Best Political Sim Games

Key Takeaways

• Political simulations offer a glimpse into the complex world of politics, where corruption and death lurk, and players must navigate a treacherous landscape of checks, balances, and lobbyist lunches.
• Games like This Is The President and Rogue State Revolution provide satirical and imaginative takes on politics, allowing players to make dirty deals and shape the destiny of fictional countries.
• Lawgivers 2 and Democracy 4 offer players the opportunity to engage in the nitty-gritty of political processes, from amending bills to dealing with lobbyists, providing a rich and rewarding experience for political enthusiasts.

Politics is a fascinating system. Part machine, part popularity contest, and part insider trading boot camp, it has the power to transform society and take it apart in equal measure. For the morbidly curious, plenty of political simulation games offer a glimpse at how exactly the sausage is made from a whole plethora of different countries, cultural climates, and visual depictions of the inside of that figurative butcher’s abattoir.

Political simulations distinguish themselves from the grand strategy or nation-building genre (although they might include elements of both) by incarnating their players into precarious flesh-and-blood meatbags that are just as vulnerable to an assassin’s blade as they are to briefcases of sweet, intoxicating dollar bills. Rather than hang above their citizens’ heads in the sky, players of political simulation games are exposed to the twin tensions of corruption and death (political or otherwise) while navigating a nightmarishly complex ecosystem of checks, balances, and lobbyist lunches.

Updated October 24, 2024, by Hamza Haq: The charm of gaming as a hobby is that there is something for every type of player. FPS titles to point and shoot, hack-n-slash games to button mash, fighting games for competitive 1v1s, MMOs for playing with a community, co-op games for playing with friends, narrative-driven games for experiencing great stories, and many, many more. Political sim games scratch the same problem-solving itch as puzzle games but with a tie-in to reality that makes players feel like they’re world leaders making decisions that affect the lives of millions on a daily basis. It’s a power trip quite unlike anything else.

15 Frostpunk

Bitter Cold Creates Bitter Politics

• Frostpunk is a harrowing experience in realpolitik, as players have to help their people survive a frozen hell
• Rather than building their ideal societies, players will find out how many ideals they are willing to drop for survival

If Frostpunk teaches players nothing else about politics, it’s that sometimes, ideals shatter before necessity. While many people will agree that child labor is abhorrent, through the power of interactive art, they will learn to accept it as a “one-off” and then “only for emergencies” and finally something to do “when they can take it.” In Frostpunk, layers spend many hours of game time struggling to keep their generator fueled and their people housed as the weather gets colder and colder.

To survive an icy apocalypse, the player will need to occasionally bump the needle on their moral compass or risk perishing in the cold. Obviously, Frostpunk isn’t exactly emblematic of peacetime politics, nor does it attempt to simulate it. However, those who enjoy navigating crises with a box cutter covered in the frozen blood of their kindred will appreciate the “for the greater good” design behind Frostpunk‘s most chilling challenges and grim political solutions.

14 Victoria 3

The Political Possibilities In A World Of Economic Transformation

• The shifting economic landscape of the Victorian era and the subsequent political possibilities are simulated in this grand strategy game
• While not the central focus, the simulation of a country’s internal politics and the knock-on effects of policies can lead to intriguing scenarios

Victoria 3 takes a top-down approach to its simulation of politics as players must navigate the tension between appeasing their populations and getting their own way, lest they endanger their legitimacy and, therefore, their political capital. The game takes place during a time of political and economic transformation, the Victorian era, and as such, players have to prepare themselves for unexpected outcomes to their decisions. For example, factories might be a huge economic boost to a country, but the political clout that factory owners accrue as a result may have major disruption potential.

Favor doesn’t just come from within political parties, as players can leverage the popular support of movements. The legitimacy that democratic votes, special interest groups (clout), or a country’s ruler (president, monarch, and so on) lend also depends on the country’s setup. Victoria 3 is not a pure politics simulator, as it fits more in the “grand strategy/builder” genre, but its inclusion of these systems and the run-off effects into other areas enriches the experience by demonstrating the interconnectedness of political, social, and economic factors and giving weight to every action.

