Rust
Rust
Game
Game2020
Suzerain
Developer Torpor Games
Suzerain is a text-based government simulation visual novel developed by Berlin-based studio Torpor Games and published by Fellow Traveller. It was first released for Windows and macOS in 2020, with ports for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series, iOS, Nintendo Switch and Android released between 2021 and 2025. The game, set in the 1950s, puts the player in the role of the president of the fictitious country… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
422 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 2, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
85
LovedLoved
248 positive · 45 negative
95% range 80–88%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 248 | 45 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 59 | 2 | 49 |
| Mastodon * | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Lemmy * | 4 | 1 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
7,465 of 8,016 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
85% recommend · 221 yes, 39 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 260 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (11,048 of 11,960 positive).
Players praise Suzerain as a deeply immersive political RPG that makes them feel the weight of running a country. [1][2][3] Many highlight its branching narrative and high replayability, with choices leading to varied outcomes. [4][5][6] Some reviewers criticize the game for having rigid paths and punishing creative decisions. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
This game feels less like guiding a nation through a tumultuous period of history and more like trial and erroring your way through the specific paths the devs created. In order to get the good capitalist (or communist or dictatorial or democratic and so on) ending you need to take decisions X, Y, and Z on turns 3, 4, and 6. If you made any wrong choice you will get a bad ending because there is no room for …
- [1]
A rare, brilliant and multifaceted gem, meticulously cut. A strategy VN-sim that finally fulfills that childhood fantasy of what it might actually be like to run a country. Not by clicking troops on a map, not via abstracted technocratic construction orders, but with a realistic amount of reading, legislating, box-checking, power-balancing, and an absolutely exhausting amount of bad choices to make. Peppered with …
- [3]
This "game" does not feel like a game. It's a story that you are apart of. You are not a disembodied ruler looking over a map with stats, you are the president of a downtrodden country, and through every meeting, conversation, and signature the world conforms around what YOU did personally, and you are held accountable for all of it. At the end, no matter how it ends, it feels like you are concluding your story …
- [5]
Suzerain is hands down the best political RPG I have played. If you want infinte replayability and depth in a sandbox, go for a Paradox title. If you want to experience a deep involved political game that challenges you through dialogue and a story telling experience then Suzerain is for you. The world building is first class and though the countries and events are fictional, you will recognize mirror images of real …
- [2]
A truly remarkable and unique experience that surprised me in a lot of ways. On the surface, the gameplay loop isn’t especially complex it’s largely text based, with most interactions coming down to choosing between a handful of dialogue options. But where Suzerain really stands out is in how those choices are woven into the narrative. The level of agency you’re given is impressive. You genuinely feel like you’re in …
Summarised from 34 of the 370 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Suzerain talk about immersive and emotionally impactful political simulation; those who didn't talk about game feels like trial and error on predefined rails. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Suzerain was awarded the Deutscher Computerspielpreis Bestes Expertenspiel (Best Expert Game) in 2021, as well as the Games for Change People's Choice Award, and was recognized as a "Most Innovative" nominee. Unfold Games Awards also awarded the game with an honorable mention. Suzerain received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Der Spiegel called Suzerain "perhaps the most realistic video game about politics." According to Der Spiegel, the game is "explicitly political, not in the sense of taking political sides, but because, despite its fictional world vaguely reminiscent of Central Europe in the 1950s, it is based on the real world of politics."…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 422 · most liked firstPC games made in Europe. Disclaimer: body content copied from elsewhere There are many games made in Europe that really worth your time. Yes, unfortunately if you buy them from Steam or other stores besides GOG, a significant cut will go to these market monopolists. But the rest will hopefully fund European studios. Here is a list of the European games I have played in the last five years or so and the country where studio is *mostly* based Feel free to add more! # Open world and RPGs *…
neutral · AI labelView post →Suzerain id the best game in the world because it allows me to sate my desire to raise taxes and kiss my wife
positive · AI labelView post →So pleased to read this! Suzerain is a marvellous game (and also if you follow me you are essentially guaranteed to enjoy it).
positive · AI labelView post →Hot damn, Suzerain for a fiver is an incredible purchase. I'm not sure I've played many true political simulators that have really sunk their teeth into me, but this is definitely one of them. Also, just a fantastic game for people who enjoy looking at beautiful maps.
positive · AI labelView post →A Suzerain like game where I navigate these would be sick.
