On the surface, that question sounds ridiculous. Historically, they've always been entertainment, diversions from the real world. Of course they're intended to be fun.

The notion of games that could impact their players in different ways is a relatively recent one, and even now, the vast majority of them still opt for thrills over thoughtfulness. Even games that deal with the ugliest slices of human nature have been turned into lucrative amusements, a state of affairs that we rarely if ever question.

Warsaw-based 11 bit studios is ready to challenge that thinking with This War of Mine. Inspired by the real experiences of regular people who have survived during times of armed conflict, it's about as far from the Call of Duty or Battlefield depiction of war as it's possible to get - which is precisely the point.

"It's a game about surviving war as a civilian, so we show the war from a different perspective than video games usually do." managing director Grzegorz Miechowski said to Gamezebo at PAX East." You usually play video games as a soldier. That's entertainment, and I'm fine with that. But we have to remember that in real life, war is not fun."