- An approachable take on the political system
- Stressful yet exciting as your leader comes into their own
- Many info pieces to put in your country’s future puzzle
Depending on when you’re reading this, you may or may not be experiencing a period of being angry at the people in charge of whatever land you happen to be located. Yes, it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish politics from high school foolishness, but somehow the world endures.
Still, some admiration should go towards folks who understand all the complexities of the headache that is the political system. The team at Torpor Games has tried to do this and created Suzerain. This is an in-depth strategy and management sim about trying to…”do” politics the best way that you can. With that, we’re already off to an intimidating start.
What is Suzerain?
Politics in video games is quite common, with conflicts and stories revolving around politicians trying to gain control. In Suzerain, you are one of those politicians trying to control things. You have the chance to grow up in the countries of Sordland or Rizia. Both countries are in a tumultuous period of internal turmoil and transition as they head deep into the 20th century.
As one of the country’s many citizens, you’ve somehow risen the ranks to end up as its leader and people. Those in charge didn’t do the most satisfying job, so it’s up to you to restore the people’s faith in the government, and after that, you can try to convince the sun to be less hot.
A Thorough Suzerain
For someone with no interest in politics, going into Suzerain was a challenge, being an aeroplane’s flight from the comfort zone. Still, even after a few minutes of playing, it’s easy to see that the team has done much research to make this an in-depth dive into politics. Even if you’ve never taken a political course in your life, the narrative eases you in by spending a fair amount of time building up the leader’s life so that you know where he’s coming from and the influence you have on his path.
The experience is almost entirely narrative, and that’s a good direction for it. Politics is already complex enough, but having all the details and information spelt out for you is necessary and logical. Politics focuses mainly on making decisions, meeting with people, and reviewing how things unfold so that you have all the information you need.
The supporting cast of characters is thorough and precise to minimise the confusion you might feel. It can sometimes feel overwhelming, but that’s a point in its favour. Despite how you may think about politicians, you can still appreciate that they’re under some pressure, and that’s captured here.
There’s also the unfolding of events, and you never know which things will have the most significant impacts. Choosing not to respond to someone in a certain way could have the worst consequences. And this is just within your government; there’s a world map of countries going through their problems. You’ve always got news events to read about or sudden reports that can be essential clues to how the world is evolving. Ultimately, it’s down to you to choose whether you will or won’t fight the change and if you should focus on the fight at home or work for the big picture.
The Inbox of Suzerain
There’s a reason why there aren’t a lot of stories about bureaucracy, and that’s because it takes up some of the most draining parts of our lives. Suzerain is trying to make politics accurate and enjoyable, but it can’t change the fact that there’s still a lot of bureaucracy. It can feel like ages before you feel like any of the decisions you’ve made are having any effects, positive or negative. By the time you find out, it might already be too late to do anything about it.
Almost every piece of relevant (and irrelevant) information is tracked, but it’s nearly too much. Depending on how your brain retains information, you might need to take notes to remember where all the notes are. You’ll need to scan through all the documents and reports, trying to catch any details and hoping you get everything by the time the next meeting happens. At the very least, being friendly to your staff can save your life.
Suzerain wants YOU!
Suzerain is a narrative strategic sim about leading a country and trying to make decisions for the benefit of the people. There’s so much political detail and intrigue that you can get lost and become invested. It can still be tons of information to process with the time to payoff and payoff itself, making this more stressful than fun, but this is the bureaucracy we’re talking about. As a new leader in a tumultuous time, I know that when it Suzerains, it pours.