Tropico Demo

Genocide, oppression, and censorship are not usually things to joke around with, and they are certainly not comical in any way when they happen to you, but if some basic ground rules are respected, you can get something amusing out of the subject. Hence, most people at least thought about what it would be like to be a dictator, if only to show the world that even dictators can be good to the people.

Tropico is the beginning of a rather iconic series of video games that provide you with a chance to see your dictatorship dreams come true, however bloody or peaceful they might be. In essence, it’s all about keeping the population under control, managing the financial aspect, and building the proper infrastructure to help the island become self-sustainable from an economic point of view.

As you might expect, the first episode is not nearly as refined as you might think, but it’s the same idea as in the later releases. Hence, you get to choose whether to play a predefined scenario or randomize a map using your own preferences. As such, it is possible to define a variety of aspects about the session, including the victory conditions, the size of the population, or even introduce a few special events to make matters more interesting.

Probably the most attractive characteristic of the game is the fact that you are pretty much free to do as you like, as long as you don’t run out of money. Hence, you can pass new laws, build new buildings, or even incarcerate random people off the street, regardless of whether they have done something to deserve it. If things are more serious than that, you also have the option to eliminate a person, although that attracts a lot of hate from the deceased family.

Even if the game came out a long time ago, it’s still pretty good-looking even today. Naturally, the pixelated textures might not look very nice nowadays, especially when seen on a widescreen monitor, but the atmosphere is all there. Speaking of which, the same joyful tropical tunes play in the background, to keep things relaxed and tropical throughout the session.

Although the later episodes seriously improved almost every aspect of the original, Tropico is still a game worth having in your library if only to see how everything started. Hence, if you are in the mood to break some basic human rights and you’ve got a bit of time to spare, this is certainly the thing you’re looking for.