DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM SIMULATOR review - Reigns of Roses
(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Democratic Socialism Simulator's art style is incredibly colorful and clean. DSS's characters all have these very cute caricatures, and usually the animal chosen to depict a certain faction is amusingly dead-on. While the game never calls for the most exquisite of animations or anything of the sort, there's enough verve to everything that keeps it from feeling stark or anything less than lively. The UI is clean and easily navigable, and the controls are naturally simplistic, considering the Reigns influences--all you really need to do is swipe left or right with your mouse. There are no problems visually with me. There are a few hitches elsewhere, however--the most noticeable being an errant typo here or there that could really have done with being squashed. I understand that this is not an American team, but the scripts could've had a few pass-overs in the proofreading process to make things a lil less unnecessarily clunky to read. I personally am not so fond of the music, unfortunately--it's not terrible, but it's pretty forgettable to me. Its rendition of the IWW anthem "Solidarity Forever" upon electoral victories is cool--I obviously jive with the message of the song (which was initially by Jane Sapp, Pete Seeger, and Si Kahn), and it's used sparingly, but is a tad garish to mine ear.
Presentation quibbles aside, the gameplay is exactly what you'd expect of a politically-themed take on Reigns. It's no carbon copy, mind you--there is no overarching progress as there is with Reigns, you don't lose automatically once you fill any of the game's three barometers as you would in Reigns--if you max out your budget, any surplus is used to nationalize industries; if you go into the maximum deficit, you can still win by pulling yourself out of that ditch by say raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy right after--but the longer you're in such a deficit, the more bad press you get and the more voters are scared off, meaning you could be voted out or wind up losing enough congressional votes to implement your agenda that could help pay off the deficit. It's a pretty intriguing twist on the formula Nerial established, and I honestly prefer it from a game design angle. Sure, it's more "casual," but it's so rewarding to have yourself on the brink, yet still get out from under that boot on your neck.
It's impossible to talk about this game without talking about its politics, so I'm incredibly sorry to any "let's not get political" peeps who've come this far thinking I wasn't gonna highlight the kinds of stuff that's a plus mark for any leftists. Like that loving jackal parody of Jacobin, or some of these jokes. For the most part, I like to play this how I would run things--ecosocialism for all, babyyyyyyy! Sometimes you do have to politick though; I for one had to publicly denounce communism since a few moderate voters were about to go off the deep end if I didn't. I hope the revolution can forgive me for it.
Democratic Socialism Simulator is not only an amusing power fantasy for leftists, it's also a solid execution of its concept that thankfully doesn't bite on its obvious inspiration's style. As shitty as things are now (at time of writing), it is heartening to see studios--whether they be Molleindustria, or Motion Twin, or Pixel Pushers Union 512--being so unafraid to be out there, pushing leftist thought forward in a sphere of culture that has for so long rejected leftism and acceptance of marginalized peoples. Leftism in gaming just... makes sense seeing how overly corporate the mainstream AAA industry is. Democratic Socialism Simulator gets a 9/10. If you're someone who likes to support leftist game development, and this sounds up your alley, I think you should have your eyes on this.
Awesome
Summary:
Is it a true sim game? No. Is it a quality take on the Reigns formula which deftly evades being a copycat--while also promoting leftism in a fun, savvy, and thoughtful way? Yeah.
