Jey’s Empire
Great game! Very complex, tons of weird ways to get from A to B, and very funny under the very serious veneer. I saved America from the Red Menace by making a child cry. The only Steam achievement I’ve ever been proud of!
– Real player with 75.5 hrs in game
The dev is a really cool dude, I’ve helped him out with a few projects. The Discord server is also good and I’d recommend his other games like Cold War 2, Cauldrons of War - Barbarossa, and Cat Fu MI.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
Orwell’s Animal Farm
This game explains nothing about its gameplay (after multiple playthroughs I’m still unsure of what the Animalism stat does) and appears to be a buggy mess of RNG. Dead animals can still comment on events occurring (Napoleon and Boxer appear to be the biggest culprits) or show up at the gravesite despite being dead (such as the Cabal of Pigs ending where Snowball and Napoleon have died, but Napoleon is at the grave). You can run into problems where you have plenty of supplies and want to repair the buildings but you can’t until the option presents itself, or similarly where you had the opportunity to harvest with multiple animals to fill the supplies to their maximum but suddenly only one animal can be chosen and you have far less than usual. Sometimes it skips letting you plant for next year which makes supplies much worse and no longer lets you plant on subsequent years, even if you have the supplies to do so.
– Real player with 12.9 hrs in game
Introduction
George Orwell’s dystopian and satirist literary work undoubtedly influenced, and still influences, a lot of other creative people, who are inspired by his themes, and use them for their own work. However, having a full videogame adaptation of his work is something else, and now we finally got it with Orwell’s Animal Farm, which adapts the original allegorical novella. This text-based game tries to capture and expand the book’s themes and experience a bit by adding several story choices. There is not much more to this game, as you could say it is similar to a visual novel. Is it a good addition, though? Well, let us dive into the review to find it out!
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
China: Mao’s legacy
I would definitely recommend this game probably the best Kremlin Games has out insofar as the whole political dynamics are concerned (you are able to fully shape your country' s policies and the factions are much more ‘real’). The economy however could have been dealt with better and have a proper blend between it and Ostaglie (placing individual buildings alongside the investment).
Alike Ostaglie, relations with individual western European Countries are generalised as NATO and it would be better to not have done it in this way so we can see how the worldwide socialist movement is doing at the time, which in turn, could affect individual countries rather than having it all generalised as ‘NATO’. This would have been much better as China often had more interaction with Western Europe (with the initial funding of left-wing guerrilla groups then to investments) as the WPO did (which mainly tilted towards its own bloc, which China interreacted less with whereas the game sometimes focuses too much on Chinese-Soviet or Chinese-Middle Eastern Relations, whilst relevant it mises opportunities with Western Europe) as well as making the international playing field (which takes up a large bulk of the game) more active, especially seeing how the Years of Lead, the Spanish Transition, the German RAF and the French Maoists pan out with China still being a beacon of Maoism. Or it could show how China has been integrating more with the west and encouraging the growth of the EEC or NATO (if not becoming a member then associating maybe if you take a hard anti-Soviet line).
– Real player with 131.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Political Sim Games.
I write this as a gamer who has played Kremlingames previous simulations, Crisis in the Kremlin, and Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall. As such, I can’t write this from the perspective of a person who will be exposed to this type of gameplay and Kremlingames' unique idiosyncrasies for the first time. I can only write subjectively from the viewpoint of someone who has played both games already.
First impression: it uses the same map as Ostalgie, with some haphazard modification to add Malaysia, Indonesia, Rhodesia, and the USA to the nations you can interact with. It’s better than the huge scrolling map of Crisis in the Kremlin, so I suppose I can’t complain too much. Go with what works.
– Real player with 76.8 hrs in game
One Spirit
One Spirit is a coming-of-age visual novel set in an alternate timeline where the Cold War drags on into the 21st century. Exploring various political, cultural and philosophical themes, the game presents an engaging, thought-provoking thriller through the eyes of a group of marginal teenagers, their doubts, struggles and hopes.
In 2003, the Iron Curtain stands tall. The superpowers of the new age wage a silent war through the means of information, economy, culture and proxy. As the Cold War slows to a crawl, the Sysican Republic, a pro-Western satellite state in Eastern Europe, finds itself on the verge of political death as radicalism, conspiracy and war loom overhead.
One Spirit follows Yuri Danilin, an 18-year-old young man disenchanted with life, as he returns to his modest hometown in Nevilyovsk, Eastern Sysica. Having failed in his studies at the capital, he reunites with his sister knowing their time apart has changed both permanently. When news of a known local activist disappearing spread through the town, Yuri soon finds himself at the center of a downward spiral of violence.
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Uncover a deep and engaging story, set in an original world where the Iron Curtain hasn’t fallen, inspired by real events and reflections on them: experience the bleak feel of a war too long fought.
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See the world through the eyes of an alienated youth — casual but complex personalities set in a path of self-discovery and self-affirmation in a world that has robbed them of a future.
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Delve into six different subplots branching from the main story.
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Every subplot has a unique dynamic you engage with by making choices, efforts and sacrifices. Subplots develop a wide variety of topics stemming from Yuri’s fatal years of 2003 and 2004, from the intimacies of friendship to the secrecies of Sysica’s ideological underground.
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Decide carefully how to spend your time in Nevilyovsk: days are a limited resource. Your priorities and preferences will increasingly mark your journey.
