Democracy 3

 PC
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 172 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 88 out of 172
  2. Mixed: 56 out of 172
  3. Negative: 28 out of 172

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  1. TrueTrueReview
    Nov 23, 2013
    3
    Ridiculous. I was on the lowest difficulty setting and I got assassinated within a few turns and failed attempts at it all of the time. Its nearly unplayable when I get killed with no way to stop it except going into massive debt to please the damn liberals. It's still worth 5 bucks if you have the time.
  2. Sil4869
    Jan 28, 2014
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When I first picked up this game, I thought of wanting to try out different genres other than my usual picks, like RTS, FPS and RPGs. When I saw the title, I said to myself “Oh, wow. Simulation politics. That’s not something that you can find everyday,” and of course, downloaded it immediately (Steam)
    After an hour into the game, there’s 2 words conclusion I can say here: Never again
    Seriously though, in all honesty, I’ve never been one as a fan of politics. Even so, I’ll try to give the review as unbias as I can. Besides, there are something good in the game.....somewhere. Anyway, here’s the review:
    The good stuffs:
    Educational. Yep, who would’ve thought that games can be educational (...wait, think I heard that somewhere before....oh yeah, it’s in 1996). Basically, you would do as the politicians do when they actually work – governing the countries. You can control the existing policies, make new ones or even cancel it if you want.
    These have various effects towards the people that you look after and true enough, like the reality, you can’t be a total saint by making eveyone happy. There are some events that may or may not be the result of your conducts – like pollutions for example. You raise the car tax (please, if any of you politicians are here, DON’T actually raise the car tax), people will use cars less, less CO emission and the air will be less polluted. Simple cause and effect chains that I find rare in games.
    The bad ones:
    Oh boy, where to start. Right, for one, the game’s lack of graphic innovation. I’m not comparing this game with other types of games, the others would have leave Democracy 3 in the dust in terms of graphic. I’m talking about the comparison with it’s prequels, the 1 and 2 and I actually played both of them briefly to compare. Seriously lack of innovation, and the time difference between D3 and D2 is around 6 years. If the developer added some kind of 3D moving man, showing reaction to the policies, I would’ve call it an improvement but not D3. No point in making a series of a game but each of them more or less the same with each other.
    For me, this game lacks replay value. I only played for an hour and I already uninstalled it. It gets too repetitive, too soon. Even the goal is repetitive, you only play so that you will be elected again for the next term. And for what? For the same repetitive tasks you have to do again? There’s no campaign in there or even mission objective. What’s wrong with having objective like you have to lower down pollutions or increase country’s economic value by the next term? And no, when people said it has a ton of depth, I say it’s only about a kilo. Depth of datas shown in the game doesn’t mean the depth of replay value is the same.
    Well, better make it my last point, running out of words here. Anyway, last and worst, the price. THE.PRICE.IS.BULL.(bleep). For around 200mb size of an appalling game, the developer expected the price of about $25? Are they drunk when pricing this game? I don’t condone to piracy but after this game, I came to understand why people actually pirated a game at all. This sort of attitude done nothing to get people’s support to buy a game legally.
    Well, here you go, my review. Bear in mind that it’s my personal opinion. If we’re of the same mind, good. If not, I don’t care. If you’re gonna troll, you’re a baby. Welp, time for another round of Call of Duty i guess.    … Expand
  3. welle
    Jan 8, 2014
    4
    I like the game concept, but it has some MAJOR flaws:
    -The game is very small and has too few countries, policies and events. It's not in-depth politics, just barely scratching the surface. (This game could be made in Flash in like an hour and played in your web browser) :-/
    -Your prime ministers hate you and quit all the time. -There are like 5 random events and they happen over    I like the game concept, but it has some MAJOR flaws:
    -The game is very small and has too few countries, policies and events. It's not in-depth politics, just barely scratching the surface. (This game could be made in Flash in like an hour and played in your web browser) :-/

    -Your prime ministers hate you and quit all the time.

    -There are like 5 random events and they happen over and over(Gay marriage, adoption etc.)

    -Even if you have maxed out police and spy funding, you still get assasinated swiftly unless all groups of people are happy. Political assasinations in the EU are not THAT common.

    -Lowering taxes rarely makes anyone happy. For instance you may lower petrol tax to 0% and have maxed funding for road building, no bus lanes etc.. but motorists are still unhappy! WTF

    This is not worth 25$, If it's for free, well maybe it will entertain you for 30 minutes..    … Expand
  4. Toffenuff
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    Not recommended for it's current price of $25. And I studied my fair share of political science and consider myself to be above average in terms of political knowledge and interest.

    I found this to be too easy (in terms of being re-elected, which is really the only major goal you're trying to achieve each term). Also not as complex as it first looked (another reviewer mentioned this    Not recommended for it's current price of $25. And I studied my fair share of political science and consider myself to be above average in terms of political knowledge and interest.

