“Bisanji has elected a new President” comes the news and the people of this obscure middle eastern country celebrate after the end of a brutal civil war and then a complex election. Bisanji, for those that do not know, is a small country with rich oil fields, cold mountains and harsh deserts. The people are often very religious and the country is divided by political and religious differences, as well as with the ethnic minority Qathari.
In case you’re wondering, no Bisanji isn’t a real place. Bisanji is the location for Modern Wolf’s new game “Rogue State: Revolution”. The game casts you as the newly elected President of Bisanji, a country that has a lot of problems ranging from the prosaic like a poor road system, a lack of food production and a corrupt political apparatus to the much more serious of dangerous and sometimes rather odd neighbours and the risk of a revolution and a slide back into civil war.
Rogue State is a political simulator that is managed in a 3rd zoomable view with multiple Paradox style lenses to view the various info-states of the game at a glance. Partially procedurally generated: your Bisanji will always have the same five provinces but where they sit and which cities and resources, as well as which neighbours there are, will change when you generate a new game.
A turn-based strategy game with action points spent on moving units, changing policies or constructing buildings, Rogue State is fairly complex. Units can be commanded, upgraded and gain experience like a normal 4X game and there’s a deep system for ministries of your government, the personalities of the ministers and the complex supply chain of production, manufacture and demand, as well as an international market to sell surplus or import goods you can’t easily produce.
A short demo was released last year which drew a lot of attention and the early signs are fairly positive whilst the game is in early access. Watch this space for a full review!
