Today I want to talk about a game a friend recommended me to play a while ago. It's called Suzerain. It's a visual novel where you play as the elected President "Anton Rayne". What kind of President you want to be is entirely up to you. You can go from a "Reformer" to a "Dictator" and everything in between. You do so in a fictional country named "Sordland" - a Country currently riddled by various issues like recession, civil unrest, etc. Because the game takes place in 1954, you also face other problems like minorities fighting for their rights, a neighboring giant with imperialistic ideals, and superpowers trying to drag you into their sphere of influence.
This game will make you reflect on your political decisions and ideology, both in game and IRL. I cannot stress enough how incredible this game is at doing so. If you even have the slightest interest in politics, even if you don't like games...play this fucking game. Especially in times like these, it is of utmost importance to reflect on these kinds of things, and this game will make you do so, whether you want to or not. Buy it, play it, and behave ingame just like you would do IRL. Trust me when I say: The game will lead you somewhere and make you reflect on your decisions.
Another thing about this game is its outstanding soundtrack. One song in particular, "Critical" only plays twice in this game. First, when you attempt to change your Country's constitution, if that was one of your goals, that is. The second time, it will play during a meeting at the United Nations ingame equivalent. Both instances are turning points in this game that are heavily influenced by your decision-making. You can fail to change the constitution; you can fail to be recognized by the United Nations. These two moments are where you either go under or stand up for yourself and become the force you need to be as a President.
My first "honest" run was exciting. Initially, my goal was to extend the power of the President because I believed that with more power, it also becomes easier to change things, and I sure wanted to be powerful. And you know how they say: "With great power comes great responsibility"? Well, it does. But it didn't do with me what you would expect. This "absolute power" didn't corrupt me. It made me realize my responsibilities, causing me to try even harder to change the Country as I envisioned it. All those issues in the beginning that I believed I could only fix partially...suddenly after I successfully changed the constitution...I thought I could fix all of them.
And fixing all of them, I did. I managed to do something that later on I found out by research you can only do in this one unique instance: The perfect centrist run. I was impeached. I was locked behind bars, backstabbed by who I trusted the most in the game. But I did it. I did everything. The economy, the impending war, the Bludish minority, women's rights, an epidemic, migration, absolutely everything. It was all fixed, and it was all done the way I envisioned this Country to be. No one in this world managed to take this from me, my President, even after he was left behind bars. My successor became the one character I wished for to become the next President. I achieved everything upon realizing what I needed to change in myself to achieve everything I desired to change and fix.
And so, just like Anton Rayne's last words to his family were when he was lying on his deathbed, decades after the events of the game, I can now finally look back to the previous 10 years of my life and say:
"I regret nothing."
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