neutral · AI labelView post →This game feels less like guiding a nation through a tumultuous period of history and more like trial and erroring your way through the specific paths the devs created. In order to get the good capitalist (or communist or dictatorial or democratic and so on) ending you need to take decisions X, Y, and Z on turns 3, 4, and 6. If you made any wrong choice you will get a bad ending because there is no room for creativity or improvisation in the game, just really well defined rails and punishments…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A rare, brilliant and multifaceted gem, meticulously cut. A strategy VN-sim that finally fulfills that childhood fantasy of what it might actually be like to run a country. Not by clicking troops on a map, not via abstracted technocratic construction orders, but with a realistic amount of reading, legislating, box-checking, power-balancing, and an absolutely exhausting amount of bad choices to make. Peppered with some good ones here and there. Unlike with say, movies or books, it is quite…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A truly remarkable and unique experience that surprised me in a lot of ways. On the surface, the gameplay loop isn’t especially complex it’s largely text based, with most interactions coming down to choosing between a handful of dialogue options. But where Suzerain really stands out is in how those choices are woven into the narrative. The level of agency you’re given is impressive. You genuinely feel like you’re in charge of an entire country, and the weight of your decisions whether…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game sells itself as a nuanced multi-layered political simulation game, but a lot of the decisions you will make will be binary "right or left" decisions, and choosing one will close off other possibilities even though nuance could theoretically be established. Moreover, despite the limitation of binary decision making possibilities, the game lacks a proper time tracking system to distinguish how long things take, nor to notify you of things that are underway and would reach your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Without spoiling the later questline, what's your interpretation of taking morale damage whenever you choose a "fascist-coded" dialogue option?. This is my third playthrough: one with my SO where we ended up playing as a centrist even though we didn't really want to, one where I went full communist, and this third one I wanted to see what a fascist playthrough would look like. Ever since I've internalised the Revacholian Nationhood thought, new dialogue options leaning in to that thought have…
neutral · AI labelView post →Right. Finished Suzerain: Rizia last night, so need a new gane to play on my laptop in the evenings while i'm still on holiday. Give me your high-end laptop friendly, story-based/turn-based game suggestions from 24/25 pls. Indie is a plus. DO NOT SAY DISCO ELYSIUM. Of course i've played it.
neutral · AI labelView post →The oligarchs, ultra-nationalists, communists, liberals, conservatives, moderates, imperialists, and feminists all want me to save the economy their way and their way only. What they don't know is that I'm just having fun ruining an economy in a video game to get away from economies being ruined in the real world.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Despite absolutely loving Suzerain's story, world and atmosphere, it left such a bitter taste in my mouth by the end that I simply can't recommend it. The worldbuilding is fantastic. Suzerain has created an incredibly detailed 20th-century political world, full of interesting countries, socioeconomic problems, political conflicts and moral dilemmas. You are given an almost absurd amount of information, and after a while you genuinely feel like you are navigating a huge, complex political…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suzerain is kind of a mixed bag. As for positives, the presentation is competent. And Sordland and the other nations of its fictional setting are interesting to read about, even though the real world inspirations are usually extremely obvious. Where it fails is as a game. The player has very little actual agency. As far as political expression goes, there is the "correct" path which matches the developers views, and about three alternate paths. Syncretism is not possible; you are punished for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is amazing. I felt like an actual politician dealing with this ♥♥♥♥ to the point I almost went out and bought smokes and some whiskey to make me less stressed. This is probably in my top 10 games of all times.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I replayed Suzerain a lot, and at the end of every run, it left me with that warm feeling only great political games give, like you actually changed the history of the world, of a country (the feeling you get when the Fallout New Vegas epilogue narration starts, for example). ☆ Comrade Rayne run: as President of Sordland, I went full Malenyevist, pushed social reforms, nationalized key industries, and leaned into the eastern bloc (United Contana). I bolstered the army, tightened diplomacy, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Last time I listened to your game recommendations I lost a whole weekend to Suzerain. Rarely have I been so trapped inside scenario, I couldn't think of much else until I finished it.
positive · AI labelView post →The best Suzerain game I played was straight tragedy where I did great domestically and dragged the country forward but didn't prepare enough for the invasion and everything came crashing down.
