Plutocracy

good capitalism simulator

yes.

I want to preface this by saying that Plutocracy is a very, very interesting game.

I went into this as an absolute amateur, I have absolutely no idea what I'm meant to be doing when it comes to this game, I was entirely out of my element and literally could not progress in any way. Over my hours of gameplay, I did not make a single cent nor did I know what to do. However, I have only good things to say about it.

For one, the concept is absolutely brilliant. Building a business empire from the very start (with varying degrees of success) and being able to be extremely corrupt, bribe politicians, rig elections, is an exceptionally interesting thing and it's set in some of the most interesting eras of American history: The Gilded Age right up until the New Deal Era. The game progresses over time and I have to admit, being able to see the history go by (even as I flail around like a madman who has spontaneously combusted whilst trying to make a dollar) is a real treat. Not to mention the history of the game is just excellent - certain states aren't even open to you until you reach a certain year. It is VERY immersive in that regard, and I can see how people get sucked into it. The game does warrant all of the positive reviews it has recieved.

Furthermore, the art style is simply stunning. It's not too flashy, not too dull and it looks very time-appropriate given the way that everything (even down to the smallest details) is designed. The art style is simply wonderful, and I wish I could see it in other places, because it really is a great game in that regard. Furthermore, the design of the people is just marvellous too. A lot of the characters you will meet along the way look like they're from real life, even if they're in the iconic Plutocracy style. Whoever did the art for this game deserves a round of applause, because I love the way everything looks.

Now for the thing I found particularly bad, but I know that everyone who is considering this game will love. The management. I had absolutely zero clue what I was doing (mainly because the game doesn't really give you much of a tutorial when it comes to certain things, the tutorials you do get are in-depth but I found them challenging to actually employ when playing), which I would say is a good thing for a game of this genre. If you like striking deals, micromanaging, making decisions and having control over certain things, I have to admit you will likely have a great time with this game (even if the AI can be a bit annoying right now). You WILL be caught off guard by certain things and you WILL be able to put the subsequent fires out. If you're reading this review, the likelihood is that you've already made up your mind, you just want to hear other people's opinions.

There is a LOT of features, too. You can collect, you can strike deals, influence the government (and, with coming updates, even the PRESIDENT), run for office, forge alliances... heck, if you can think of it, you likely have the power to do it in this game. I also appreciate the dedication that the Redwood team have put into making the game as historically-accurate as possible when it comes to certain details, especially in the character creation (which I will get into shortly). It's absolutely astounding how close-to-life some of these things are, and how excellent the game is as a result of that. I appreciate the history (especially of this time) and have to admit that this is a simply excellent game for that reason.

The character creation is also EXTENSIVE. Depending on how you create your character, you will either face a very easy road or a VERY DIFFICULT one, where things could be dependant simply on what you look like. You CAN play the game as a black lesbian, but don't expect people to be as accepting of that as they are nowadays, no, you'll probably meet a LOT of adversity and will have an extremely difficult time when it comes to negotiations. But, you don't want the "perfect" character because it'll make the game inherently boring.

The game also has a LOT of room where development will be coming. There is features already planned that could possibly change everything, and will make the game even more interesting. Whilst I cannot predict the future with this review (because I had to sell my crystal ball since I lost so much money during my playthrough!), I have to admit that there is a great amount of potential and anyone who has any interest in something as unique as this will want to be along for the ride. The developers are working on implementing unique features to the game, and I can't deny it's going to be very interesting to see this game in 1, 2, 5, 10 years. However, despite being in Early Access, there is a VERY detailed game here and I think many of you who are reading this would love it. Unless you're like me, in which case you'll have no idea what you're getting into. Prepare to look like a fool, I suppose!

At the end of the day, whether you buy this game or not is up to you. However, if you're here, you probably give enough of a damn to get it. This game is very detailed and requires you to actually have an interest in things like growing capital and bribing government officials (which, who wouldn't? That's fun as hell). In spite of my own difficulties with the game, I cannot deny that this game is a real masterpiece in the making, and a very unique concept that I haven't seen anywhere else. It's a real beauty, I recommend it, even if just for the style alone.

good

the whole game is unbalanced but it has real potential the concept is very good but some game mechanics are meaningless and it becomes boring quickly like a clicking simulator in a tycoon type of game

Best Capitalist simulator out there!

Boring. There's not much to do. The early game especially is absolutely brutal, where pretty much all you can do is click and pass time, buy/sell one of 2-8 different stocks, and wait for your really meager investments to turn into enough money where you can actually begin to do something.

The mechanics are confusing and you get the idea constantly that this game is nowhere near as deep as it wants you to believe.

