Secret Government
- April 15, 2021
- GameTrek
- 5h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on Epic Games StoreIn "Secret Government," you lead the Brotherhood, a secret society manipulating world powers to create a new world order. As a grand master, choose your desired world image and infiltrate countries by recruiting public servants and influencing institutions. Use agents to manipulate one or multiple countries, shaping global events to your advantage.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game has a unique and promising concept centered around secret societies and manipulation of governments.
- There are complex mechanics and interrelated systems that can provide a deep and engaging experience for players who enjoy strategy games.
- Some players find the game fun and addictive, with potential for significant replay value as they explore different strategies.
- The game is plagued with bugs and performance issues, making it unplayable for many users.
- The tutorial is lacking and does not adequately guide players, leading to confusion and frustration.
- The game has been abandoned by the developers, leaving it in an unfinished state with many unresolved issues.
- gameplay82 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by its complex mechanics and interesting concepts, allowing players to manipulate various aspects of a nation through a shadowy organization. However, many users report issues with stability, including frequent crashes, a lack of clear guidance, and a poorly designed UI, which detracts from the overall experience. While the core gameplay loop is engaging, it can become repetitive without meaningful progression or effective enemy mechanics, leaving players wanting more depth and polish.
“The core gameplay mechanics are very interesting in that you don't play any nation directly, but rather a shadowy organization that goes around recruiting government officials to subtly influence the AI's decision-making through military, economic, diplomatic, and social policies.”
“It doesn’t lack in depth; there are a lot of mechanics and little nuances that are fun and interesting.”
“The basic gameplay loop is fun and compelling; the UI isn't amazing but does what it has to, and the subject matter of the game and the gameplay work well together.”
“I picked it back up today (Nov 2, 2021) hoping it would be more stable, and was sadly disappointed with yet another crash after less than an hour of gameplay.”
“There is no tutorial to speak of; after you figure out how to play the game, it gets stale due to the gameplay just being taking over the world one nation at a time.”
“Gameplay is a bit choppy and I think it could be smoothed out. You feel like you are watching a slideshow as days go by; the UI is manageable but scattered.”
- story30 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's story offers a sandbox experience where players can manipulate global events and create their own narratives, leading to chaotic and entertaining scenarios. However, many players find the quests to be poorly designed and lacking in meaningful progression, often encountering bugs and inconsistencies that detract from the overall experience. While the potential for engaging storylines exists, significant improvements are needed to enhance character development and quest coherence.
“This is a wonderful game for those that love to plot and scheme.”
“You carefully and slowly plot and expand your influence - they come in with a) one bad-guy brother with a secrecy so high you can do nothing except watch him assassinate and capture your entire organization in a few turns or b) you find yourself surrounded by an entire army of bad-guy brothers who proceed to dismantle your entire organization before you can even capture/assassinate one of theirs.”
“Overall this has great potential (also to disappoint) but it will also need a lot of work to implement interesting storylines, especially if players start changing the actual outcomes of historical events.”
“At that point, I just gave up on completing the narrative storyline and just messed around for a while.”
“Lack of meaningful progression: for the first part, there seem to be very few quests and those that exist seem to be highly specific such that you'd have to go far out of your way to complete them.”
“Storylines need to be fleshed out (early access, I know).”
- stability23 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its significant stability issues, with numerous players reporting game-breaking bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay. While some acknowledge the expectations of an early access title, the consensus is that the game is currently too unstable and unfinished to be enjoyable, despite its potential. Overall, many users find it a frustrating experience due to its lack of polish and frequent crashes.
“This game has a lot of potential, but it is literally too buggy to play right now.”
“It's a great concept and it has a lot of promise, but the game is incredibly game-breakingly buggy and there are some very obvious gaps where development just never caught up to what was planned.”
“Even within an hour and a half, I encountered multiple game-breaking glitches and bugs.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 6 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are not demanding, leading to confusion over the need for a high-end NVIDIA graphics card for a simple text-based strategy experience. While the aesthetics may evoke comparisons to titles like Europa Universalis, the game suffers from poor optimization and lacks the visual polish typically expected in modern games. Overall, players should not anticipate impressive graphics, as the focus is primarily on strategy rather than visual appeal.
“Though its aesthetics remind one of the Europa Universalis games, if you lack the patience to tackle your goals in a subtle, clandestine way, you will suffer.”
“My relatively modest rig can play far more demanding strategy games at equivalent graphics settings without any hitching or significant drop in frame rate.”
“This is not a graphically demanding game.”
“The game's also pretty poorly optimized... but it's not very graphically intense.”
- optimization16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting significant performance issues such as stuttering and lag during cutscenes, even in the stable build. Many reviewers emphasize that substantial optimization work is needed to improve the overall experience, despite the game not being graphically demanding. Overall, players recommend prioritizing optimization to enhance gameplay.
“I'd recommend to set optimization as your first priority.”
“A lot of optimization has to be done to enjoy clicking here.”
“The game still needs optimization.”
“Another problem that I've run into, again with the beginning tutorial, is with the actual opening cutscene stuttering, lagging, and simply not properly loading.”
“The game's also pretty poorly optimized... but it's not very graphically intense.”
“If one thinks this is for the beta build - which has the better UI and nice concepts - no, this performance is bad for the stable build as well.”
- music12 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its fitting thematic elements, enhancing the experience of playing as a shadowy influence in a world of intrigue and control. Reviewers highlight the art direction and music as standout features, with the soundtrack effectively complementing the game's scheming and dastardly undertones. Overall, the music contributes significantly to the game's atmosphere and narrative depth.
“The art direction and the music are the strongest points of this game, in my opinion.”
“The music is quite good and fits the theme of the game. The entire premise of being a shadow brotherhood that tries to influence and control the whole world is genius, and I'm not sure why I haven't seen games like this come out yet.”
“The music is on point for the scheming and dastardliness that is going on in the game.”
“Every time I found an enemy agent, I would have to do the same song and dance: kidnap, expose, expose, interrogate, interrogate, interrogate, execute.”
“Sometimes the music happens to help with the 'if it weren’t for me, this nation's economy would have collapsed, but alas, they will never know how much I sacrificed' complex.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Players highlight the game's high replayability due to its extensive strategic options and tactical depth, which can initially feel overwhelming but ultimately enhance the experience. However, some users feel that the base content may not justify its price, suggesting that while replay value exists, it may not be fully realized without additional content.
“The sheer amount of strategy and tactics that can be played out to achieve your desired end goals can seem overwhelming at first, but in my opinion, that simply adds to the potential replay value of this game!”
“The things already in place are playable but barely worth the 5 bucks I paid in a sale.”
“The sheer amount of strategy and tactics that can be played out to achieve your desired end goals can seem overwhelming at first, but in my opinion, that simply just adds to the potential replay value of this game!”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be largely tedious and often frustrating, with the resource-gathering process described as a significant drawback.
“The process of gaining resources is tedious at the best of times and annoying at the worst.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game is generally viewed positively, with users noting that it does not come across as a cynical cash grab.
