Introduction
Those five minutes are up and the average voter has made a very convincing case against democracy. We’ll get back to Churchill quotes in a moment, for now I must bring to the attention of my fellow gamers (and potential historians & political scientists) a title that manages to think outside the ballot box in spite of the inherent rigidity of its topics and simulated era. Evil Democracy: 1932 is the recent creation of the prolific developer and self-publisher, Hamsters Gaming. It’s their second project showcasing the word “evil”, after 2018’s Evil Bank Manager. You know what profession is despised almost as much as the “banksters”? Politicians.
Story
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.” - Winston Churchill
Oh, Winnie. You may have been a chain-smoking, half-drunk arrogant racist, but your democracy description is spot on! Its alternatives are far, far worse than a bickering parliament enabling an equally incompetent government. Sounds familiar? Politics are as cyclical as history itself. There are three distinct campaigns representing the tumultuous ‘30s on the Old Continent. Germany in 1932, one year before the Nazis seized full control of the Reichstag. Great Britain in 1935, coinciding with Stanley Baldwin’s last couple of years as Prime Minister. And France in 1936 during the closing acts of the French Third Republic which won’t survive World War Two. Scenarios that are rarely touched by video games outside of the “Hearts of Iron” series. Yet Evil Democracy would resemble the “Political Machine” franchise more, since there are no military aspects to the gameplay. You only have to conquer hearts and minds within a single country, not go on quest for World domination.
I would like to think that violence won’t be used in the those political campaigns, but history proved the contrary. It's so ironic that you can't directly control the National Socialist German Workers' Party, but you can certainly steer any of its future “satellites” into forming a far-right coalition with them. It’s not like the Nazis won’t assimilate any smaller parties on the same ideological wavelength along with their voters and party members, right? Of course you can role play as every single communist party or subfaction in the UK, France or Germany by contrast. Commies are the “good guys”, they don’t call this game “Evil Democracy” for nothing. Just don’t expect an actual democratic process from the far left, unless your idea of democracy might stem from the “Democratic” People's Republic of Korea. Stick to moderate political parties, nothing wrong with the left wing unless you take extreme measures. “To the victors go the spoils.”
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2604515938
Graphics
I couldn’t gather much intel on the graphics engine, the game doesn’t even have a Credits section, so we’ll go with the standard option here. Unity Engine until mentioned otherwise. In terms of visual assets, you’ll only spot some 3D elements in the headquarters where you’re coordinating most actions taken in-game. The maps are in 2D along with most other gameplay aspects. I do find it mildly irritating that I was still staring at the framed UK map despite playing a German or French campaign. I didn’t expect the HQ furniture to change between scenarios (it would have been a nice feature), but at least the framed maps deserved to better represent the political parties within the nation you choose to simulate. The actual maps you’ll use once you have staff to distribute and voters to observe are actually quite eloquent in showcased details and overall design. You won’t be staring at something bland.
Audio
Not going to call the audio files in Evil Democracy as being bland either, yet they don’t fit the portrayed era and become repetitive much too fast. With no voice acting at any given point and with an OST that’s not gonna stimulate at all, mute the sounds altogether and focus on some time-appropriate tunes from your own playlist or directly online if you’re just becoming acquainted with early 20th century music. Instrumentals hold no linguistic or cultural boundries, get creative.
Gameplay
In fact, you can use your imagination once you get the hang of the core gameplay. No one’s forcing you to role play a historically-accurate political party. You can customize your own power-hungry faction down to ideological subtleties. Political dogmas are traditionally linked to the ideological spectrum going from far-left, left, center-left, center-right, right and of course, far-right. There are far too many shades of grey to call every single dogma as being extreme to the point of inapplicability, since most of the game’s ideological concepts were sadly tried and tested on the electorate, willingly or not. So long story short, don’t treat the dogmas as black or white. Apply them as you see fit and keep in mind that some of your party hardliners will not view ideological drifting very kindly.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2604516078
The regular Janes and Joes voting for your party are of secondary concern unless you can draw party supporters willing to “vote with their wallet”. We’re talking of sponsors, although that’s an euphemistic term since most of the people financing your party in hopes of victory are obviously having an agenda of their own. When you can even state in your campaign slogan that you’re supporting the “working class” or the industrialists, people will understand that greasing the wheels of progress takes more than just determination and hard work. Historically, political entities weren’t funded by governments, this might also apply today in many countries. Your party’s continued survival depends on “donations” and the generous donors expect you to scratch their backs in return once you’ve seized power. Simple and messy.
Lastly, I want to mention a few words regarding your loyal “frontline troops”. The people which do the actual hard work within a political party without having a realistic expectation to be given enough credit, nevermind timely promotions. Activists, promoters and agitators each play a distinct role during the turn-based campaign. Most will walk a very thin line separating legality from election fraud. At least you’re offered the option to keep your hands clean and morals almost intact. As a small party, you can at best hope to be invited within a coalition if your single digit electoral score might tip the odds in favor of the bigger parties and true winners of an election. It gets somewhat easier if you play a major party, but where’s the fun in that?
Verdict
The challenge parameters rest entirely upon your choices. Random events fire up and they can disrupt even the best laid plans in advance. Adapt and be ready to compromise. That’s the true face of politics anyway. The “art” of compromising in order to gain power and (hopefully) apply some of those concepts you promised to voters and your supporters. It’s an educational game no matter how little you may stomach politics in real life. Well worth its price tag for what it offers. Democracy remains a necessary evil regardless of our participation during (rigged) elections.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2604516985
Strong Points
+ Complex political simulation.
+ Replay value through randomization.
+ Steam Achievements & Trading Cards.
Weak Points
- UK map frame in the HQ of the German & French campaigns.
- More visual diversity wouldn’t hurt.
- Repetitive soundtrack.
Rating 70/100
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