It doesn't have the depth to be a meaty business sim. It doesn't have the visceral feeling of gaining power or the smooth mechanics to make it a good business themed game.

$25 for this is insane. I got it at 25% off and I feel like that price was also insane relative to what I got. Hard no unless they really work wonders with it at some point after this review (though I read that the updates aren't very frequent either).

Well thought out game.Can see it going far once all the features are added.
Currently only has sandbox and challenges. however still great fun to play.
Can be confusing to play at the start, but once you have worked out what everything does and how to make money, it just comes in.
Would highly recommend this game as a relaxing evening game, but be careful as you will get hocked and end up playing for hours

I like the games overall mechanics and overall graphics, since its an early access, it needs to be worked on and the events that happen on the game is awesome, I give it a perfect 10 out of 10.

At its current stage its not recommended, there are to many vital parts missing and UI/QoL fixes as to how the menu system flows to advice a buy,

Some examples,

As a owner of a bank I can only loan money to my own companies not other loosing out of vital revenue streams and the whole reason to own a bank the option to focus on markets towards private loans/small business owners would give a better depth and more "interesting" areas of risk etc. Or even if competing banks fail to repay loans I can take competitors over or if I target supplier networks of competitors and they go bankrupt again -> success for me.

Listing a company that you own 100% of seems impossible even after issuing shares it never becomes publicly traded.

Map filtering options reset every time you leave the map view = time consuming

Buying shares when wanting to fulfil an ambition brings you to the stock exchange even if the company is not publicly traded - bring me to the investor page instead to show who I can buy from.

Better insight as to number of shares a investor has rather then just % or show both when looking to buy again saving time

Both of the above then gives more insight easier before entering negotiations that has reputation impact if things don't work out, also when buying shares during an investor negotiation if you click (took me 6h before realising that I could change the number directly rather then clicking/holding the arrow again clearer UI needed in several places) If I remove 1 share to enter a number it constantly enters one until I add a 2 behind the 1 and then remove the 1 silly yes but time consuming.

I can go on, but again, there is huge potential but currently (and seeing the speed current development has) save your money and wait until the game is in a better/more mature stage

This game can be very addicting after you learn the ropes!
After a few starts and re-starts, I got the hang of it and in ten years - starting with 100K - I have amassed a $78M business empire! Got elected to the US Senate and am shooting for $100M within 15 years! Would be great if you add the roles of Governor and President!

This game is an absolute gem that gets better with eveyr update. It really scratches the 'run a business' itch in a way that no other simulator does.

Greatest business game i have played, every update makes the game so much better and bugs are actively patched. It gets repetitive but when there is no other game like this i keep coming back to it. Wish politics could be easier as sponsoring every individual politician when i have millions of dollars gets tedious. Just hope this game continues getting updates but i absolutely recommend. 10/10

if you enjoy looking at sheets and have medium level of knowledge in mathematics, this should be a enjoyable game with at least 50 hours of fun, the moment you solve the game you will have to go out of your way to find difficulties as you gain more and more money and influence. With time this game has been getting better and better, letting me come back and experience it multiple times and enjoying it every time!

Very good game. One of the best business sims on steam without a doubt. Developer constantly adding new features to the game making me come back and play a almost new game. This game has shifted so much since I bought it (In a good way). quality of life & new content almost regularly. Would def recommend

no france in game, very good

One of the greatest business games ever made. Still in development and each improvement makes the game all the better.

good concept
micromanagement
slow dev (bought and wait for 1 and a half year to play , still no new stuff)

4/10

Great!

Since we can buy cars also at a point. I think there should be car company also for player's to buy and sell or invest in. I mean i understand there is transportation company but there is no personal or luxury car company . I think it will be a great addition for plutocracy. Real estate can be another great addition.

It's a game you like ore hate, you will have to learn a lot to make it and that is what is like. cant wait for more ot be edit to the game love the holding stuf!

Honestly one of the best economy simulators that I can run on my relatively low end pc. 9/10 sometimes it crashes

Formed the biggest bank in NY. Wasn't enough.
Went on to purchase all the other banks in the USA, consolidated them all into a cartel. Wasn't enough.
Bought out all the politicians in NY, lowered all taxes, watched the money roll in. Drove up prices as high as possible to provide maximum shareholder value.

Had a rival owning 2% of my company that I couldn't buy out, sent 5 assassins to him to get him out the way, then bought his shares off his son. Helps that I own the prosecutor.
Politicians are the best thing money can buy :)

Alright, I really enjoy the economics, and the things you can do in this game to become a top dog in an industry, nice illustrations, music is okay - however this game still needs more time in the oven as it becomes quite repetitive, especially with "just" expanding and hiring new contractors. I like the random events but after a while I kept receiving the same ones which is a little bummer.

