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It Takes a War explores the toxic aspects of online gaming with a stand-out presentation, disguised as a retro shooter.
In The Corridor (2020), Thomas Mackinnon explored the relationship between video games and gamers, and now he returns with It Takes a War, which was released yesterday on Steam for PC for €5.89/£4.99/$5.99 with a temporary ten percent discount.
Initially, we spawn into a match of your typical tactical shooter of the early 2000s and encounter five other players who apparently already know each other. Initially, the group wonders why the newcomer can’t speak – we’re told that this is only possible after the first match – but then they quickly engage in lively private conversations about shared activities. The interface, the map, the character models, and the weapons all look pretty authentic to the era – to be precise, It Takes a War looks a lot like Counter-Strike, and the developer makes no secret of this, even referencing Valve’s successful multiplayer shooter.
So, while we’re using our assault rifle to shoot at the enemies using the same ever-repeating paths, the current score and K/D ratio (Kill/Death) are accurately displayed in the overlay, the gunplay feels just as authentic as in one of the shooters at the time and the group consisting of Aaron, Sophie, Colin, and more reacts so realistically to what’s happening that newcomers might initially actually believe they’re playing with real people. Seemingly a VTT (Voice-to-text) system is in place to visualize what’s being spoken right away.
Though, something doesn’t seem to be right. On the one hand, the five characters repeat their actions in every round, and on the other hand, the bot opponents suddenly start screaming wildly when hit, the players don’t remember what they supposedly just said, and doors teleport us to completely different locations. While the trailers hinted that there was more to this title than meets the eye, we couldn’t have imagined just how far it would go. The cleverly placed use of various system and Steam functions, which we didn’t even know games could or were allowed to use, constantly manages to create interesting situations and variability.
The central theme of the story is group dynamics. On the one hand, the five characters often seem to play together online, but they don’t appear to be the closest of friends. One of the players is increasingly excluded and, at times, outright bullied. This is depicted so intensely that it almost seems outrageous when, upon attempting to intervene, we repeatedly receive the same message that the voice chat will only be unlocked after the first match. With the necessary sensitivity, the perspective of the bullied character is presented in great detail, and the game encourages reflection on how we treat each other, especially when we don’t know what’s going on in each other’s lives. To look like a bland first-person shooter with repetitive patterns is an interesting choice for this game. Players therefore have to stick with it for quite a while to get to the core content of the game.
Graphically, It Takes a War is an authentic homage to the shooters of the aforementioned era, featuring soldiers in elaborate military uniforms, many sparse houses in sepia tones, the occasional object that doesn’t quite fit in, and pixelated blood. The additional locations we visit are visually somewhat more interesting, but everything stays within that retro look. The talented Scottish cast made up of Angus Yellowlees, Jenna Innes, Viven Taylor, James Rottger, and Rorry Barraclough brings the authentic dialogues in It Takes a War to life.
Final thoughts
It Takes a War utilizes the familiar aesthetics of a retro shooter to tell a (para)social drama. Thomas Mackinnon authentically portrays the toxic dynamics that can develop in online gaming lobbies or in any friendship, keeping us on the edge of our seats until the very end, even if – or perhaps precisely because – we are essentially condemned to inaction. With a playtime of just under an hour, the experience is quite short, but it remains engaging throughout, and the purchase price is also quite fair. We can wholeheartedly recommend It Takes a War to anyone who enjoyed games like The Beginner’s Guide or The Stanley Parable.
Pantaloon provided us with a PC copy of It Takes a War, which we used to capture the screenshots.
