Plutocracy

About

"Plutocracy" is a strategy game that simulates the rise of the first US billionaires during the "Golden Era." Players start with nothing and work their way up to become powerful financial leaders, buying out companies, dominating markets, and influencing politics. The game offers automatic management options for large-scale processes, as well as stunning visuals, but it has some performance issues such as grinding, poor optimization, and bugs.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

+16

79%

Audience ScoreBased on 721 reviews

gameplay16 positive mentions

optimization10 negative mentions

The game has a unique concept that combines economics, politics, and business management, providing a fresh take on the genre.
The art style and music are well-designed, creating an engaging atmosphere for players.
The developers are actively working on updates and improvements, showing commitment to enhancing the game experience.

The game is still in early access with many features locked or incomplete, leading to a lack of content and repetitive gameplay.
There are frequent crashes and performance issues, particularly when loading saves or during gameplay, which can be frustrating.
The user interface is clunky and not intuitive, making it difficult for new players to navigate and understand the mechanics.

gameplay
89 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
73%
9%
The gameplay of the game is noted for its potential and innovative mechanics, particularly in corporate management, but it currently suffers from repetitiveness and a lack of depth in late-game scenarios. Players appreciate the complexity and realism of the mechanics, though many features are still in development, leading to a somewhat bare-bones experience. Overall, while the game shows promise and is regularly updated, it requires further refinement and additional content to fully realize its potential.
- “The game is great and seeks to implement real corporate world mechanics; there's nothing like this game in the market yet.”
- “The mechanics behind this game are very well thought out, and once you get majority ownership of your first company, the game takes off.”
- “Even in early access, the gameplay can catch for plenty of time, and with music and illustrations that perfectly accompany the main mood of the game, you can feel what it is to be a genuine entrepreneur.”
- “One other thing I wanted to call out specifically is how useless the agents are; none of them feel critical to the gameplay. Same with ambitions; you can do everything without touching these features a single time and save yourself the trouble of clicking through 20 screens.”
- “The game suffers immensely from a failure to scale the mechanics into the late game and offer the player tools to automate or bypass mechanics.”
- “The gameplay is shallow and annoying.”
graphics
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
48%
7%
Overall, the graphics of the game are praised for their stunning artwork and charming art style, which many players find immersive and appealing. However, there are notable concerns regarding optimization, with reports of lag and performance issues, particularly in the user interface. While the visuals are generally well-received, players hope for improvements in graphical performance and responsiveness in future updates.
- “The art style for the game is really pretty, and it gives it a chill business vibe.”
- “Gorgeous graphics & sound and love the historical comments on the quarter end screen.”
- “The art style is also unique and very pleasing.”
- “Please optimize the game graphics.”
- “This game has a little bit of lag; I hope there will be an update for lower graphic settings.”
- “The UI is a little clunky and the optimization is a bit slow, and I find myself lagging often even though the game is graphically and mechanically minimalist.”
optimization
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
54%
36%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues, including lag, crashes, and memory leaks, especially as gameplay progresses. Many users express hope for future updates to address these problems, but currently, the game feels poorly optimized, even on high-end systems. Overall, while the game has potential, its current state hampers the experience due to these optimization shortcomings.
- “I like Plutocracy, a very fun game, but it can use some performance improvement, and they have to do something about the constant company popups when you start to own more than 5 companies.”
- “Very fun game, only negative aspect for me is some performance issues, but looking forward to future updates and would recommend!”
- “I look forward to revisiting my review in the future when more content is dropped and performance issues are fixed.”
- “There are still some serious game optimization issues and the game regularly gets slow and eventually unplayable the further you get into a game.”
- “The performance is also very poor, as the game progresses the lags become more severe to the point your game starts crashing regularly. I'm on a rig that's an RTX 3070 Ti, i9 10850K with 32GB of 3600MHz memory, so it's definitely nothing to do with the specs.”
- “Very poorly optimized.”
grinding
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
85%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of time to progress. Many reviews highlight that the early game is particularly grindy, with repetitive tasks and a lack of meaningful rewards, leading to frustration and a sense of monotony. While some players appreciate the challenge, the overall sentiment leans towards the grinding mechanics being overly burdensome and in need of improvement.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The game is playable in its current form, but be aware that the first phase is very grindy.”
- “It is tedious, overly 'clicky', and provides too little feedback from the game.”
