Liva’s Story DLC springs up for Gerda: A Flame in Winter

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Available now on PC and Switch, brand-new prequel installment tells the standalone tale of a WWII resistance leader

Last year, PortaPlay and DON'T NOD released Gerda: A Flame in Winter, a powerful narrative adventure about one young woman's plight to save her husband during Nazi Germany's WWII occupation of Denmark. Now the two companies have allied themselves once again for a brand-new DLC chapter called Liva's Story, offering a whole new perspective and approach to the same harrowing experience.

Whereas the star of Gerda is a compassionate but quiet, reserved nurse who sought to avoid conflict until "pushed into involvement with the Resistance by the Gestapo’s arrest of her husband, Anders," the eponymous heroine of Liva’s Story has been a willing and active participant in the Resistance for a long time now. Liva's tale takes place prior to the arrest of Anders in the aftermath of a failed mission in Copenhagen, which forced her team to retreat to the small town of Tinglev, where "she will have to stand up and lead them to their next fight." Now "desperate and downtrodden, the mission remains: regroup, patch up your wounds, and hit the German army again using sabotage, infiltration, spying, and even assassination." What kind of leader Liva is and how she plans to carry out her goals will be largely up to you to decide.

As with its predecessor, Liva’s Story is a beautiful, highly stylized narrative adventure that resembles an animated watercolour painting. Story and player choice are the main points of gameplay emphasis rather than puzzle solving, as you will need to "carefully balance [Liva's] fury towards the enemy, duty towards her mission and country, and care for her teammates." Known as "the Sparrow," Liva is "not afraid of using violence and often struggles to tell revenge from justice," but the needs of her small team of four must be factored in as well, as each has their own different ideas and attitudes and will "challenge you as well as seek guidance and support as they risk certain death for Denmark."

Although the two scenarios are entirely independent and can be played in either order, you'll need to own the original Gerda: A Flame in Winter to play Liva's Story. If you do already, the DLC can be purchased on its own, or both can be bought together in the "Modstand Bundle" on Steam for Windows PC and the Nintendo eShop for Switch.