Democratic Socialism Simulator is a casual political management game from 2020 developed by the Italian leftist development studio, Molleindustria. They are most well known for their revolutionary freeware, such as McDonald's Video Game, Every Day the Same Dream, Oiligarchy, Phone Story, and Queer Power. Despite being around since 2003, they've never before ventured onto Steam--until now, with Democratic Socialism Simulator. A game which takes the style of gameplay popularized by Nerial's excellent Reigns series, but builds upon that foundation in a way that suits the politically charged theme. I initially found this game through one of my deep dives through Steam's upcoming releases page, which I do as part of the Noteworthy Video Games project. As an ardent leftist (though I personally am not one who has much interest in labeling myself--I like just about any form of leftism that takes on hegemony and any forum that isn't overrun by Nazbols or other anti-egalitarians. I guess you could say that currently I'm most interested in syndicalism as a sort of north star), this game IMMEDIATELY grabbed my interest by its name alone--though it was the black panther Black Panther and the crisp aesthetic that made me more interested in it as more than just an exercise of me pushing my politics onto those following Noteworthy Video Games (which I always love doing, leftists need to put more propaganda out there). Suffice to say, this game is flagrantly pandering to someone like me, though I will be honest about my opinions of it, having gone through three playthroughs (amounting to approximately one hour).
Democratic Socialism Simulator's art style is incredibly colorful and clean. DSS's characters all have these very cute caricatures, and usually the animal chosen to depict a certain faction is amusingly dead-on. While the game never calls for the most exquisite of animations or anything of the sort, there's enough verve to everything that keeps it from feeling stark or anything less than lively. The UI is clean and easily navigable, and the controls are naturally simplistic, considering the Reigns influences--all you really need to do is swipe left or right with your mouse. There are no problems visually with me. There are a few hitches elsewhere, however--the most noticeable being an errant typo here or there that could really have done with being squashed. I understand that this is not an American team, but the scripts could've had a few pass-overs in the proofreading process to make things a lil less unnecessarily clunky to read. I personally am not so fond of the music, unfortunately--it's not terrible, but it's pretty forgettable to me. Its rendition of the IWW anthem "Solidarity Forever" upon electoral victories is cool--I obviously jive with the message of the song (which was initially by Jane Sapp, Pete Seeger, and Si Kahn), and it's used sparingly, but is a tad garish to mine ear.
Presentation quibbles aside, the gameplay is exactly what you'd expect of a politically-themed take on Reigns. It's no carbon copy, mind you--there is no overarching progress as there is with Reigns, you don't lose automatically once you fill any of the game's three barometers as you would in Reigns--if you max out your budget, any surplus is used to nationalize industries; if you go into the maximum deficit, you can still win by pulling yourself out of that ditch by say raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy right after--but the longer you're in such a deficit, the more bad press you get and the more voters are scared off, meaning you could be voted out or wind up losing enough congressional votes to implement your agenda that could help pay off the deficit. It's a pretty intriguing twist on the formula Nerial established, and I honestly prefer it from a game design angle. Sure, it's more "casual," but it's so rewarding to have yourself on the brink, yet still get out from under that boot on your neck.
It's impossible to talk about this game without talking about its politics, so I'm incredibly sorry to any "let's not get political" peeps who've come this far thinking I wasn't gonna highlight the kinds of stuff that's a plus mark for any leftists. Like that loving jackal parody of Jacobin, or some of these jokes. For the most part, I like to play this how I would run things--ecosocialism for all, babyyyyyyy! Sometimes you do have to politick though; I for one had to publicly denounce communism since a few moderate voters were about to go off the deep end if I didn't. I hope the revolution can forgive me for it.
Democratic Socialism Simulator is not only an amusing power fantasy for leftists, it's also a solid execution of its concept that thankfully doesn't bite on its obvious inspiration's style. As shitty as things are now (at time of writing), it is heartening to see studios--whether they be Molleindustria, or Motion Twin, or Pixel Pushers Union 512--being so unafraid to be out there, pushing leftist thought forward in a sphere of culture that has for so long rejected leftism and acceptance of marginalized peoples. Leftism in gaming just... makes sense seeing how overly corporate the mainstream AAA industry is. Democratic Socialism Simulator gets a 9/10. If you're someone who likes to support leftist game development, and this sounds up your alley, I think you should have your eyes on this.
Awesome
Summary:
Is it a true sim game? No. Is it a quality take on the Reigns formula which deftly evades being a copycat--while also promoting leftism in a fun, savvy, and thoughtful way? Yeah.
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