13 RimWorld – Ideologies

Cults & Policies At The Extremes Of Civilization

• Players can create “idealigions” that have a huge impact on the story and lives of their characters
• Customization is extensive, with players able to define the day-to-day policies of individuals as they spread through the group

Politics isn’t just about raising campaign funds, serving interests, and backstabbing. Policies can be set by individuals and the charismatic archons that influence them, as RimWorld‘s “Ideology” DLC deftly demonstrates, albeit in an off-world political arena. Players can create their own “ideoligion” (or choose from presets) that allows them to customize the nitty-gritty, “invisible” policies held by ordinary people or, in RimWorld’s case, the cult policies their (ostensibly doomed) colonists.

From choosing who has to change their family name to deciding on the validity of vampirism or the benefits of voluntarily going blind, “Ideology” hands the player powerful political control, expanding the game’s already excellent potential for emergent storytelling. With a full spread of precepts, structures, styles, and cultures to pick from, players can mold their colonies into just about anything. Just as real-life ideologies evolve over time, so do the ideoligions of RimWorld.

12 Twilight Struggle

A Tense Match Of Political Domination At The End Of The World

• This politics simulator takes place during the Cold War as the player assumes the role of either superpower
• Twilight Struggle is based on a highly popular board game of the same name and features a faithful rendition of its gameplay

In the same way that great novels are often the basis for great movies, Twilight Struggle is based on one of the most highly-rated board games of the same name. The game has players take control of either superpower during the Cold War, either against a friend or an AI opponent. Historical events come to life as hot-blooded politics, as each round could lead to disaster or opportunity, depending on the player’s political finesse. With the world to win, it’s the US versus the USSR in the most chilling game of chicken the world has ever seen.

The interface, soundbites, and art immersively rack up the tension. Games can last an hour or weeks, and for strategy, fans will prove difficult to put down once they have the rules down, thanks to a helpful tutorial. While the single-player AI is adequate, it can be erratic (seemingly psychic or a little dopy at times), and like the board game version, Twilight Struggle is best enjoyed with a human taking the opposite side.

11 We. The Revolution

Navigating The Personal Terrors Of Burgeoning Democracy

• We. The Revolution takes place during the French Revolution when the heads of nobles weren’t the only things on the chopping block
• The player needs to navigate the wrath of the crowd, powerful figures, and their own conscience

Modern politics can seem like a mess at times, so perhaps the best way to understand it now is to witness how it all started: during the first days of the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. The player in We. The Revolution is put into a judge’s chair and asked to navigate the fraught and deadly political landscape of Paris in 1794 when the heads of royalty and other figures of power were regularly rolling courtesy of the liberal use of the guillotine.

The game mixes turn-based battling with clue-finding and case-building, and each genre snippet integrates well with the other. The cases themselves are sublimely ethically ambiguous, but the head of a judge is hardly safer than any other, and the player will need to win over the people and powerful influencers if they want to keep theirs as well as contend with the opinions of their family and their own moral compass as they reach their decisions.

10 This Is The President

The Controversial And Contentious Narrative-Based Pol Sim

• Cynical, biting, and satirical: This Is The President portrays the dark side of modern politics
• The player will be asked to deal with policy, handle crooked colleagues, and ultimately, get themselves off the hook for past crimes

It’s an open secret that politics can be a dirty business. In This Is The President, dirt is a currency that players can use to keep their opponents (and even members of their own team) compliant and quiet. The player’s goal is to amend the constitution in order to make all those past bad business boohoos go away by achieving full immunity from the law for all presidents. Political video games are always a matter of controversy, but this one is more charged than an electric chair.

Being a narrative game, there are moments of political decision-making, but the President is unambiguously a crook, and the player is asked to play accordingly. As games about being the President of the United States go, this one really takes the cheeseburger in terms of its cutting satire and bizarre plot twists, and it can get downright silly at times (perhaps a reflection of realpolitik today), but it may delight those political lovers with a dark disposition all the same.

9 Rogue State Revolution

An Imaginative Bottom-Up Take On The Political Simulator

• Players have a chance to start and build up their own country from scratch, but not in a vacuum
• RSR features deep, policy-level decision-making and offers a few wacky choices, too

As a leading member of a government freshly thrust into power after a decisive coup, the player is asked to take the crumbling remains of a fictional country in the Middle East and raise it up to glory while avoiding the wrath of the people, outside interests, and good old-fashioned border wars. Rogue State Revolution manages to combine elements from Sid Meier’s Civilization and foundational gameplay pillars from any good pol-sim.