Don't get me wrong, this game has potential, that is why I am giving it a positive review, but it needs more mechanics, events, possibly more scenarios which I saw are in development. I hope for more frequent updates as well.

But yes - definitely give this one a go!

its a fun game, it has come a long way in the last 4 years. Hope they keep it up because there is still lots to do

Ever wonder how much fun it could be buying companies and then making money? Look no further.

New update

Buggy game. Spent hours playing this game and then my expenses went nan and it was all over

It quickly became repetitive and boring.

Needs more dev time

I do not have a ton of time in the game, but since there is so little content in the game currently you can fully explore all of it within a 10 hour window. The game lacks any real game play, you have no real way of affecting your company or the amount of money you make. Whats even better is the few things i liked about they game are forever stuck on "in development" you cannot cxreat your ownm company at all unless you merge another company but all of this is not even worth your time as you cannot manage all of whatc is happening in an effective manor. For example if i own 100% of a company and I will have to devote my chaarter as the ceo to effectively run the company, then if I do want an AI to be the CEO i can no longer control any shares of stock that the company may own...why, why can i not as the sole owner of acompany use my own funds to contiune to expand it.

TLDR: do not buy unless its been 5 years since this reeview, since they only update the game once a year.

The game consist of a couple of minigames "merged" together, it has nothing to do with actual stock market simulation or company management simulation, which is a shame because it kinda looks like.

Also the game should have been finished like ~2 years ago, but it is nowhere near completion, and the devs are making 1 update each year.

Dont waste your money on this game.

The game is very unique and fun. Update progress is slow however.

Addictive, very good mechanisms for economics and politics. Can't wait for the next updates, although that being on the slow side.
 

Police Chief keeps trying to blackmail me for massive sums of money I simply cant pay. Example is I have $120K in cash and stock combined but the police chief hits me with a $900K blackmail demand. Seems the balance there is massively broken. Makes it hard for me to actually enjoy the game being it takes a whole year or more to climb out of that debt just to fall even deeper into it when it happens again. Needs work, not enjoyable in this state. That being said I do enjoy this game and would love to see it work right.

This is a very fun game. Even though at the time of this playing it's still in early access status. I've been playing it in the sandbox mode with the goal of obtaining money wealth. It took a while to figure out how to play this game, but as I explored my different options available to me in the game I learned more and more about how to play and what to do.

Addictive, very good mechanisms for economics. Can't wait for the next updates.

Recommended if you are interested in the stock market and video games. It greatly fills the niche I was looking for in those overlapping interests... hopefully, the developers have more plans for the game. I really wish I could found my own business from the start instead of having to generate enough ownership in shares to takeover an existing one.

Good game but kinda gets boring after few hours...

Pretty good economic / political simulation.

Brilliant game

I Loove this game <33

Mr Krabs Sim

Not worth whatever it costs now. Crashes a lot. To help speed up production of the game they should lower the price or make it free and get more critical feedback

A smart, highly educative business game that tells you in an engaging way how we got to where we are as a western society. Nothing personal, just the wish to HAVE MORE money and power. That's how. It's in our nature. It's also in our nature not to stop even when we understand we have to. But we can't. So it's up to the Nature to balance and regulate us, cuz we can't do it ourselves, we're too weak against our hormones that dictate MORE, MORE, MORE.

In the game industry that's hopelessly stuck in endless production of dumb shooters, this is one of the most important and entertaining games on the market. I pray the developers will add everything they promise, it's going to be well worth the money.

Highly recommended!

A great game

Not enough content to justify the price, development is also pretty slow.

very good game.

Great game, and very satisfying. I'm looking forward to more in the future, and I will definitely come back for more updates or even DLCs.

Confusing, hard to grasp, not enough depth, these are just some of the ways id describe plutocracy.

Don't buy for 25.
Could be worthy in about 25 years of development at this rate.

I can see where they wanted to go with the game, but honestly it falls short by an outrageously long distance.
The idea can be improved on by another dev company and go a slightly different trajectory and hit mass market attention during an upcoming election cycle, I just don't see these guys pulling it off. It's been 5 years and its still falling this short I mean, operation implausible.

Expand on business control, Expand on depth, Expand on amount of businesses, Introduce making your own companies without needing to spend millions.

I wanted to like this game. I'll continue to try and find ways to find entertainment/enjoyment from it since I'm now stuck with it after the 2 hour mark.

Might have been fun if i gave myself endless cash & clout. (influence)

Capitalism lab mixed with this genre of game idea might be a cool mashup.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you guys can pull through devs. Good luck