The Political Machine 2020 is a government simulation video game wherein you can try to run for President of the United States of America. Developed by Stardock Entertainment, this political strategy game puts you in the shoes of an electoral candidate for the 2020 American presidential election. You can either choose one of the preset characters as your avatar or create your very own and compete against both AI and another player.

Not much has changed

The Political Machine is a government simulation video game series developed by Stardock for both PC and mobile platforms. First released in 2004, this series lets players lead a campaign in the presidential elections of America in order to become President. The gameplay consists of traveling from state to state and engaging in a variety of political activities—either to raise money or raise poll numbers. The preset characters available are almost always real-life people or their fictional equivalent.

The Political Machine 2020 is the fifth installment of the series and features the real-life candidates of 2020, as well as other popular modern politicians and historical figures like the Founding Fathers. You can choose any one of them or create your custom frontrunner using the Candidate Workshop—complete with their customized statistics, ideologies, and appearance. The game also allows you to play as wacky candidates like the Giant Meteor and the Massive Comet.

Competing against your rivals consists of gaining Ideology Points by visiting Town Halls and doing Campaign Events. You need to pay attention to what issue each state cares about. Other than that, you must also do interviews, use advertisements, manage your campaign budget, and be prepared for any sudden events like scandals and natural disasters that will put you in the spotlight. However, when compared to the previous game, there’s nothing really new here.

Just looks a bit better

The Political Machine 2020 is pretty much just a complete rewrite of the original versions of the game—only with improved graphics and a more sophisticated simulation with the polling data and voter reactions. It’s a great starter game for anyone trying out the series for the first time, but for any old fan, it may feel stale after a while. Nevertheless, it’s a good enough installment in this politics simulator game series.