Players must manage maleficent ministers while propagating propaganda and postponing poisonous policy that could spell an end to Basenji’s new era of prosperity, or they could invest 100% of the country’s national budget into inventing a time machine or constructing a bipedal walking battle tank armed with an in-built railgun and flamethrower with a presidential pilot seat.

8 Frostpunk 2

Balance Power, Politics, And Survival In A Brutal City Builder

• Walk the tightrope of creating real change and making progress while not alienating the council that decides what laws can pass.
• The game has several updates planned for the future and an active community to draw inspiration from.

In Frostpunk 2, the last remnants of humanity are stuck in the frozen wasteland Earth has turned into after an apocalyptic event turned the world to a snowy hellscape that, with very little in the way of resources, housing, population, and most importantly, heat. Like the original Frostpunk, Frostpunk 2 is a brutal, unforgiving city-building survival game where keeping these last members of the human race alive is all the player can really hope for.

One of the most notable ways in which Frostpunk 2 deviates from the original is through the council system. Thirty years have passed since the events of the first game, and perhaps the city-dwellers have rediscovered democracy, but they’ve implemented a council system whereby different factions of the city get a say in what laws can be implemented in the game. To get any laws passed through this council, players will have to negotiate and cajole the council members, introducing an element of political intrigue that was not there in the first game. With enough political acumen, savvy players can even convince the council to give them dictatorial powers. Quelling rebellions before they have a chance to gather steam, negotiating with neighbors, and keeping the council members pacified is all a balancing act that adds a political sim element to Frostpunk 2, making the already difficult task before the player even harder.

7 Lawgivers 2

Early Access Government Simulation With Momentum

• The gameplay in this in-depth politics simulator gets deep into the finer details of policymaking
• The game receives regular updates and offers multiplayer options

For the true sticklers of the real-life process, AKA political nerds, most video game simulations probably don’t cut it. But when it comes to dishing out the nitty gritty of arduous committee meetings and grueling reading sessions, Lawgivers 2 gives players a chance to take part in evolving or protecting the state or country’s constitution to their heart’s content. Amend or pass bills, deal with lobbyists, take part in diplomatic missions, enable trade, wars, or trade wars; as government simulation games go, there’s a lot to contend with that others of the genre shy away from digging into.

The game is open-access but still receives regular updates from this massively ambitious project’s (solo) developer: for example, Lawgivers 2 had a sizeable update right at the end of 2023 that added options for military intervention, a country-appropriate “first past the post” system, and most impressively, multiplayer functionality. As the game continues to develop, it is exciting to see more political possibilities open up. Considering that the first game has been well-received so far, this might be the candidate to back.

6 Democracy 4

A Uniquely Complex And Richly Rewarding Game Of Numbers

• While it isn’t much to look at, Democracy 4 offers a true “just one more round” experience
• The fourth entry is the most up-to-date entry when it comes to mirroring the political landscape

Booting up any entry in the Democracy series seems daunting at first, with the UI blasting the player with an ungodly amount of information at once. However, once the player gets used to which screen does what and how to juggle political capital (the game’s primary resource), the game itself becomes remarkably focused and simple. Each game in the series pretty much does the same thing, but it makes sense to play the newest Democracy entry du jour, as each attempts to mirror the politics of the real world.

Every tweak and newly implemented idea in Democracy 4 tips one or many of the various political scales, and the results, while mostly delayed as with real-life politics, feel realistic and meaningful. While the governance of the population’s health and the health of the economy is the main gameplay loop, in-person politics is there. However, it is not as involved as other games of the same ilk, for which it loses a few points in the “best political simulation games” contest.

5 Crusader Kings 3

Intermingling With The Politics Of The Past

• The politics of the past are on full display as Crusader Kings 3 does not shy away from the gruesome truths of feudalism
• Players can do pretty much anything they can imagine that a ruler in times past would have done, reshaping the history of the world as they see fit

Far from the buttoned-up, polished, media-trained rulers of the modern era, the lords and royals of old seem like rabid savages, and that’s exactly the kind of role players of Crusader Kings 3 are expected to follow after seizing control of their chosen dominions. Court intrigue, monstrous power grabs, and circular family trees are par for the course. And unlike other medieval strategy sims, the player’s resources and tools have minds of their own. Family members, vassal lords, and even mad court jesters could be the knife in the dark that ends generations of sovereign rule.

