Vote Now for November 2024’s TA Playlist Game
For nearly a century now, November 11 has been the traditional day around the world for remembering Veterans of military service. Originally known as “Armistice Day,” in honor of the armistice to end World War I, which was signed on “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” the holiday was eventually expanded in most countries to include veterans of World War II and other conflicts around the world. Now known as Veteran’s Day in the United States, Remembrance Day in the UK and the Commonwealth, and various other names in other countries, this solemn holiday is an important reminder of service, duty, and sacrifice.
Video games have a long history of portraying the horrors of war as well, and while many military games focus more on action or tactical combat, there are some that opt for a more emotional and impactful message, helping us to understand the horrors of war and the long-lasting effects on the veterans and civilians who have to live through these conflicts. And so, in honor of Remembrance/Veterans/Armistice Day, which of these four war-themed games will you choose for the November 2024 TA Playlist Game of the Month?
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
A puzzle-based action-adventure game might not be the first game you think of for this sort of theme, but that’s only if you haven’t played Valiant Hearts: The Great War. Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, Valiant Hearts received praise for its surprisingly emotional depiction of the effects of war on soldiers and civilians alike. Originally released in June 2014, the game was intended to help players remember World War I during its centenary.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the story of 4 crossed destinies and a broken love in a world torn apart. Dive into a 2D animated comic book adventure, mixing exploration, action, and puzzles. Lost in the middle of the trenches, play as each of the 4 strangers, relive the War, and help a young German soldier find his love. Trust your faithful canine companion and send him through barbed-wire obstacles and shell holes to solve puzzles or avoid enemies… Rely on him: this dog will be your best friend!
Valiant Hearts: The Great War has two tracked versions on TA, with user ratings of 4.41/5.00 and 4.16/5.00. The 200-Gamerscore Xbox 360 version is no longer available to purchase, but will still be eligible for the Playlist if you already own it. The Xbox One version, however, is by far the more popular option, with over 167,000 tracked gamers unlocking at least one achievement, and more than 27,000 tracked gamers (16%) completing the list of 20 achievements for the full 1000 GS. It’s estimated to take eight to ten hours for the full completion, though the site’s walkthrough by Dang3R+Gaming suggests it can be done in about half that time. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is currently available on Ubisoft+, and it was also given out with the Games With Gold program in 2015.
This War of Mine
Our second nominee for November is a different take on the horrors of war, this time from the perspective of a group of civilians in a city under siege. This War of Mine: Final Cut was developed and published by 11 bit studios. This survival/management game released in 2014 for PC, with a console version arriving on Xbox in 2022.
In This War Of Mine, you do not play as an elite soldier, rather as a group of civilians trying to survive in a besieged city; struggling with a lack of food, medicine, and constant danger from snipers and hostile scavengers. During the day you need to focus on maintaining your hideout: crafting, trading, and taking care of your survivors. At night, take one of your civilians on a mission to scavenge for items that will help you stay alive. Make life-and-death decisions driven by your conscience. Try to protect everybody from your shelter or sacrifice some of them for longer-term survival. During war, there are no good or bad decisions; there is only survival. The sooner you realize that, the better.
This War of Mine has a TA User rating of 3.89/5.00, with over 24,000 tracked gamers having unlocked at least one of the game’s 54 achievements (23 from the base game, and another 31 in the “All Expansions Pack” DLC). Only 83 gamers have completed it so far, despite the completion estimate being a modest 35-45 hours. The game is currently available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
Battlefield 1
Our next nominee is an example of the more traditional first-person shooter games you would have probably expected with this theme. Battlefield 1, developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts in 2016, takes us back to the trenches of World War 1 for this gritty take on military combat.
Fight your way through epic battles ranging from tight urban combat in a besieged French city to the heavily defended mountain forts in the Italian Alps or frantic combats in the deserts of Arabia. Discover a world at war through an adventure-filled campaign, or join in epic multiplayer battles with up to 64 players, and adapt your tactics to the earth-shattering destruction and dynamic weather. Fight as infantry, lead horse charges or take control of amazing vehicles on land, air, and sea, from tanks and biplanes to the gigantic Behemoths – some of the largest vehicles in Battlefield history.
Battlefield 1 is another top-rated game, with a TA User rating of 4.23/5.00. Nearly 500,000 tracked gamers have unlocked at least one achievement, with almost 4,700 (1%) earning the full 100% completion. It’s estimated that it will take 80-100 hours to unlock all 50 of the game’s achievements, although the estimated completion time for the base game’s 31 achievements only accounts for half that time, with the rest coming from the four DLC packs. Battlefield 1 is currently available with EA Play, and is another former Games With Gold title.
Spec-Ops: The Line
We expect this final pick to be controversial, as our final nominee, Spec Ops: The Line, is no longer available for digital purchase due to expired licenses. This third-person shooter, developed by Yager Development and published by 2K Games, is still available physically, however, and it is backwards compatible, so if you can get your hands on a copy it can be played on current-gen consoles.
It’s been six months since Dubai was wiped off the map by a cataclysmic sandstorm. Thousands of lives were lost, including those of American soldiers sent to evacuate the city. Today, the city lies buried under sand, the world’s most opulent ruin. Cross “The Line” in a mature story that explores the dark side of war, where there are no bright outcomes, only bad or worse choices.
Spec Ops: The Line also has a strong TA User Rating of 4.13/5.00, with over 82,000 tracked users earning at least one achievement, and nearly 7,200 (around 9%) battling their way to the full completion. It’s estimated to take 15-20 hours to unlock all 50 of the game’s achievements. We recognize that this game might have a tough time in the polls due to the lack of digital availability, but it fits this month’s theme so well it would’ve felt like an oversight not to include it, so if nothing else let this nomination serve as its own memorial for a game that brought a new and interesting depth to the military shooter genre.
So, which game will you choose for your November Remembrance Day experience? Place your vote and let us know your thoughts in the comments! And as always, if you have any suggestions for future Playlist games or themes, be sure to drop them in the TA Playlist Game Suggestion Thread for possible inclusion in a future poll!
