Having completed my first playthrough, I believe I'm ready to review.

Suzerain is very much like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' novel. Except that it's about x20 more complex.

You play as the leader of a small country. In what appears to be a fictionalized version of north-eastern Europe.

The entire game is based around making decisions. However, that's pretty much all you do. It's like if you took away all of the gameplay from 'Fallout: New Vegas' but left only the dialog choice sequences. That might sound bad, but it's actually quite enjoyable.

This is a game for people that have a deep understanding of politics, or people that want to. There are a number of factions. Nationalists, conservatives, socialists, communists, oligarchs, and an ethnic minority hellbent on terrorism. It's not as simple as picking a side, however. As you'll need multi-partisan support to accomplish anything.

The number of branching paths is staggering. With every decision having a ripple effect.

For instance, I made some deals with the democrats to get a bill passed. However, this angered the conservatives. 18 months later, and the most conservative member of my cabinet resigns. That character then went on to challenge me in the primaries. And I was defeated!

I would like to give more examples, but I can't. It would ruin the game. Because the only thing you do is read, make decisions, and deal with the results.

I have only two significant complaints about the game.

First, there's actually a little too much story. It took me around 15 hours to complete the game for the first time. (It'll probably take you a lot less time. I read slower than most people.) As such, I'm reluctant to continue my second playthrough. It may be months (or even years) before I'm ready to go again.

This is compounded by allowing only one save file. Which auto-saves. I want to see the results of alternative actions, but not if it's going to take 15 hours to get through.

Second, the game's writers have a clear bias. The democratic socialists are presented as people just trying to make the world a better place. They are compassionate and honest. The conservative nationalists are resistant to any changes at all. They are paranoid, racist, fearful, angry, hate-filled, xenophobic, religious, traitorous, and irrational.

If that seems a bit one-sided? That's because it is. That said, it's a fictional version of real life. So, I feel like I can let it slide.

This is a game for people that listen to talk radio, read a lot of world news, are politically active, vote, or care about the future. You also gotta love the slow burn. It's definitely not for everyone.

{SPOILER!}Result screen for my first playthrough: https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849712318