Democratic Socialism Simulator is (tragically, regrettably) still as relevant in 2024

Happy Fourth of July, I guess.

Not feeling so patriotic after the one-two punch of the disastrous Trump-Biden debate on June 27 and the Supreme Court turning our presidents into unimpeachable monarchs on July 1? Same, buddy.

On the (very small, dim, fleeting) bright side, it’s a great time to talk about socialism. And it’s always a great time to talk about games, which is why I’m revisiting Molleindustria’s Democratic Socialism Simulator. The turn-based decision-making sim, which was released in February 2020, lets you play out presidential actions as if you were a democratic socialist elected to the office. (Yes, Democratic National Committee, I know you’ll never let that happen. You’ve made that very clear.)

The scenarios are presented by political actors illustrated as animals, like the lobbyist who looks like a shark or the activist who looks like a panther, which helps keep this game from becoming more depressing than it is informative. As you make decisions like whether to forgive student debt and whether to openly support unionization efforts, a slew of metrics and graphs at the bottom of the screen display the impact of your choices.

Defense advisor asks. “Ahem, asking for permission to expand our operations in Yemen.” The option to the left is, “Are we in Yemen?” and the option to the right is, “Of course.”

Your decisions don’t just impact the tangible things like budget, though; you also have to keep eyes on the amount of power you’re providing the populace, how your choices are impacting the environment, and which voters you might alienate with your rhetoric. You have to keep enough seats in Congress to be able to pass decisions, too. In short, if you go full commie, you’ll lose the next election or be overthrown. If you go hard on the free market, the same will happen.

But the aim of the game — to get reelected and complete two full terms of presidency — isn’t necessarily the point of playing. At least not now, four years after the game was released and after months of rolling disappointments from literally every branch of the U.S. government.

I’m thrilled to report that the only parts of Democratic Socialism Simulator that are no longer relevant are things that have actually come to pass. The game’s developers couldn’t have known about the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, when the game was released in February 2020, despite the in-game quip “Who knew America can topple its own government?”

The Simulation Assistant says, “GAME OVER! You have been overthrown. Who knew America can topple its own government?”

The devs also couldn’t have known that President Biden would actually pull out of Afghanistan unceremoniously, or that expanding the Supreme Court would be something liberals are seriously talking about, or that we’d be flirting with recession for most of the last four years, or that we’d really “expand our operations” in Yemen.

It’s ultimately a shame to watch the game walk you through all the infinite options that would better the United States and its people, and lay out why and how they’d be effective, and then click out and go back to a reality where neither political party adequately represents the people.

But I still think this game is a great way to teach people in your life about the merits of democratic socialism. Even as someone who’s relatively well versed in socialist political philosophies, there are scenarios in Democratic Socialism Simulator that I’d never thought of myself, like providing workers the first buying rights on companies that are being dissolved.

On my most recent replay (each playthrough takes anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on how long you take to make choices and how quickly you lose), I proudly made it into a successful second term with plenty of cash and seats in Congress. But I lost focus halfway into my second term — not because I turned 84, but because I had to flip the laundry — and I ended up being overthrown for spending too much money trying to make America as socialized as possible before my presidency ended.

Elections results for the second term of my presidency state, “You have been reelected and you gained seats in Congress.”

The best part of the game is its replayability. Even after running the sim tens of times, I still occasionally see a scenario or character I haven’t before. So if you’re sitting around being depressed about the state of our great nation this Independence Day, maybe consider escaping to a version of it where you can actually effect change and have your voice heard.

The game is free on the App Store and $2.99 on Steam, Itch.io, and Google Play.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated that Biden removed troops from Iraq in 2021. The president withdrew troops from Afghanistan at that time.