The Crown must be placated during the Colonial Era, or Tropico's mandate will expire and the game will end. To make it that far, however, they'll have to satisfy a few specific requirements at set intervals.Īside from making sure the nation doesn't go completely broke and that its people aren't on the brink of outright revolt, players will have to work with outside forces to progress in the game. By building businesses, stimulating trade, and focusing on the needs of the people, players will bring Tropico through the Colonial Era all the way into Modern Times. I came into the experience completely fresh-faced, but the developers were at least able to build upon the foundation previously established by PopTop Software and further refined by Haemimont Games.Īs far as I can tell, it's a solid foundation: Players assume the role of El Presidente, a government and political leader in charge of a small island nation named Tropico. It's slightly coincidental: Before just recently, I had never played a Tropico game, and before Tropico 6, Limbic Entertainment had never developed a Tropico game. Starting fresh Tropico 6 allows players to view their nations from every possible angle.

Bringing the nation of Tropico into the modern era is a study of how to deal with its people's quirks, and I'm stunned at just how entertaining that can be.

Like here in the real world, Tropican citizens can be smart or dumb, effective or useless, and can contribute to the country or steadily drain its resources. Tropico is different: Yes, the player builds the nation and decides its layout, but overall success or failure is based on the happiness and relative comfort of the citizens within the nation as well as the relationships with countries outside its borders. When I go into city building sims, I tend to think in terms of very basic rudiments, of building placement or available services, electric or sewer pipelines, things like that. Before jumping into Tropico 6, I didn't imagine I would be spending nearly so much time in the game dealing with people.

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