Suzerain it is a very interesting title, in which we will be the president of a state with a fictitious name, Sordland. The game was developed by the guys from Torpor Games and published by Fellow Traveler, with the exit fixed on Steam for December 4, 2020. We can easily say that we are facing a title that makes us understand the responsibility of being the President of a state, that is, the man (or woman) with the highest state office not only from a political point of view, but also from a family point of view. Because yes, we will also have to take care of our family and every single decision taking will have consequences.
The origins of a president
As soon as we start the software we can see a decidedly minimalist menu, which will make us immediately understand the grandeur of the "text walls" with which we will have to confront. When we start our first game, the developers will invite us to make decisions that will have repercussions on the future, both ours and the country in which we will live. We will have to choose first of all our origins (poor, rich or middle class family), which will then be followed by some small choices of behavior, such as getting bored at school or being model students, until we reach university, when we will begin to meet to our small political demonstrations. But most of all, we will have to choose which side to be on, politically speaking. At the end of all these choices, we will eventually become president, one way or another, and that's where the real begins Suzerain.
So, in the beginning we will shape our future and then we will live it choice by choice. In Suzerain we will have to read a lot, there will be no dubbing, excluding some small audio effects. Unfortunately the texts are not localized in Spanish, therefore you have to know enough good English language (also commercial) so as to have a clear idea of what needs to be done in-game, since no one will explain to you what is the GDP indicator, which is none other than our GDP (Gross Domestic Product). We will have counselors, ministers and each of these will have some completely different political ideas, both among them and (probably) with yours. It will be up to you to decide whether to take the hard line or be more diplomatic and try to please everyone, when and if possible.
There are three values to take into account: economy, budget and wealth. The latter is personal and will allow you to make private investments. Obviously, you will need to think about the various socio-economic and legislative situations, for example, illegal immigration, which economic policies to apply and whether to make your country more linked to five-year plans or give vent to the free market. Each of these choices could increase or decrease those three values, as well as other values within the "Journal", in which we can see our policy in general and the various consequences. Furthermore, every single choice, important or not, will be judged by various newspapers, some of the party and others in the hands of the opposition, which will try to foment a fire that we will have to put out.
We must not forget that we are not alone in the world, therefore, it will be necessary to establish diplomatic relations (or not) with the neighboring countries to ours. But not only that, a state is nothing without its people and a President he should never forget that. In fact, keeping up the consensus of the people is the key to staying in power as long as possible, chapter after chapter. Some events will be scripted based on the decisions taken, during our test it happened that fired at the building where the settlement was being celebrated. We could define Suzerain a hybrid between a textual adventure and a managerial one. Many of the dialogues will mention people and places that we, as players, may not know, but in this case the codex comes to meet us, which gives detailed information on every single politician, institution and party mentioned during the conversations. Which is vital in order to make the decision in line with your thinking.
States move forward, and so does technological progress. In fact, sometimes we will find ourselves having to choose whether connect two rich cities with a high-speed train or create a highway in a peripheral area, so as to make the citizens of that area happy. Both certainly lead to an advantage, but which is the best? Furthermore, we must never forget that we will not only be a President, but also a husband and father, and we will have to treat our children and our wife as such, but nothing prevents us from prioritizing work, or ignoring them for some other reason. We could almost define Suzarain as wet sand, the path we will take it will have the form that we will give it.
Geopolitical graphics
Most of our time we will spend looking at a geographic map, complete with railway lines and roads and this is where we must do a huge applause to the developers of Suzerain who managed to create a clear and precise geopolitical map of the world area created by them. It is immediately possible to identify the various cities, which are larger and which are smaller because of the circles that represent it. The bigger a circle, the bigger a city and vice versa. While the other states have colors a different color palette, so as to be distinguishable and "distant" from us.
The soundtrack is very calm and allows the player to identify with the role that the developers have given him, but also manages to be heard in excited phases, as well as the sound effects. Sure, sometimes they both seem absent, but in reality this is not the case. They are a great background. During our game we did not have any particular problems, if not problems when launching the software, every now and then it did not start but remained as a background process. But generally speaking, Suzerain is a lightweight title, which many PCs should be able to handle, even older ones.
We have arrived at the part of the review that interests our wallet the most: is Suzerain worth buying? Our answer is yes, but only if you are well versed in the subject. Many things will not be explained, as if the speaker is convinced that you already know, not to mention that the absence of a real tutorial makes the title particularly inaccessible to the "curious".
