We Grew Up in War

“All the children who spent their childhood in war grew up way too fast.”

• transforms real testimonies of those who were children during the Siege of Sarajevo (1992–1996), the war in Syria (2011–ongoing), and the war in Ukraine (2014–ongoing)

• offers over 20 interactive vignettes. From battling imagined monsters to facing hunger, cold, and loss huddled inside bomb shelters, each game level draws from authentic childhood experiences of war. Moments of play amid ruins contrast with the quiet terror of everyday survival

• shows memories as boxes that players have to unpack and sort correctly to discover the whole story

• Created in collaboration with the War Childhood Museum, and based on over 100 hours of interviews and years of historical research, the game reveals the quiet resilience and fragile creativity of children.

Witness Mak grow up under a siege that lasts for years. Follow Melisa as she leaves her home behind again and again. Join Anna and Valerie as they desperately try to break free from war’s prison alongside their family. How do these kids cope with the scars the war has left them with? Unravel their interconnected fates and explore how past and present conflicts have shaped these kids’ lives forever.

What does a child hold onto when the world outside is collapsing? In We Grew Up in War, the line between memory and imagination begins to blur — everyday sounds become threats, shadows twist into monsters, and a derelict playground offers fleeting refuge from the shelling outside. Each vignette opens a window into a child’s inner world: surreal, vibrant, and heartbreakingly fragile — filled with worries, but also with the boundless creativity of a mind trying to make sense of the unthinkable.

Trauma doesn’t unfold in a straight line — and neither do these stories. Each child's past is scattered across fragmented memories, tucked into boxes like keepsakes that survived into adulthood. Unpacking them means paying close attention: to the tiniest details, to sounds, colors, gestures — and placing each moment correctly in time. Some memories echo between lives, crossing borders and years. Others draw a line that can never be uncrossed. Together, they reveal not just what happened, but how it felt to grow up in the shadow of war.

The game was created in close cooperation with the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo and is inspired by the memories of real people who survived wars over the past three decades.