story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized, with many users noting the absence of a traditional narrative or campaign mode. While some appreciate the backstory and find the sandbox mode enjoyable, others express a desire for a more developed story, suggesting that the current offerings feel incomplete or lacking depth. Overall, the consensus is that the game could benefit from a more fleshed-out narrative, but it remains fun without a heavy plot.
- “The sandbox mode is very fun and I can't wait for the story mode.”
- “It sets enough of a back story, and like many before them, it is fine without a Hollywood plot and loads of fun.”
- “The idea and storyline are good, but the game itself isn't.”
- “The game does not need a single player story, nor does it require campaigns or scenarios.”
- “2/9/22 a quick update to my review is the game has received a few updates that flesh it out more and makes the game run longer but the devs are currently working on story scenarios which I think the game should be more fleshed out rather than adding a one-time story mode.”
- “I mean...in this early access version (which by the way the game doesn't need) there isn't even a multiplayer mode or story/campaign mode.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
31%
23%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the original soundtrack for enhancing the overall atmosphere and aligning with the game's theme, others find it repetitive and suggest it could benefit from more variety. Overall, the music is seen as a solid complement to the game's art and mechanics, but there are calls for improvements to keep it engaging throughout gameplay.
- “Was tricky at first but with the amazing OST playing in the background and the tutorial, it was easy to get the hang of things.”
- “Plutocracy is a game with an interesting concept, awesome art, and good music.”
- “Even in early access, the gameplay can captivate for a long time, and with music and illustrations that perfectly accompany the main mood of the game, you can feel what it is to be a genuine entrepreneur.”
- “The art, music, general game concept and design is quite good, but the technical aspects seem to let down the game.”
- “I'm not a fan of the in-game music; it got boring fast.”
- “The music fits for the time frame, and they got the gist of the idea for a game like this correct.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and freezes, particularly during late-game scenarios when processing demands increase. While some players find the core gameplay enjoyable and note ongoing developer support, many aspects remain unoptimized and buggy, hindering overall playability. Despite these issues, there is hope for improvement as developers continue to work on the game.
- “My big gripe with it is though the game struggles to process late game once you're a billionaire and have a ton of companies. It struggles to process the info, constantly freezes, and just stalls. It can't fast forward through time, making it unplayable, which really sucks because once you've got the big stick, that's when the fun really should begin.”
- “Very badly optimized with crashes and freezes all the time.”
- “There are also a lot of bugs, particularly freezes, crashes, and the maddening one where the game is apparently still running, but the video has frozen.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the numerous features and challenges that encourage multiple playthroughs, others criticize its repetitive gameplay mechanics that lead to a lack of variety in strategies. Many feel that the core gameplay loop remains unchanged, which diminishes long-term engagement. As it is still in early access, there are hopes for future updates to enhance replay value.
- “I got about 284.9 hours on this game. Not sure how accurate it is to stocks and trading, but it's full and has lots of replay value, and you can challenge yourself in multiple ways.”
- “There are many different features and facets of gameplay which seem to make this game a replayable experience.”
- “Hopefully the developers bring in more playable challenges.”
- “This is one of those games which is really good, but doesn't have much in the way of replayability.”
- “The lack of replayability comes from the fact that the way to play the game successfully is always the same: buy stocks in a company, take the company over, save up the company reserves, expand the company, save up your own money, take over the competitors and boom you are at the top.”
- “Tldr: awesome game, horrible replayability”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate a lack of emotional engagement with the game's agents and ambitions, as players feel they are not integral to the gameplay experience. However, some users express a renewed appreciation for the game after recent improvements, suggesting a potential for emotional connection through enhanced gameplay elements.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for feeling overly aggressive and reminiscent of intrusive pop-up ads, detracting from the overall experience.
- “It's like someone took their inspiration for this game from pop-up ads.”
- “The monetization model feels more like a cash grab than a fair system.”
- “I can't enjoy the game when every few minutes I'm bombarded with offers to spend more money.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users feel that the humor in the game's negotiation system has diminished compared to previous iterations, suggesting that the current approach lacks the comedic elements that made it enjoyable.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is praised for its nostalgic charm, appealing to players who appreciate the era it represents. While the gameplay is solid yet limited, the overall experience is enjoyable for those willing to overlook early access imperfections as the game evolves.
- “Recommended for those who don't mind the hiccups of an early access game, like the era's atmosphere, and enjoy its solid but limited gameplay while the game unlocks its full potential.”