positive · AI labelView post →I should not have been given access to the game Suzerain, folks. My palette of takes material is expanding
positive · AI labelView post →One of the most impactful game I've ever played. Take caution tho, it's full of text, and can feel like a job instead. First time I boot this up, I felt like, what have I done? Am I working? You get to feel what a leader of a country felt. Can't satisfy everyone, but kept trying your best. My first run, I tried to be tolerant towards the criminal queen, but made a mistake of talking about my dissatisfaction towards them in the Summit. Thought everyone would've helped. Welp, it's just like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I crashed the economy, lost my wife, my best friend killed himself, my party turned on me, and I died in a bunker. An amazing game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is a lot to love about this game but I just have a sour taste in my mouth. At the beginning of your 4 YEAR TERM, you are given exactly one chance to decide where your budget will go. This is insane because you are making a huge decision at the time when you least understand the game's world. Also, what country plans their budget 4 years in advance as opposed to yearly? Did you make tough decisions that will let you improve the economy expecting to reinvest that money in other areas? Too…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This "game" does not feel like a game. It's a story that you are apart of. You are not a disembodied ruler looking over a map with stats, you are the president of a downtrodden country, and through every meeting, conversation, and signature the world conforms around what YOU did personally, and you are held accountable for all of it. At the end, no matter how it ends, it feels like you are concluding your story rather than finishing a game. For me that conclusion was bleeding out in my office…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to enjoy this game, as when I was buying it I was under the impression that it was a political simulator in a similar vein to Democracy 3 or to a lesser extent some of the Paradox Interactive games, a fantastic game at that given it's 92% on Steam. I was very wrong. This is a just visual novel with political theming, where most of the reading means nothing, and you WILL sit and watch the nation struggle, waiting for your advisors to be so gracious as to maybe mention the issue…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is ridiculous. Initially I loved it - devoured all the information in the codex, had fun learning about the world, and enjoyed playing through the first few chapters, even when events took a turn for the worst. It only got increasingly frustrating after that, though, to the point where I decided to quit without even beating it once (something I rarely do). Things will just occur for seemingly no reason. In my game there were mass riots due to the state of the economy - Which was…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suzerain is a terrific game: I think maybe the best game about politics I’ve played. (Just completed my first playthrough. I governed like Joko Widdodo: I died like Patrice Lumumba ).
positive · AI labelView post →🚨 Big news for the Suzerain Universe! Announcing the next chapter with 3 major additions: 2 brand-new DLCs & 1 standalone game. Suzerain Stories: The Neutral Lens, Suzerain: Socialist Republic of Galmland, & Wars of Suzerain. Read more: store.steampowered.com/news/app/120...
neutral · AI labelView post →If you want to play a really unique and cool game, Suzerain is only $6.50 on Steam right now. It's a hybrid visual novel/political strategy game where you play as the president of a country trying to pass a new constitution while being pressured by fictional versions of the US and USSR.
positive · AI labelView post →Suzerain is hands down the best political RPG I have played. If you want infinte replayability and depth in a sandbox, go for a Paradox title. If you want to experience a deep involved political game that challenges you through dialogue and a story telling experience then Suzerain is for you. The world building is first class and though the countries and events are fictional, you will recognize mirror images of real world troubles and conflicts in them. Going one step further, having learned…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →do you want to play a visual novel-style game/presidential where you run Not!Turkey? do you want to be a capitalist or leftist? you can do all of that in Suzerain
positive · AI labelView post →Huge potential to be the go-to political sim game, but completely ruined in its execution. I understand this is not meant to be a pure sandbox game like EU4, but some leeway for the player to have some creativity, and implement their own personal political beliefs using their own reasoning and logic would be nice. As it currently stands, there is only one way to play the game, clearly favoured by the devs, with almost every other route being hugely nerfed and resulting in complete disaster if…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thanks to my action, Sordland lived a great depression, a second coup, my wife hates me and my son became a communist 100% would recommend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun game that allows more freedom than most rpg games. You will most of the time be staring at a visual novel, but the effects you get are awesome. The key thing I hate about this game is the reddit atheism in this game. I am also an atheist but this ♥♥♥♥♥ keeps yapping about how being a believer in a religion makes you be less educated and wants you to make schools all be atheist. I think the author of this game definitely thinks that the end stage of the world is some liberal utopian…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game made me feel emotions. Also I never understood text-based games. But this one I fell in love with and made me understand that you can be a good game with just text. Even if you play this on mute or no graphics it would've been a gigachad game from the Apple II era. Timeless classic please make more thx. Victoria is too hard and complicated.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My most loved political game ever, just can't stop playing. Quality of life updates are amazing, as well as the dlc that is even better than the base game in my opinion. I need so much more dlcs and content, just take my money
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suzerain (yes, i know it's a novel in the form of a game)
neutral · AI labelView post →new blog post: Review: Suzerain blog.dante.cool/review-suzer... A game about ruling a country that you don't know but also trust me, you also kind of know. Punching above its weight and not always nailing it but wow, what an experience.
