izigame.me

Never thought I'd have to ever write a review for a DLC, but here I am. DLC has long since lost it's original meaning to overtake microtransactions or content paywalled off from the main game for further profit from the publishers.
This, however is different. Just from the get-go this reminds me of the original way DLC was handled, think of the old expansions from the 90's or 00's. It's the same game but with a bunch more added content. This specifically is giving me The lost and damned vibes from GTA IV. Massive tonal shifts from the original game with brand new mechanics and a lot of content to unravel.
And that's not even going into the DLC itself. While I do agree that the writing sometimes feels off, or that there could be a lot more that can be better clarified (more so in my case that I'm playing on the Steam Deck, whole diffferent issue), the writing has changed drastically to be a lot more intense. Even if the writing is a bit off in some places it feels like the first suzerain, the one before the 2.0 patch.
What I mean by it being more intesnse is simple. The stakes are extremely higher, Nothing is as clear as you expect it to be. The Sordland playthrough had clear enemies and clear allies. Here? Half of the time you're stabbing in the dark.
And of course, old, horrible people who you had to deal with in the Sordland playthrough will force your hand multiple ways. People who were enemies or friends will not be the same here, since we're a different country with very different needs and wants.
I've just finished a playthrough and I didn't get to test the war mechanics but I do believe that the decrees mechanics are horrible. They sound good in principle but they're very taxing on your first playthrough. For example, using up all your points at the start of a turn will leave you with no points to spend in events. It took me a couple of chapters to realize that.
Mechanically there's a bunch of hit and misses here, but the plot and the great story will be there no matter what. Which is, in the end, what we come for. The true fun comes from replaying this game however seeing how you can optimize runs and whatnot, but I'm happy to have gotten to the end, even if it was a bad one.
Now, on to specific grievances I took with the DLC:
- The previously mentioned issue where decrees lock you out of important decisions
- Late-game unpredictability. There were a bunch of events which I believe either didn't trigger or triggered before they were meant to happen. I found out about the outcome of a decision before it had even happened because of a local event triggering before the main event. The ending I got, while I believe completely plausible, was certainly extremely out of left field considering I'd garnered most if not all of the support I thought was needed.
- The lack of flavor events in each city. The Sordland playthroughs tell you a lot through events how to measure up your populace and what's going on. That's sorely missing here. Missing the economic upwards or downwards bar is not good either.
- The lack of SOMETHING telling you which year it is. Since the game skips around a bit, you can easily lose track of time. Which can be annoying if you want to play with hindsight from the Sordland run.
- The Military tabs I just ignored. I realized I was not going to be invading anyone early on beacuse they were very difficult to understand. I think the combination of decrees and army tabs can use a bunch more work or a whole new system can be implemented. More on this later.
That's most of the big issues I have here, but do not let that distract you from the fact that this is a massive DLC, one that reminds me a lot of vanilla Suzerain and lets me rack my brain a lot for answers or possible outcomes.
The biggest issue I have is that I think maybe the DLC tries to paradox-ize the game a bit too much. Manpower, 3 types of mana as well as the militarized mana, it's too much and too little at the same time. If you don't pay attention to the army stuff you'll be overpowered by every nation but if you pay attention to it you can't do anything else. The 3 types of mana restrict playthroughs considerably and I'm not sure it's for the better.
I've had multiple choices where the outcome was probably the same if I'd chosen different things, while I also had the feeling that having to micromanage if I sell or buy energy or something else, while considering different things I had to do with my limited authority... it just detracts from the overall experience.
While I understand that the focus here wasn't to limit players, making constructions take an X amount of turns while turns beginnings and endings are guesswork at best is not a system I really enjoy playing with, on the other hand the system that was used for the Railway/Highway on Sordland was much more enjoyable. This mechanic of getting to choose to pass decrees also takes away agency in the most obtuse of manners. In Sordland everything got ran by you, meaning you get to choose what goes and what doesn't but they ask you. Here you have to investigate and study the effects of each thing and you're just left with a yes no maybe on each member of the cabinet.
All of this, however, I mean in the highest of praises to the developers. I consider Suzerain to be one of the greatest games the west has developed both in social commentary and policy simulator as well as the 'visual novel' genre. Very few games have the audacity to test your belief system this way, few games make you regret your choices or stun you for half an hour considering what to do. I consider this game the greatest in that regard. Most videogames where choices matter either present you with obvious yes/no questions or make characters take stupid decisions that force you to sacrifice someone for whatever reason. Suzerain is not that kind of game.
This DLC just improves on all that makes the original game great but misses on a few innovative aspects, but maybe out of over-eagerness, which I feel is ironic to say since I'm generally the reformer (and have been in all of my runs) but I don't believe that this is anything bad per-se. The DLC and the game itself are great pieces of art which are extremely close to being solid 10s on my books that I feel that if we get another DLC on this we might as well witness one of the finest games (and at this point, novel) of this gaming generation and the last one.
If any of the devs read this, thank you. Maybe I'll get used to the new mechanics in my second playthrough. Here's hoping, but even without them, this DLC is worth every penny.