So you’re reading #politics-and-religion on a gaming site! Let’s play, revisit, and discuss some political games in light of our current political climate. Here are some that come to mind:
The Westport Independent by Coffee Stain Studios AB
Papers, Please by 3909
This War of Mine by 11 bit studios s.a.
1979 Revolution: A Cinematic Adventure Game by iNK Stories
What are some others? Anybody have favorites? Should we all pick and play one and discuss the politics of it?
Lest we forget, there’s always …
and
I have to mention the “The Guild” series. Here’s the first one in the series (and the one I played the most):
And the latest one:
It isn’t a game only about politics, necessarily, but it can be as much about politics as you want it to be (and it’s really interesting/well done).
Also, I think many Paradox 4X games feature politics quite prominently. Crusader Kings, Victoria, and Hearts of Iron do have a very important political side to them, even if they focus on different aspects of politics.
Looks like part 3 comes out soon.
Yes, it might come out soon, but no one knows if that one is going to be good as it’s being done by a different team and all. We’ll have to wait and see.
Far and away my favorite
A really fun simulation of presidential elections. It allows quite a bit of customization involving the political/economic environment for lots of a historical matches too. The Atari ST version of the '88 Edition is my preferred one. Among other things, it’s far speedier.
Nothing matches watching the returns come in real time or close to real time. It makes a prediction just as the networks do, but the prediction is just that. In one close race, it shocked me that the game first said I’d won a state only to lose it by a handful of votes when all was tallied.
I should point out that Conputer Gaming World excoriated it for being pro-Republican. It is definitely easier for a Republican candidate to win lots of what are today blue states than might be expected. Despite that, I miss it every election cycle. It’s far more accessible than President Forever and more hardcore than Political Machine.
Another old favorite of mine was Mastertronic’s Conflict.
It, like President Elect, is the sort of game I wish we’d see more of.
I really like the election simulation games from 270soft, here’s the american one:
http://270soft.com/us-election-games/president-election-game-2016/
They’re in depth, and alot of fun once you learn the interface (which isn’t the best). One of the great features is that during election night votes will be drip-fed over time (you can fast foward if you want to) so you get the election day joy of monitoring 10+ different states at once as electoral math goes off in your head if this or that state flips.
Let’s not forget this game that’s coming out next month (apparently):
Ohhh, great idea for a thread, I love political games ever since Balance of Power! Thanks for all the suggestions!
This thread made me remember a game I played in the computer lab in high school that was about making policy decisions for Israel, and it turns out this is that game! Thanks for the reminder!
Civilization VI.
Hahahaha. I couldn’t suggest that with a straight face.
Don’t forget the deep political machinations in Mr. President!
p.s. how do you do the fancy linking to the steam summary
CyberJudas. And it had a predecessor called Shadow President. Weird and kinda broken, but an intriguing premise.
The son of the designer of President Elect used to post on Qt3 way back when. Nice folks.
And that game still holds up as one of the best.
Sadly, one of the pioneers in the genre, Randy Chase, passed away in 2009 before the age of Kickstarter. Randy designed Power Politics (one of the few dedicated Win 3.1 titles ever), the Doonesbury Election 96 game (which was a mess because of Garry Trudeau’s license, not Randy–who eventually patched it up) and Power Politics 3.
I had a pretty good time with this game. It’s pretty much as the premise says, but in practice I didn’t find it very replayable or open-ended. Definitely a game for fans of the genre to check out during the sale though.
Interestingly, I’ve seen the iOS 1979: The Revolution game written up of several “Best of 2016” lists. It’s notable, in part, for being developed in Iran, I think. I’m going to download and check it out.
Edit: it’s on Steam and Android, too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inkstories.blackfriday
Orwell is very political. Didn’t like it much though.
This was just released on Steam:
The politics layer is very simple. The fundamental challenge is how to get money. If budget is positive, you will pass 90% of edicts without needing to do any political influence. You’re just left with a simplified city builder (you don’t have to micro city district or road placements). Still no consensus on how what’s left is because I still can’t wrap my head around the economic model yet.