depressed, and depressed survivors can break down or leave.
• Listen to the radio. Once you have one, it warns you about weather, price changes and crime waves.

The Daily Loop

Phase | What to do

Day | Craft, cook, trade with visitors, build upgrades, read/play guitar for morale, treat wounds, remove rubble

Evening | Assign roles: scavenger (and what to bring), guards, sleepers

Night | Scavenge one location; guards defend; others sleep

Morning | Check raid results, feed people, plan the day's builds

Rules of thumb:

• The scavenger should be your best carrier or best fighter, depending on the location.
• Nobody should skip sleep for more than a night or two. Tired survivors work slower and fall sick more easily.
• Guards need a weapon. An unarmed guard helps, but an armed guard makes raiders flee or fight poorly.

Survivors and Their Traits

Characters are randomized per game. Common playable survivors and their traits:

Survivor | Trait (what it does for you)

Pavle | Fast runner; great for dangerous scavenging runs

Katia | Good bargainer; gets better prices when trading

Bruno | Good cook; uses less fuel when cooking

Marko | Master scavenger; carries more when scavenging

Arica | Quiet; sneaks well at night

Boris | Strong; carries a lot but moves slowly

Roman | Trained fighter; the best guard and combat scavenger

Zlata | Musical; can cheer others up

Marin | Handyman; saves materials when crafting

Cveta | Good with children; helpful in The Little Ones scenarios

Emilia, Anton | Distinct personalities with their own traits and needs; read their bios in-game

Assign roles by trait: Marko or Boris to scavenge low-risk locations for volume, Pavle or Arica for risky stealth runs, Roman on guard or to dangerous locations, Katia to trade, Bruno to cook, Marin to craft.

Needs and States

• Hunger: Feed survivors when the hunger status appears rather than every day; left alone, hunger escalates to "very hungry" and "starving", which damages health.
• Health: Wounded survivors need bandages; sick ones need medicine or herbal medicine plus rest in a bed.
• Fatigue: Sleep in a bed restores more than sleeping on the floor.
• Morale/mood: Content, Sad, Depressed, Broken. Depressed and broken survivors refuse tasks and can leave or take their own lives. Talk to each other, read books, play guitar, use coffee, alcohol and cigarettes, and avoid morally awful acts.
• Cold: In winter, low shelter temperature causes sickness. A Heater with fuel is essential.

What to Build (in order)

Priority | Build | Why

1 | Metal Workshop | Unlocks tools and most other builds

2 | Bed (at least 2) | Proper rest; floor sleep is inefficient

3 | Shovel, Crowbar | Clear rubble, open locked doors and cabinets

4 | Stove | Cooked meals are far more efficient than raw food

5 | Rainwater Collector | Free water after rain; water is needed for cooking, crafting and moonshine

6 | Heater | Winter survival

7 | Board up holes, reinforce doors | Protection from raiders

8 | Upgraded workshop, lockpicks, saw, weapons | Access more loot, better defense

9 | Herbal Garden / Vegetable garden | Herbs for medicine; renewable food

10 | Moonshine still, cigarette making, coffee grinding | Trade goods and morale

11 | Radio, Chair, Guitar/book reading | Information and morale

Trade goods are money. Moonshine, cigarettes, coffee, medicine and bullets trade well. Cheap components (wood, parts) are worth much less.

Scavenging

• Carry capacity is limited by the survivor (Marko and Boris carry more). Take tools you'll need at the location (shovel, crowbar, lockpicks, saw) and leave room for loot.
• Priorities by stage:
• Early: components, wood, food, medicine, anything to build the workshop and beds.
• Mid: weapons, fuel, trade goods, parts for upgrades.
• Winter: wood/fuel, food, medicine.
• Listen before you enter rooms. Footsteps icons show people nearby; hiding spots let you wait out patrols.
• Knock or peek before barging in on residents. Some are hostile; many are simply other civilians.
• Leave before dawn. Staying out too long means the scavenger comes home late and the day is lost.

Location danger (typical)

Location | Typical risk | Notes

Quiet House | Safe but morally costly | Home of an elderly couple. Robbing them hurts morale badly

Supermarket | Dangerous | A soldier and civilians; tense scene that many players avoid

St. Mary's Church | Varies | Residents who may trade or help

Hospital | Moderate | Medicine and trade; staff may ask for help

Hotel, Brothel, Construction Site | Dangerous | Armed groups; good loot for strong teams

Military Outpost | Very dangerous | Weapons and supplies; only with a strong armed survivor

Sniper Junction | Dangerous | Crossfire; move carefully

Warehouse, Garage, Semi-detached House | Varies | Scavengers and bandits; often good components

Ruined Villa, Decrepit Squat, Shelled School, Central Square | Varies | Location states differ between scenarios and game days

Final Cut added locations from the Stories DLCs to every scenario, so your map pool can include places older guides don't mention.

