The article aims to analyze video game This War of Mine with The Little Ones DLC from the perspective of children characters. It argues that the game provides a double role reversal, which determines player’s ethical approach. The first reversal is based on the well-described mechanism of procedural rhetorics and consists of assuming the role of a victim of war rather than a warrior or a warmonger. The second reversal is established by forcing player to create an environment in which a child can be safe and play. In doing so, the player has to proactively maintain an illusion of control – the very thing the game itself constantly takes from them, leading to the bitter afterthought that war is most certainly not a game.