We. The Revolution (Review)
By Rae
To be honest, We. The Revolution isn’t quite my usual style of game. It’s a lot more strategy than I’m used to, with a heavy focus on micromanaging your reputation and other small details. In fact, We. The Revolution has a lot of moving parts and pieces to it – so many that I lost track a little bit through the tutorial and just kind of winged it as I played.
We. The Revolution puts the player in the place of a Revolutionarytribunal judge in France. An alcoholic and gambler, you begin with rumors andyour family relations stacked against you. It will be your job to manage handlingrumors, your position, and your family.
The majority of your gameplay at first will take place inthe courtroom. Each case is given to you with fairly little evidence. Sometimesthe testimonies are damning. Sometimes they’re rather nebulous. To complicatethings, you have to be able to ask the right questions – and you only get somany chances to figure out what those questions should be. At the beginning ofeach trial, you’ll be given a number of topics, and tasked with connectingthose to the case. What’s the potential motive? Who was the accuser? Sometimesit’s easy enough to figure out when something is part of the timeline of eventsor who the accusation came from. Other times it’s surprisingly difficult tofigure out why something matters. Once you’re out of chances, that’s it.You’re stuck with the questions that you’ve unlocked, and you’ll have to baseyour report and verdict off the answers to those. Your verdict will reflectback on you in the eyes of the common folk and the revolutionaries.
After each trial, you’ll have a choice of how to spend yourevening. Will you prepare for trial? Spend time with your children? Your wifenever seems to be pleased with you no matter what you do – will your familyfall apart? Meanwhile, the increasing bloodshed and violence of the revolutionis shown in short cutscenes between acts.
As the game moves on, you get even more pieces to keep trackof – extend your influence throughout Paris, while keeping your family safe andyourself in their good graces.
It’s a fascinating perspective, that lets you experiencehistory through a man who is somewhat on the sidelines, but deeply involved in therevolution. The game gives hints as to what commoners and revolutionariesexpect for a verdict, and you’re able to get a small glimpse into what thefallout might look like. Quite often though I was surprised to see how mychoices reflected on me, and the tension I accidentally created. More than onceI found myself choosing a verdict based on what I thought my image required – arather disturbing realization, to be honest. For this, I really appreciated theposition We. The Revolution put me in – it was both depressing and fascinatingat times. It was also frightening – I go into games blind, so I had no idea ifI was moving myself toward simply embarrassment, or an early death.
At times I did feel like things were moving a little slowly,but I think that was less a fault with the game and more that I’m not thegeneral audience. Overall, I think that strategy game lovers will enjoy thisone – the historical background is exciting, engaging, and puts players in theinteresting position of making judgement calls, instead of having an outrightright or wrong answer. For someone who likes managing stats and options, there’sa lot to do and the revolving door of choices, events, and cases keeps thingsfrom getting boring.
Additionally, We. The Revolution boasts a surprising artstyle, almost reminiscent of stained glass. It’s fun to look at, and providessome amazing visuals (blood on the guillotine was surprisingly one of myfavourite images). It also boasts some excellent voice acting in cutscenes,though I wish there were more music or background noise – at the beginning I actuallydouble-checked that I didn’t have things turned down or muted.
If you like political intrigue and very little hand-holdingin your games, We. The Revolution might be a great choice for you. It’s high onstrategy and you’ll have the chance to make some true organic decisions. It’sworth it for that first time you have to ask yourself – do you behead someoneyou think is innocent, only because if you don’t, the people will turn againstyou? You can pick up this historical adventure for PC, PS4, or Xbox1.