Viva La Evolution

A strong and stable return, but can TROPICO 6 earn your vote?

- Phil Savage

Tropico 6 is a great game for people watching. It’s a satirical city builder in which every one of the citizens of your banana republic is simulated. You place a mine. You watch as a construction crew makes their way over to the building site. You watch as the newly constructed mine’s employees start digging for gold or coal or uranium or whatever. And you watch as teamsters come to take the raw materials to a factory for processing.

When it’s all going well, there’s a calming rhythm to the bustle of your island. When it’s not, you find yourself scouring around the map, trying to diagnose problems. Why hasn’t the mine been built? Why haven’t the goods been transported? Why is the processing plant out of raw materials? Why isn’t the shipment at the docks?

The focused simulation means that small inefficiencies can balloon into big problems. That’s why—while there is a sandbox mode with plenty of different islands and options—often the Tropico series is at its best during the campaign missions, where requirements force you to adapt.