    I found this to be too easy (in terms of being re-elected, which is really the only major goal you're trying to achieve each term). Also not as complex as it first looked (another reviewer mentioned this already) since it's actually rather basic once you get down to it.

    Big thing is that there isn't much to do while there are a myriad of policy choices made available, most are extremely negative and will often result in serious consequences so essentially there is a "right" way to play this game. There aren't enough things to do (in my honest opinion) to justify the price point. Sure there are nice graphs and the UI is actually decent given the amount of information thrown at you, but beyond that and implementing/editing/removing a policy every now and again there isn't anything else. Plus while all the displays and the information given are nice, they're fairly obvious and anyone who has gone to college/is going to college will find nothing surprising here in terms of educational value as one reviewer has said it is really a high school level game.

    After every quarter or "turn" there is maybe some random event that occurs or some decision that you have to make, but there really isn't much variety after a little while and the random events are often just that completely random and illogical given the situations (at least in my two playthroughs). Plus once you decide you don't really get a notification or anything about what happened, which would have been nice. I got really bored after maybe 45 minutes (after starting and not finishing two different playthroughs) never playing this again (unless they seriously add a lot more content and make it less of a snoozefest) and I will reiterate: not recommended.    … Expand
  5. kornel
    Feb 12, 2014
    1
    Good for a one-man developer, indie game. But nothing more.

    I studied political science in university and find this game extremely easy to play. Such convenience led to boredom quite fast. On my second play-through, i completely bored. My GDP, Income, technological advantages and so forth, keeps increasing steadily while debt area nonexistent. At first, changing policy and see how it    Good for a one-man developer, indie game. But nothing more.

    I studied political science in university and find this game extremely easy to play. Such convenience led to boredom quite fast. On my second play-through, i completely bored. My GDP, Income, technological advantages and so forth, keeps increasing steadily while debt area nonexistent.

    At first, changing policy and see how it affect the constituent is really playful. Buy after a few minutes I already know how to create my utopian socialist world, where everyone are happy except religious and liberal communities.

    On my second play trough, I was assassinated with explosion from a liberal terror group. Can you imagine that? liberal, terror group?! And what worse is, they attempted to kill me multiple times before, and yet my presidential guard can't do anything about it!

    The conclusion is, this game is good buy should worth only $5.    … Expand
  6. Hambil
    Feb 7, 2014
    3
    This game has clearly confused the concept of liberal with libertarian. The effects policies like ending the war on drugs or public health care have are laughable and might as well have been written by Bill O'Reilly.

    Legalizing drugs raising drug use and crime dramatically, for example. Where is the option to decriminalize it and treat the people using drugs which should reduce drug    This game has clearly confused the concept of liberal with libertarian. The effects policies like ending the war on drugs or public health care have are laughable and might as well have been written by Bill O'Reilly.

    Legalizing drugs raising drug use and crime dramatically, for example. Where is the option to decriminalize it and treat the people using drugs which should reduce drug usage and crime? Why does ending the war on drugs cost me money when instead it should save me a ton of money.

    Unless you don't understand what a liberal is, don't buy this game.    … Expand
  7. msanch
    Feb 14, 2014
    4
    Ok this game isn't that bad. But I feel there is many problems. First, the variety of ministers at the beginning is absurd. I have never seen a government like that in the world. Every decision to convince one will deceive one or more others... Since when is there all type of politics type in ONE government? And second, as soon as one branch of population is unhappy, there is no strike,Ok this game isn't that bad. But I feel there is many problems. First, the variety of ministers at the beginning is absurd. I have never seen a government like that in the world. Every decision to convince one will deceive one or more others... Since when is there all type of politics type in ONE government? And second, as soon as one branch of population is unhappy, there is no strike, they just kill you... This is ridiculous! I like this game but there is so many problems. I bought it on promotion on steam, but I still feel that it was way too much for a game that don't seem finished. I'm disappointed and I feel I shouldn't have bought it.… Expand
  8. Tubey
    Oct 18, 2013
    3
    It pains me to say this, but whilst Democracy 3 clearly expands on its' predecessor in graphically, with a clearer overall UI the biggest edition, the problem is that there's very little else to distinguish it between Democracy 2.

    The exact same issues that afflicted the previous game are present here certain actions seem heavily weighted towards negative reactions no matter what you    It pains me to say this, but whilst Democracy 3 clearly expands on its' predecessor in graphically, with a clearer overall UI the biggest edition, the problem is that there's very little else to distinguish it between Democracy 2.

    The exact same issues that afflicted the previous game are present here certain actions seem heavily weighted towards negative reactions no matter what you do, meaning that despite the myriad of apparent options available to you, there is in reality only one or two actual ways to play the game. Want to be a fascist dictator for a laugh? Tough, as it's next to impossible to do before you're assassinated or whatever. You have to be a "good guy", either stereotypically Democrat or Republican. Anyone hoping for an in-depth political simulation of Tropico here are going to be badly misled.

