The Democratic Socialism Simulator lets you play as the first socialist president of the United States. Can you redistribute power and wealth while addressing the climate crisis? Enact radical reforms, tax the rich, transform the economy, tackle the most pressing issues without alienating voters or bankrupting the government. But beware: the ruling class won't give up its power easily. Even your closest allies may turn on you.
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You're a democratic socialist and you've just been elected President of the USA - isn't it fun when games explore the realms of fantasy? This game uses a Tinder-like (or Reigns-like) swiping interface as its primary method of interaction; folk appear before you with policies they want enacted and you swipe left or right to bin them off or attempt to put them into law. You can't simply do what you want though; the interface across the bottom of the screen shows the various resources you have to balance as you attempt to put your political stamp on the US. Some like money, pollution, and the sense of worker unity are simple meters, but I particularly like the voter grid which tracks a sample of the population and lets you see what kinds of policies interest each voter, giving you a real time indication of the popularity of your policies. It's silly and irreverent but there's definitely some neat ideas to be found!
docked a point because it doesnt let you choose which countries to nuke
Got really dark when the horse character said that they should lower the age of consent
Short game simulator based on US politics clearly catering to what it says on the tin. As someone who already aligned with the politics that this game caters to, i had an alright time, but perhaps right-leaning people wouldn't, I don't know. I didn't feel like trying that, not just from a personal sense of unappeal, but because I didn't find the gameplay compelling enough to do another run-through. Doesn't alienate me too much as a non-US person, which is good. I've never played a game with these mechanics before so it was fun and refreshing to me, and I enjoyed some of the humour and writing. Good for what it set out to do.
I've never particularly enjoyed the Reigns-style design of "swipe left or right" on decisions. I often enjoy when games take a genre and narrow down the decision space - and yet somehow the Yes/No decision making of this (and other games) has always felt incredibly tedious.
This game turned out to be more well-made than I had anticipated. Visually, it is quite good, and despite its focus on USA politics, its themes can be easily translated to democratic socialism in other countries. I found some of the events to be eerily similar to real-world occurrences in the country I live in. It was refreshing to witness an anti-imperialist portrayal of the USA for once. As a strong advocate of popular power, it was easy for me to get reelected. However, the game's simplicity left me wanting more.