Democracy 2 review

First there was Democracy, and now there’s two of it. That’s right: the game of trying to stay in power thanks to the whim of the masses is back and much improved.

The core remains the same: your political world is divided into a network of issues and policies that interact as you change your emphasis on them. How much money you spend on law and order will have knock-on effects, such as demands for increases in taxing, or making your citizens feel a little less free. Adjusting and balancing policies is what makes Democracy 2 tick, and it’s astoundingly compulsive. Can you really hang on to power by taking a hard line against hippies? Maybe, if your voters are mainly conservatives.

Crucially, Democracy 2 has more issues and more policies. This new game is much closer to representing the mass of dilemmas leaders face in the modern world. Stem cells, binge-drinking, climate change, prostitution, lazy workers, inner-city riots, unemployment, even the death penalty. You get to see the ripples these have in a society, and the difficulty in dealing with them all at once. If apparently sleazy politicians want to engender some sympathy in a fresh generation, they should have this game taught in schools. It’s one of the most educational games in existence.