    The exact same bugs exist too, which is really confusing as you'd think they would have been eradicated. Random crashes plague this title more than any other I can think of, creating a sense of panic every time you press to continue your game as there's every possibility you're about to lose the last 10 minutes of considered gameplay.

    But the biggest disappointment with this title is just how dull it is. There's no diversity, no unexpected events, no real emergency scenarios, no tests of logic and reason. Nothing. You'll play this game an hour and you will have seen everything there is to see. And given that I'm the target audience for this title someone who craves something with more depth than found in the millions of FPS clones that has plagued the last decade it is massively disappointing.

    This is a high-school educational game that has got too big for its boots and is attempting to fleece cash from actual gamers by pretending to be a serious title. Avoid.    … Expand
  9. Vexxer
    Oct 25, 2013
    0
    It bills itself as the most complex political strategy game ever made... maybe.. but it is the most boring one ever made. I tried to play it 3 or 4 times, and each time I turned it off within 20 minutes, there simply is nothing exciting or fun about tediously balancing approval ratings.
  10. dsanders
    Oct 26, 2013
    1
    It's a decent game. But at $25, it's horrible, horrible value. It has only about 3 hours of gameplay. The game has been quite overhyped... cliffski drops ads to this game and other game anywhere he goes, even in the guise of asking for or giving advice. There are even not-so-subtle ads to the other games within this game. It's a blatant grab for money. There's almost nothing that makesIt's a decent game. But at $25, it's horrible, horrible value. It has only about 3 hours of gameplay. The game has been quite overhyped... cliffski drops ads to this game and other game anywhere he goes, even in the guise of asking for or giving advice. There are even not-so-subtle ads to the other games within this game. It's a blatant grab for money. There's almost nothing that makes this feel any better than Democracy 2, so at $25, it's a complete rip-off.

    The mechanics themselves are almost the same as Democracy 2. There are more assassinations. There's little actual complexity, it's still the same old stat-juggling game. I won most games by just ramping up maximizing political, ramping up income tax at the start of the game, increasing things like education, science, school, police funding. No complexity. There will be assassins that try to get you, but assassins come no matter what.    … Expand
  11. Izoeros
    May 10, 2022
    4
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  12. ave
    Feb 11, 2015
    4
    I believe there is an inherent grandeur in politics, weither your are engaged in promoting ideas and values, or a simple citizen making sure the government makes the right choice on important issues, with you vote, your voice or your feet.

    Democracy 3 turns that picture into dull accounting, making the reelection your sole goal, and insidiously validating the fact that it's good to    I believe there is an inherent grandeur in politics, weither your are engaged in promoting ideas and values, or a simple citizen making sure the government makes the right choice on important issues, with you vote, your voice or your feet.

    Democracy 3 turns that picture into dull accounting, making the reelection your sole goal, and insidiously validating the fact that it's good to compromise with you opponents to gain a share of the votes, and take advantage of people's values and commitment to fool them.

    This game does not hide the fact being reelected will be hard and you will suffer. In fact, your eyes bleed at the very moment you see the general view and your policies. No scaffolding or ramp-up here. You don't start locally, lobby for one issue, push a particular law and move your way up to the top House of Cards style ; without the sex and murders. No, you are already in the President's shoes, knee-deep in a maze of interconnected and complex "stuff".

    I understand this is a clear choice from the developers, and even if I formely enjoyed the idea of playing Democracy 3, it was the fastest disappointment I ever had in games.

    Hopefully, real democracy can be experienced in the real world, so you can pass this game without regrets.    … Expand
  13. Titule
    Apr 5, 2014
    3
    It is poorly implemented, it is crashing a lot. Once it does, you can't continue with this saved game because it wlil always char at the same point.
    The gameplay gets boring after some time.
    The price is way too expensive for that,

    I reccomend you don't buy this.
  14. RMDsilva
    Feb 23, 2018
    4
    It's entertaining.. for a bit... but scores low on replayability to be honest.
    Get it for a couple of dollars, if anything, but with pretty much zero international relations, quite a few unrealistic policies and simple gameplay, it's barely better than a web app to score your political standing.
  15. hileger
    Oct 19, 2022
    2
    эксель таблицы которые делали в 2000х типа симулятор алкоголика или бомжа

Awards & Rankings

51
#51 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Digitally Downloaded
    Mar 17, 2014
    70
    At its core, Democracy 3 is a mass of pretty spreadsheets that visualise an intimidating amount of data systems that are all linked to one another.
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  2. IGN Italia
    Mar 9, 2014
    61
    The idea is great, the realization not so. Democracy 3 fails to portray the nuanced inner workings of a democratic government, instead presenting the player with a sort of strategical puzzle that can and must be solved in a clear way.
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  3. Gaming Nexus
    Feb 25, 2014
    88
    The first glance at Democracy 3 can cause an immediate "it's too complicated" reaction, but the well-designed interface enables a fairly quick understanding of how to manage the policies required to create your own personal political utopia. For those that are into this kind of thing, Democracy 3 is a great way to test pet political theories in a (mostly) consequence-free way.
    Read full review
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