Trading and Visitors

• Traders show up at your door and in some locations. Katia gets you better deals.
• Neighbors ask for help. Helping raises morale and occasionally gets rewards; refusing is sometimes necessary, but repeated refusals weigh on your survivors.
• Prices change with events. The radio warns you about shortages and price spikes.
• Never trade away your last medicine or winter fuel for luxuries.

Winter

• Watch the radio for weather. When temperatures drop, the shelter needs heating.
• Heater first, upgrade later. Fuel can be wood, or furniture and books you break down (which costs morale items like books and chairs).
• Stock food ahead: some sources get scarcer in winter.
• Sick survivors in cold shelters get worse quickly; keep medicine on hand.

Raids and Defense

• Board up holes and upgrade the door as early as possible.
• Assign guards with weapons at night.
• Crime waves (reported on the radio) raise raid risk; strengthen defense and guard more.
• After a raid, treat wounds first, then take stock of what was stolen.

Morality and Morale

• Killing hostile armed people in self-defense has little morale cost.
• Stealing from or harming civilians (especially the Quiet House couple) causes depression, sometimes in the whole group.
• Recovering morale: Books, guitar, talking, coffee, cigarettes and alcohol all help; helping neighbors helps; a good meal and good sleep help.
• Broken survivors may leave, attempt suicide or refuse to act. Watch mood icons and intervene early.

Scenarios and DLC

Content | What it adds

Final Cut (free, November 14, 2019) | Remastered locations, a new classic scenario and character, new quests, Stories locations in all scenarios, vanilla option

The Little Ones | Children in the shelter; they need care but lift morale and can help with simple tasks

Stories: The Father's Promise | A father searching for his daughter

Stories: The Last Broadcast | A radio operator facing moral dilemmas over the truth

Stories: Fading Embers | Anja, forced to decide what is most worth saving in a warzone

Forget Celebrations | 10th-anniversary story DLC (December 12, 2024) centered on Katia

Mod tools | Custom scenarios; 11 bit patched the mod tools in January 2025

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Building everything at once and running out of components for tools.
• Forgetting beds. Floor sleep leaves everyone tired and prone to illness.
• Eating raw food instead of cooking.
• Not preparing for winter until the first cold day.
• Robbing peaceful civilians and losing a survivor to depression.
• Sending a slow or weak survivor to a dangerous location.
• Leaving holes unboarded and waking up robbed.
• Trading away medicine for luxuries.

Advanced Tips

• Moonshine is a money printer. Sugar plus water into a still produces a top trade good that also helps morale.
• Keep one stack of trade goods for emergencies (medicine, bandages, filters).
• Rotate scavengers so nobody gets exhausted or depressed from repeated grim runs.
• Use knock-and-listen on unfamiliar doors before committing.
• Save weapons for guards and dangerous runs; don't over-equip safe runs.
• Plan builds around the radio: stock up on what's about to get expensive.
• Break furniture only as a last resort for fuel; books and chairs are morale tools.

FAQ

How long does a game last? Until a ceasefire, which comes at a variable point. Standard scenarios typically run for several in-game weeks.

Should I rob the Quiet House? You can, but it's the classic morale trap: the elderly couple is harmless and your survivors will feel terrible. Only do it if you're desperate and have ways to lift morale.

What should I build first? Clear your shelter, then a Metal Workshop, beds, shovel and crowbar, then a stove.

How do I stop survivors from getting depressed? Avoid morally bad acts, keep them fed and rested, and use books, guitar, coffee, cigarettes and alcohol. Talking to each other helps too.

Is Final Cut a separate purchase? No. It was a free update that includes all previous free content, with a vanilla version still available.

Why did my Steam game redownload in 2026? 11 bit reorganized the game's Steam files in February 2026, requiring a one-time full download so future updates are smaller.

Sources

• This War of Mine on Steam
• Steam news: Steam files reorganization (Feb 2026), mod tools fix (Jan 2025), Steam Deck fix (Jan 2025)
• This War of Mine — Wikipedia