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The best game you missed in December 2020: SuzerainMake a constitution check, please

Make a constitution check, please

December has provided a bounty of games at the long-awaited death of a hideous year, but its greatest and most unexpected treasure is already clear to me.

Suzerainis the modern successor to Hidden Agenda, an ancient political simulator I oncedescribedas “possibly the greatest political simulator ever made”. A fictional nation still bleeding from civil war has just overthrown a dictator, and elected you to lead it into whatever future you think is right, just as the world begins to light up with the countless devastating proxy wars of the 1950s. It is superb. The game, I mean. Not the wars. Those are very bad.

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Your main concerns are much like Hidden Agenda’s: reconciling the communist and nationalist factions within your populace, without provoking either superpower as the strategic significance of the region climbs. Pulling the economy out of a recession, deciding what to do about the decades of infrastructural neglect, and all in such a way that you will be re-elected. It is a tall order.

All this takes place in an impressively detailed world, with both your Sordland and its neighbouring countries having detailed histories and politics, and dozens of characters making up the government. You must become familiar with many people, because Suzerain is in fact a visual novel-ish RPG as much as a sim.

A screenshot of a conversation taking place in Suzerain - a woman named Isabel Edwards is asking the president (the player) what he thinks about the structure of the Supreme Court, and the judicial review.

This is a game that had me covering my mouth with disappointment at a betrayal, howling in triumph at cross-examining some legislation, and saying aloud to an imaginary billionaire “Threaten me again son and I willnationalise your shit”.

The press will lie. Parliament will ask you to sign bills with misleading titles. The people will inspire a song called “My Electorate Are Stupid Pigs”. Your principles may be your strongest weapon or your downfall. This is politics. This is Suzerain.

Suzerain is onSteam,GOGandHumblefor £11.40/$15/€12.50.