En bref. Les amateurs de jeux hybrides seront peut-être curieux de découvrir ce nouveau titre qui propose un mélange original de stratégie au niveau politique, de tour par tour, de gameplay façon Roguelite (soit le principe allégé du genre Roguelike), et de quelques aspects disons globalement de gestion. Le tout prenant poru cadre les luttes de pouvoir dans un pays fictif du Moyen-Orient.
Pour plus d’informations sur Rogue State Revolution, pour lequel une démo est disponible, voyez cette page sur Steam.
Communiqué
Rogue State Revolution is OUT today on Steam
Your term as President of Basenji starts today
Greetings Your Excellency,
Welcome to your new term as Supreme Ruler of Basenji, our beloved homeland.
Your political platform is something called « Steam » and you will be able to exercise your full powers as « democratically » elected ruler starting from the 18th of March at 16:00 GMT, for a mere 14,99$ with a 10% launch discount.
But hey, we can also start right away with the usual political corruption and, as you are a member of the press, offer you a Steam key!
Just remember: Rogue State Revolution is a turn-based political strategy game with a Roguelite heart and sprinkles of city building, management, diplomacy, and emergent narrative.
A true strategic challenge
A new era for Basenji, the country you lead:
You helped to transition your beloved country from a monarchy into a true democracy. Now it is time to rebuild, reform, and prepare for new challenges as the Glorious People’s Republic of Basenji becomes a new political, economic, and cultural hotspot.
?You won’t be alone. Appoint Ministers to help govern the various elements of your proud nation. Help them to deliver great successes to their constituents, but be careful — make them too popular and you may find yourself replaced in the next election.
Difficult decisions, a highly replayable political simulation!
Worrying about the loyalty of your military as they prepare to meet rebel forces in transit? Perhaps your cuts to veterans’ benefits could have waited…
Refugees attempting to sneak past your borders to settle in your communities? Find the right balance between liberal and conservative policies to stay in power just long enough…
Nuclear weapons inspectors imposed by foreign powers…how to hide that uranium you just bought for that small, harmless WMD project of yours?
A Political Roguelite? Really?
Yes, really.
If you expect your average, run-of-the-mill, 4X strategy game you will not get it with Rogue State Revolution. Being a ruler in a country in turmoil is, first and foremost, a matter of political (and often physical) survival.But if you want specifics ticks to that Roguelite definition list here are a few:
Procedural generation. The map of the great nation of Basenji is laid out differently with every run you play.
Permadeath is an occurrence that you will encounter many times before honing your dictator ruler skills.
Your main toolbox to wrestle with the Basenji political predicament is your Minsters’ Cabinet. The single ministers will unlock randomly every playthrough. Extra points for replayability!Or you can always go nuclear you know….
Not exactly.
Rogue State Revolution takes his nuclear fun time pretty seriously. When asked about the « red button » option by the nice people of RockPaperShotgun, the lead developer answered profusely, but precisely.RPS: In RSR is it possible to develop or acquire nuclear weapons while maintaining cordial relations with superpowers like the USA?
Ryan: Not exactly. There are two ways to acquire uranium for a civilian nuclear energy program: either from a trade deal with an allied major power (US, China or Russia) or by exploiting a discovered domestic supply. Once you have uranium coming into your production chain, you may choose to divert a small quantity of it to a clandestine site for further enrichment and later weaponization. You may get caught doing this, and then you face some options:
1. Keep going and hope to secure a weapon of mass destruction before facing a focused strike on your clandestine facilities; or
2. Renounce your nuclear weapons efforts, take the diplomatic hit, and embrace the roadmap to compliance with your nuclear non-proliferation obligations put before you by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
There’s no way the superpowers will tolerate your violation of the NPT, but if you’re very careful, put the right people in charge, and follow the right policy tracks, they may not discover it until it is too late and then they will dare not do anything to stop you.
A geopolitical background
Rogue State Revolution has an unusual depth when it comes to representing the geopolitical struggle of a Middle East (fictional) country. Where does that come from? But from the lead dev, of course, Ryan Hewer.
His professional life before game development started in nuclear safeguards for Canada’s nuclear regulatory agency, then shifted to serving as a policy specialist in nuclear counterproliferation..
He then dabbled in diplomacy, and was deputy director for Canada’s bilateral relationships in the Gulf region, before leaving the public service, emigrating to the United States and starting a new career as a teacher while simultaneously building a small indie studio with Little Red Dog Games.
A lot of amateur leaders ruling the world right now…
The list of wannabe dictators wreaking havoc on their countries is never short and we already had our fair share of « less than ideal » governing figures, and they said they wanted to rule for the people…
Cringer, Raptor, ChratosGameplay, Dan Field, Canal Do Void, Nookrium, Colonel Failure, Agrippa Maxentius, TortugaPower and many others!
And finally let’s bring this to a closing chanting all together the Basenji National Anthem!
Yes, for real, there is an actual Basenji anthem and you can listen to it and watch a bit of the backstage shenanigans we had while shooting the FMV cutscenes!