Keeping everyone in the circle of power happy is politics at its purest, and Crusader Kings 3 is a prime example of this concept, gamified. That isn’t to say that a playthrough will be entirely constrained to pacifying brothers, uncles, or brother-uncles, as CK3 offers a vast world to negotiate, explore, and conquer. Players can alter history, warp the face of the medieval world, and create wild scenarios, for example, a Europe ruled by a Mongolian nudist dynasty of cannibal giants.

4 Europa Universalis 4

Political Intrigue Meets Global Strategy

• Player decisions alter the course of history, ensuring no two games are the same.
• Guide a nation, big or small, from the 1444 in the Middle Ages all the way to 1821.

Initially released back in 2013, Europa Universalis 4 has been in active development since then, with regular updates in the form of new DLCs, quality-of-life improvements, and polish. Like the previous EU games, EU4 is a historical strategy game where players take control of a country in the Middle Ages and guide it through the ebbs and flows of history to modern times. Political intrigue is at the core of EU4 because in order to make sure their nation doesn’t get overtaken or destroyed before reaching the end, players will have to rely on warfare, economy, and diplomacy in equal measure.

While it’s possible to build an army big enough to take on the entire world, it’s unlikely at best, especially for new players. It’s much easier to fall back on diplomacy to pacify the neighbors, ease relations, and gradually expand than to directly defeat enemies in open warfare. Naturally, this means recognizing when to push and when to pull back, and understanding the political motivations of the other world leaders is key. Fans of the political sim genre will have plenty to scratch their itch here because players can choose to take on the role of any nation that existed in 1444; the replayability value is incredible.

3 Suzerain

A Walk Through The Murky Waters Of The Geopolitical Struggle

• Suzarain takes place in a real-life-inspired fictional world steeped in the same problems as an emerging nation from the 1950s
• The gameplay is narrative-heavy and places emphasis on immersing the player in the world and its politics

Much of the time, bystanders outside the machine might forget that while certain stances in politics seem like no-brainers, it is a vast network of people who operate within, and they themselves constitute that system. Nothing conveys realpolitik better than Suzerain, a game in which the player takes on the role of a politician in a fictional geopolitical setting in the 1950s. The fantasy-European-ish world helps to immerse the player in their role and takes away the benefit of hindsight that a student of history might have.

In the first playthrough, the player’s ability to reload a save is disabled, which forces the player to think seriously about their decisions. The story is as occasionally hopeful as it is cynical and crushing, but the ever-incoming crises are a real test of any player’s ideals as they anxiously await the next line of text. The politics and lore of the world are richly realized, but the narrative-based gameplay may make some power-hungry leaders feel a little constrained.

2 Tropico 6

The Latest And Greatest Dictatorship In The Banana Republic

• Tropico 6 is the latest tongue-in-cheek dictator simulator set on a developing-but-resource-rich country
• Players can choose to rule their paradise with benevolence or violence

Any political game where the leader can demand his underlings to steal the Statue of Liberty has to be taken with a pinch of salt. But despite its tongue-in-cheek attitude, the Tropico series remains a serious option for anyone looking to live out their fantasies of ruling over a tropical paradise.

While there may not be much of a real democracy in Tropico, there’s still a political process to contend with. The people may rise up to kill their less-than-benevolent dictator or one of those two Cold War superpowers currently duking it out might take a dislike to the political vibes of the banana republic and will need buttering up to (best case scenario) leave the dictatorship alone.

1 The Political Process

An Impressively Detailed Simulation Of US Politics

• The Political Process simulates the real thing, from the highest level of office to the lowest (or least highest) access to power
• The replayability potential is huge, considering its level of customization and variety of starting options

While other political simulations turn their focus on top-level governance and begin after the player has been elected as president or prime minister, The Political Process gives the player the freedom to rule over US constituencies large and small, from mayor all the way to the top and everything in between. Miraculously, very little is sacrificed to achieve this ambitious feat, making it one of the best political games out there, especially for those with a penchant for realism and policy.

The player can choose to run in one of 3,000 counties across 50 states, customize just about everything in their policies (so long as voters sign off), and customize their personal appearance with sliders. While the UI is a little basic and isn’t as flashy as other pol-sims, the level of detail involved in creating this political masterwork and its potential for replayability is staggering.