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Enjoy high choice responsiveness, as the game’s slightest details react to your smallest choices.
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Explore over 30 different environments to reveal new details, points of view and events.
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Take part in a philosophical journey about human history, society, struggle and life, with roots in contemporary critical theory, psychoanalysis and existentialism, among other similar and dissident traditions.
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Dive into this grey world through a high-quality art style that evokes the melancholic, nostalgic feel of post-socialist Sysica.
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Explore hours upon hours of worldbuilding detail: a unique Slavic theme, a constructed language, a simulated history and a culture imagined from the ground up.
Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall
It’s hard to really describe what makes this game so much fun.
Is it the ability to save the Warsaw Pact? Maybe, but that’s not quite it.
Is it the possibility of reforming the Eastern Bloc? Hm, perhaps…oh, no, got it!
It’s the ability to do both those things, while building an excessive number of TV towers and imagining that you’re broadcasting the amazing in-game soundtrack to every citizen of Europe, constantly, at 100 decibels, forever.
Seriously though, this is one of the best ‘small’ games I’ve played in a while now. It’s fairly short, spanning three ingame years, and although you can go longer, not much really happens after 1992, but what happens in those years is enthralling.
– Real player with 258.0 hrs in game
Reminds me of the old-school Paradox Interactive games. You want tooltips? Clear explanations of what is what? Too bad. Stare at a statistics screen for a while, you’ll figure it out.
There is a neat game here, but good luck surviving for even a year. It is very hard.
edit: Okay, I have played enough I can write a little more.
Did you play Crisis in the Kremlin? It was about leading the USSR through the time of political turmoil and reform when there were many factors that would eventually bring the country to its collapse into many autonomous states. In the game you had a lot of freedom to pursue your goal. You could become a liberal reformer, play as a hardline-communist or somewhere in-between with many other variations. However, you were the main actor. You could decide how you would play. The only real condition of the game was “don’t let the USSR collapse outright.”
– Real player with 250.2 hrs in game
Crisis in the Kremlin
Well I’m a Chinese and it’s my first time to write a comment on steam, so if I say something wrong or something you don’t like please forgive me.
For me I want to recommend you to use Romanov or Gromyko. Actually all 4 characters in 1985 have chance to win including Gorbachev, yesterday I play as him and it’s not impossible to save the country but use him will have two problems. One is reformer look like too strong to resist in the CPSU, other one is you cannot extract resources in Africa because you need to make conservative and Stalinism majority to open the mutual-aid in foreign policy part, but you can’t legalize Stalinism when you play as Gorbachev. For Grishin, a conservative, well I think is no problem to use him but I’m Deng supporter. And maybe it’s not a good news that Gromyko died in 1988 though he is really, really good man. So personally I choose Romanov. Year 1985 or 1986 is a better choice because you can change the country more easier.
– Real player with 266.2 hrs in game
It’s incredible really for a game to be so vague in how the mechanics work, so rough in design, so lacking in proper translation (seriously, the translation is a real problem here), and yet, I’d still definitely recommend it to any modern history buff or, of course, any aspiring Red with a taste for revisionism, and what Red doesn’t like a bit of Revisionism? I know I do.
Graphics: Nothing too much to mention here, they’re largely functional, and while many of the event pictures are nice Soviet posters or photographs, beyond that it’s very much just a text adventure with a red border. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but don’t expect a 3D sprite of Yeltsin to go stumbling across the top of the screen in his signature drunken fashion. (Hm, suddenly I feel a real sense of loss)
– Real player with 264.5 hrs in game
The Song Out of Space
In 1962, during the height of the Cold War, twelve astronomers at a deep-space observatory were found dead. Because of the proximity of an important military base, two federal agents were sent to investigate any Russian involvement…
And what they found was from beyond this world.
Find out what really happened that night by exploring a town full of suspects with something to hide, and stop it from ever happening again.
Choose to play as federal agent Catherine Armstrong, a young recruit with excellent scientific skills, or as Stuart Ross, a street-smart veteran. Their unique skills and personality will change how the story unfolds.
And whatever you do, try to keep your sanity!
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Two playable characters, each with its own story routes, dialogs, and personality.
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3 investigation routes, 4 endings, and dozens of secrets to reveal.
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Unique retro visual style that mixes pixel art with photography
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Original 80’s creepy synth soundtrack.
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Click-and-point mechanics.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1765600/The_Song_Out_of_Space/
Blind Men
I would rate this game as a cute and short adventure that’s worth the price. Even with the occasional error, I’ve honestly paid more for that same amount of quality. My play time is a little high because I was playing this at the same time as another game with a lot of wait time.
Hunter was my first, but Sergei ended up as my favorite. I feel like a lot of these types games try and force the romance, but the fact that you could ignore it entirely was actually made the game feel more natural to me. I would love to see these characters expanded on later. Possibly even just in print form.
– Real player with 9.9 hrs in game
A Cute And Funny VN For A Great Price!
I’m a big fan of dating sims and I was super happy to find this cute little BxB game! The art for all the characters was very nice, both the love interests were very handsome! The art for the backgrounds and cgs were also very nice, as was the music. I played and got all of the achievements, was very happy with the stories! I did enjoy the Sergei routes much more than Hunters, but that’s personal preference! If I were to put one critique it would be that there were a few spelling and grammar errors I noticed, but other than that I would say that this game is well worth the price tag, especially if it’s on sale! I’m excited to see more from these devs in the future!
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game