So over the past couple of days, I have been playing many hours of The Political Machine 2024 Pre-Release Playtest. As I am writing this the game is on version 0.82 at the moment. Here are my thoughts for the game.

For starters, I want to talk about one of my favorite additions to the game, the primaries and getting to compete against your fellow party members to win the presidential nomination! I believe that it adds a lot to the overall experience of the game, and I think that it shows a great amount of potential. I do, however wish and hope that the game connects the experience of the primaries with the generals by allowing you to continue to the Presidential Election after you win the primaries. 

I also must say that while I have gotten used to the UI of the game, I do still prefer the eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing fonts and general look of The Political Machine 2020.  

Along with aesthetic feedback, however, I also believe that there needs to be more added to the game. I do not know what Stardock has in store for us in terms of future additions to the game, but I feel that if this game had more events, a wider spectrum of policies, more issues in each state (as I have noticed that issues in each state are quite predictable and not really switch up with different playthroughs.)

I also feel like there needs to be more thought put into your campaign. For example, I think that there should be social media added like Twitter that gives you the opportunity to raise awareness to your cause by making statements, videos, replying to haters, opening up fundraisers, etc. We live in the year 2024, creating advertisements like billboards and newspaper headlines are not nearly as effective as digital advertisements. 

Another thing is that I loved the ideology tree. I really hope that you guys bring it back for this game and expand it even more with different ideologies, regulation on its effects so that it means more in the long run rather than an instant flip on states. I also think that implementing custom ideologies in the game instead of through mods would be an amazing idea, as it gives the user more room for creativity and maximizing their experience. 

Also, one thing that I have noticed while playing the game is that the statistics of the states are severely out of date. For example, in the game, it says that Arizona has a population of 3.63 million individuals, when in fact, Arizona has a population of 7.276 million. 

And finally, my biggest critique of the game, an addition that I beg the team at Stardock to implement; Be The President. 

Make a major part of the on hands gameplay center around being president after you win the party nomination and presidential nomination. Have the ability to make major changes to the American law, it can be silly and funny, or serious and analytical, as long as you keep the approval ratings high and avoid doing things that can get you in trouble with the law and possibly even get impeached, and then, you can choose to either be president for one term or you can go for a second term (if you win the primaries and general again).

Adding this feature would guarantee this game with the potential of not only largely increasing its fan base, but also being considered as one of the most addictive, fun, indie games that money can buy.  

In conclusion, I am a big fan of The Political Machine as a series. I have been playing these games for almost 10 years, and I want to see the series succeed. With The Political Machine 2024, I think that the additions have been great, and I can see huge potential for the game prior to its official release. I just think that there needs to be more substance to it in order to really peak the Political Machine experience.