The Political Machine 2024 Review (PC)

Andrew Yang is struggling to make people understand how important clean energy initiatives are. I built headquarters for him in all battleground states and we’re even trying to surprise everyone by winning Indiana. The campaign has repeatedly pushed out ads emphasizing how important it is to shift to electricity for cars and reduce emissions.

Fundraising, especially in Democratic strongholds like California and New York, has been great, sustaining all these significant ad buys. But our speeches don’t seem to hit the right notes and Mike Pence, the candidate in this alternate reality where Trump was rejected for his extreme views, is ahead in terms of political capital and is securing endorsements.

He’s also hammering the Yang campaign on border issues and on inflation, subjects that do well with independents. It is never a good idea to significantly shift strategies in the middle of a campaign, but adjustments are required. Michigan and Pennsylvania have become critical, and we’ll expand ground operations there.

The Democratic campaign also needs to go negative, blaming Pence and the GOP for job outsourcing and union busting. The only televised debate is coming, in Ohio, so it’s time to spend a few weeks there, focusing on speeches and significant investment in advertising.

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The Political Machine 2024 is developed and published by Stardock Entertainment. I played on the PC via Steam. The game simulates the presidential elections and the party primaries taking place this year, with players able to take a variety of candidates and try to make them President of the United States of America.

This is a simulation powered by a ton of real-world information but takes some liberties. It’s possible to run for the presidency as Mike Pence or Marianne Williamson, even though the fall election is all about Biden and Trump. Variety is needed but sometimes can limit player immersion. There are also no third-party candidates, even though Robert F. Kennedy is running and securing ballot access.

The primary mode, in which candidates battle three rivals from their own party to secure the nomination, delivers extra chaos but doesn’t fully capture the unique elements of caucuses or delegate distribution. The Political Machine 2024 also allows players to create their own candidate, shaping his ability to interact with voters and the issues that define his candidacy. I managed to make one avowed anarchist the president after a bitter fight with the establishment.

The game is turn-based, with players able to choose the campaign's length before committing. The candidate exists as a bobblehead on the map, able to travel between states while using his stamina to perform actions. It’s important to have a clear idea of how many electoral votes each state can deliver, their fundraising potential, as well as the issues that the electorate focuses on.

A candidate can plop down a HQ in any state, with upgrades that will enhance certain aspects of his campaign. Build them early and settle on a general strategy before enhancing them. Speeches are significant undertakings, allowing candidates to address the biggest issues in each state and to try and define their opponents in negative terms.

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Ad buys are basically speeches with long-term effects and a weakness of The Political Machine 2024 is that it doesn’t offer more options to tailor them to audiences and situations. Candidates will also have to raise money, another way to spend stamina. Plan to spend the end of the week in one of the states with high elector counts. When the energy expenditure isn’t high, chase down random events, especially if they appear in friendly states.

Depending on the ideology of the chosen candidate, players get a range of cards powered by their candidate’s political capital. They can shut down opposition efforts, boost certain issues, boost fundraising efficiency, bring down certain costs, and more. The mechanic is decent, but it needed more out-of-left-field cards for candidates who have positions that core Democrats and Republicans are unwilling to support.

Debates are another weakness for The Political Machine 2024. The two candidates get to define their positions by answering questions. But there’s no interaction between them, no accusations and counterpunches, and it’s easier to influence more states with a well-chosen endorsement card or by investing a ton of money in ads.

The game also allows players to watch two computer-controlled candidates run their campaigns, which isn’t much fun, and features multiplayer. Simulating the known Trump versus Biden match-up, and testing out strategies and approaches, is how most players will engage with The Political Machine 2024. But I had more fun when pitting Yang against Crenshaw in a long campaign with three debates or by creating custom candidates with fringe ideas and finding the strategies that can lead them to victory.

The Political Machine 2024 continues to use the slightly cartoonish, bobblehead-defined look of the series. It’s a little weird because it makes a very serious political contest with massive consequences feel cute. But the re-designed interface gives players all the details they need to make solid campaign choices and style choices become comfortable after a while. The debates look bad but it’s easy to only schedule one for each campaign.

The sound design is less interesting. The soundtrack is bland, which might be a commentary on the atrocious musical choices most candidates make. Replace it with a good political podcast if needed. There are plenty of sound effects, but they tend to become annoying pretty quickly, especially the one associated with planes crisscrossing the country.

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The Good

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