neutral · AI labelView post →Going live in a few hours! for those who don't know, Suzerain is a political simulation role-playing game where you play as the president of a fledgling democracy in an alternative universe and history timeline. It's a well-designed game that can teach us a lot about our own world through simulation
positive · AI labelView post →Just saw the Devs at Suzerain (fantastic game for political nerds) released a bit ago a semi-official full map, and now i'm spending my morning trying to get which real life areas inspired which region in-game. (Yes i'm a weirdo, I know)
positive · AI labelView post →Suzerain is engaging for about 8 hours of the ~18 that I spent playing it before giving up. The biggest problem with the game is that it is way, way too long. It's essentially a "you lose" simulator, same kinda thing as Disco Elysium, Papers Please etc. If you click the wrong button - too bad, you lose. If you want to be a nice person, too bad - you lose. If you want to have a moral backbone, too bad - you lose. I imagine that perhaps if you played as a ruthless dictator or a corrupt…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →coming from paradoxesque strategy games, Suzerain gave me a refreshing, dialogue-based way to manage a nation. it is really well written and I often found myself getting lost in the story, something I very rarely got from actual books. aside from how addictive it is, it has a lot of replayablity value and different paths you can take. in short, I highly recommend it. (the Rizia DLC is a veiled mlm romance novel)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Props to being the only game I seen that has a dyslexic option in font option.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What I'm reminded playing this game is that the alternatives and consequences of a game centered on political intrigue are limited by the creators' experience, knowledge, and orientation. If theirs differ from yours, or worse yet, are insufficient, it results in a disappointing and frustrating time. I'm eight hours into my play through and it's unrewarding drudgery.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The base game is really good but the DLC is the real gem. the Kingdom of Rizia is the most fun i have had in ages, insane replay value and good music too. All my homies hate Lespia
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suzerain is a really good game but it did call me a "centrist" so I will be leaving to meditate on my mistakes for the rest of the year
positive · AI labelView post →Oh, I forgot to do Honorable Mentions for Best Ongoing Game: Factorio: The Space Age Baldur's Gate 3 Suzerain: Rizia
neutral · AI labelView post →Suzerain is a very mixed experience. On the positive side the world you occupy is incredibly immersive: The dialogue is brilliant, the political landscape is believable, the characters are interesting, the histories of the countries, region, people, organisations are all very detailed and realistic. This is the true beauty of the game and it really is an impressive achievement. I grew to love Sordland and was genuinely emotionally invested in the plot. On the negative side, although I learned a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I honestly think there's a really good Suzerain-style game to be made about a Late Unreformed Parliament style situation
neutral · AI labelView post →Even though it is a game with a lot of text you get sucked into the game and it feels like you are part of it. Good narrative and twists. The downside. It is in fact a short game with limited re-playability. Your decisions ultimately come down to winning in the National Assembly, winning in the Judicial Court and get reelected. Whether or not you succeed in this, the game ends after this with a closing narrative explaining the results of your decisions and how it played out for you and your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A normal question for a normal game I’ve never played (I haven’t seriously played vidya in years, let alone Suzerain) | read comic: drlux.neocities.org | #AskDrLux
neutral · AI labelView post →Amazing game! If you like politics and don't mind reading, I'd highly recommend it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A great game for those who are interested in playing a game where you control a nation and navigate different political landscapes, regardless of the ideology you wish to use. In the game, your goal is to enact constitutional reforms and pull the nation out of a recession all the while avoiding (or not!) a war. The game is simple to play and navigate, within 12-20 hours (if not less). I would recommend it to people looking for a change of pace within strategy games. It's also very…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really love how little education spending matters, gameplay-wise, in Suzerain. It’s one of the many reasons it is far and away the best game about politics out there IMO, in that it reflects that some decisions are just “do you want to to do something important for next to no reward?”
positive · AI labelView post →Crashed my economy as sordland after giving women rights what did they mean by this? Another 300 trillion to the rizian economy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the best political sim I've ever played, with an engrossing and highly branching narrative to boot. Well worth buying at full price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has massive amounts of replayablity and choices for you to make. If you like political games you'll probably like Suzerain.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The CD Project Red Games from Poland (Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077) should be well known. Anno and Wreckfest are German. As well as one of my favourite games, Suzerain. From Austria: Ori and the Blind Forest / Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios) From Sweden: Valheim (Irongate Studios) Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios) Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead - published by Sony) And of course Paradox Grand Strategy Games From Finland: Cities:Skylines 1 & 2 From Italy: Assetto Corsa (Kunos…
neutral · AI labelView post →Suzerain. In these tumultuous times I was captivated by Suzerain, a visual novel game centered around politics. It just seems incredibly fitting with all the things going on in the world right now. It's really good, check it out.
positive · AI labelView post →Suzerain is unlike any other game I have played or even heard of. When I played it for the first time I literally couldn't stop thinking about; how was I going to bring the country back together, was I going to be able to keep to my morals, how was I going to get the votes! I absolutely recommend giving it a try. If you're even thinking about getting it then this is definitely the game for you. I would say suggest going into your first playthrough as blind as you can (though The Templin…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is easily the best story written for a video game ever. It had me on my toes at many moments and I genuinely felt under the gun every decision I made. The potential for different outcomes is so vast that I know I’ll enjoy my next few runs, if not more. 9.5/10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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