Game review!
Recently I was given a copy of the game 'War Mongrels' to check out, thanks developers!
The game is a strategy WW2 game that takes place on the Eastern Front but you get to play deserters, resistance members, secret agents, etc.
If you're old, like me, it will remind you of the classic 'Commandos' which I loved and more recently 'Partisans'.
You get this top view of cities, prisons, etc. and you then have to use the different abilities of the agents you get to control to solve problems.
Spoilers ahead;
The thing that makes this game different from Commandos and most other WW2 games is the subject.
You start with two German deserters at the east front and you get to witness the most gruesome parts of the war that many games shy away from.
There is even a mission where you have to infiltrate a concentration camp, which is truly horrific, you have to photograph the atrocities, like the very real hero Witold Pilecki actually did.
The storyline in this game is very mature. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pi…
The missions are complicated, but that's of course a good thing and it is really satisfying to manage finishing them, especially if it involves blowing up a building full of Nazis.
I especially liked being the female agent who had a gun with a silencer.
More subtle.
And as the war takes place in the east the enemy switches from Nazis to Soviets but not everyone in the team agrees with this, making things complicated.
There is no real happy end, just like in the real world.
Nice details are the historical documents and objects you can find;
I have to mention the animation, I loved the art.
Not just the maps, but the actual cut scenes that were really dark but also appealing and well made.
More of the art;
Bunch of annoying drunk Nazis coming out of a restaurant, vomiting all over the place.
Oops, I put a bomb in their car.
The details were also pretty good, a lot of research has been put into getting everything right.
The only thing that I noticed were cigarettes having filters, although those did exist, they weren't really smoked much, especially not by soldiers at the front.
I also wondered if they could get away with completely ignoring the blackout rules like this in France just after D-Day.
Even if they were high ranking Nazis having a party at a château.
Also, imagine finding these paintings on a wall in a ruined house somewhere... ;)
So, I enjoyed it, some of the missions made me feel uncomfortable but I think that can be a good thing when it comes to this subject.
I recommend this game to everyone who loves these types of games like Commandos, etc.
Although the theme is much darker.
BUT to be fair, the game has a few annoying glitches.
The team is small and works very hard on fixing that and I'm sure they soon will, but you do risk getting stuck and save games not working now and then in it's current state. store.steampowered.com/app/1101790/Wa…
Let's review another painting together, another one by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, this time the 'Boerenbruiloft' (farmer's or peasant's wedding) from c. 1567.
Another glimpse of what life was like for common people in the 17th century!
Time to check out some details.
The bride, she looks suspiciously content.
Is she drunk, tired, super content or does she have a secret?
Above her the double paper crown as well as a sort of crown on her head, making her the queen of the event.
It may symbolise her virginity or wealth.
Its in many paintings.
Maybe she's just happy because she lives in the low countries, a place where women got education, divorce, equal inheritance and freedoms & rights that were uncommon elsewhere then!
More about that here; fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/08/04/boo…
Oh boys and girls, auntie Jo has found another real estate gem... and it only costs 4 million Euros...
This may be one of the most gorgeous houses I´ve ever seen.
A Dutch 1917 villa: funda.nl/detail/koop/wa…
Still many of the gorgeous original details, showing us that the house was once full of colour.
We'll have to strip a LOT of boring white paint, I reckon this building originally just had a lot of nice dark polished wood.
Found another gem on the Dutch real estate website.
A lovely little church in the 'Amsterdamse School' style, built in 1926 and clearly inhabited by a fellow time traveller, just wait till you see inside. funda.nl/detail/koop/mu…
Decorated with respect to the design and character of the building but filled with lots of interesting and weird old stuff.
Yep.
Time traveller.