Politically themed games

has anyone heard of anysort of politically themed choice gaes out htere, and i don tmean current politics only anything gat all, like choice of romance, or something like that even…:slight_smile:

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not one… maybe Guenevere a little bit, but other than that, I’ve never imagined such a thing

You’ve got me tempted now… Next project already formulating in my mind…

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there are a few games based on criminal gang politics like NOLA is burning and a few WIP’s but other than that I don’t believe so…

im glad to have tempted you ;), you had a great one going for a while… i i member correctly you had major writers block :stuck_out_tongue:

ah yes, but these are all COG games, perhaps something else out there… although most IF i encounter outside of choice of games… is really all that interactive :stuck_out_tongue:

I recall someone taking on the idea of a politically-themed WiP at one point on this website, yet I don’t think they ever released a demo before they became MIA.

I hope this aswer your question… qThis game is a masterpiece! Unique on it’s category!

That was quite possibly me. If so, it never got off the drawing board and isn’t going to from me for the forseeable future. (I’m stupidheavybusy).

Politically themed IF, off the top of my head. Note that some of these may be near impossible to get hold of these days.

The Fear Factor: Terrorism in the City

Number 8 in the Real Life Gamebooks series. Choose between becoming a terrorist for shadowy anarchist group “Direct Action” or becoming an asset for the security services. Very much of its time. I doubt you’d get away with releasing it in the modern political climate, let alone with it being aimed at a teenage audience.

Yes Prime Minister

Based on the BBC comedy series of the same name. You’re Prime Minister Jim Hacker, trying to survive your first week as Prime Minister Mechanically, it’s very much in the CYOA adventure tradition. It’s pretty good actually. You can find it on World of Spectrum for free, although the multiloading may mean you need an emulator to play it in full.

Overlord

Book 4 in the Way of the Tiger series of gamebooks. (Think ninjas meet Dungeons and Dragons to get a picture of what the series was about). For the first 2/3 of the book, you’re the ruler of a city, making decisions about which factions to side with. As a kid, I thought this book was the greatest thing I had ever read. As an adult, it’s flawed. There is basically one right path through the city stuff and it’s not hard to work out. If you’re interested in this subgenre, it’s still worth reading though. It’s been released digitally recently.

Shattered Realms

The third in the Duelmaster series. By the same authors and set in the same world as Overlord. What’s interesting about this is that it’s a two player game. It comes in two books and you play it against a friend. You’re each the ruler of a nation, trying to gather support before you go to war. The diplomatic stuff is a lot of fun, although there’s not as much replayablity as some of the other sets in the series. The wargame lets it down. There’s next to no strategy, just lots of dice rolling.

You are Ronald Reagan in: Twilight’s Last Gleaming,

This was in issue five of the short-lived Diceman series. Issue five was the last one and I suspect they’d decided to go out in style. Diceman was just great. It was a spin-off from 2000 AD (the people who do Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper) so it looked as good as you’d imagine. It was those comic strips, in CYOA format. 2000 AD founder Pat Mills wrote most of them. Ronald Reagan was beautifully drawn by the highly acclaimed cartoonist Hunt Emerson. As you’d imagine, you played Ronald Reagan, trying both to avoid execution and World War III. It was very difficult and very funny. Another Diceman highlight was You Are Torquemada: The Garden Of Alien Delights, drawn by Bryan Talbot. It was a Torquemada story based on The Garden of Earthly Delights by the painter Hieronymus Bosch and was amazing. These comics are collector issues now, but if you get a chance to pick one up you won’t regret it.

YOU ARE MAGGIE THATCHER: A Dole-Playing Game Book

A sequel of sorts to You are Ronald Reagan, also by Mills and Emerson. It’s equally funny and well drawn, but it’s completely broken as an actual game. It’s a great cultural artifact of the time though. It was produced in bulk so it’s cheap to pick up a second hand copy these days.

Long Live the Queen

A more recent visual novel, still available for sale. Don’t be fooled by the cutesy anime graphics or the fact you play a fourteen year old girl. It’s an extremely hardnosed political game at times. Choose a politically advantageous marriage partner, execute a foreign diplomat or send assassins after your enemies. Really good game, I recommend it.

I’m sure there’s some I’ve missed, but that’s hopefully enough for you to make a start with! (As you can probably tell, I have a massive interest in this subgenre).

Yeah, definitely one of my big disappointments too when I dug back into the gamebooks I’d loved as a kid.

purple reign? you played as a byzantine emperor /empress

now i can tell my future grandchildren a celebrity once posted on a obscure topic i started on a forum one time ;p