It is true that being from Louisiana, I have a soft spot for my Empereur. All I’m saying is if you losers had gone along with the French as allies after the Revolution instead of running right back to perfidious Albion, we could be drinking wine and eating lots of butter instead of “Protestant work ethic” and feeling bad about ourselves. I am in a private shitposting group for a troop of Napoleonic re-enactors because I was such a good shitposter in their public shitposting group that they invited me in even though I don’t re-enact. Of course, I gave a hearty VIVE when I had the opportunity to review a game involving a Bonaparte, especially when it turned out to be a French Revolution simulator with some interesting features.
The Paradox-lite mapgame where you fight for control of Revolutionary France, the various factions vying for control, the historical figures like Robespierre and Lafayette whispering in your ear, and stepping into gender-appropriate boots of Cesar or Celine Bonaparte, these all felt spectacular, of course. I am less sure about the giant robots that are involved for some reason and not really explained, but on the other hand, I kind of dig it. “You are basically Napoleon in this alt-history and you are commanding a mech as you storm the Bastille, go nuts.” This was also a very limited demo so I assume it is explained at some point but, you know, maybe it isn’t.
Bonaparte Features Giant Robots in the Revolution
As stated, it’s a very limited demo, but I got the gist: Three factions vie for control of revolutionary France. You’ve got the guys who just want to behead the king and let the streets run red with blood (your 1790s anime profile pic Twitter communists, of course); you’ve got your guys that think the monarchy can be reformed and incrementally improved after the uprising scares the hell out of King Louis; and then you’ve got the Royalists who want nothing more than to shoot cannons at the peasants and keep the King on the throne. The Royalists were unavailable in the demo, so my Bonaparte and his giant robot couldn’t side with them, but I did entertain both the bloodthirsty Jacobins and team Vote Le Bleu No Matter Le Who.
The game loop is roughly the same for each side: It’s turn-based and you spend a lot of time thoughtfully frowning at a France divided up into various provinces and cities, all of which have buildings that do various pretty intuitive things like producing troops or economic things, repairing giant robots, rallying support with the various factions, or the hovels that house the wretched underclass. It’s easy enough to settle into a loop of building up your cities to support the economy, spreading propaganda, rallying troops, and appointing officers in each city to run the place or get troops on board, fighting enemy factions or seizing territory, and commanding your giant robot. There is a very nice Objectives button telling you roughly what you need to be doing.
In a larger sense, it plays a lot like the map phase of a Total War or Civ game: you control a small area and build in it while expanding outward and trying to make friends and beat up areas and expand your control and get your economy and military going. Decisions come in the form of Choose Your Own Adventure-style choices and start right away: You start in the King’s Royal Guard and the game asks, you know, do you care about the king’s safety in these dire times or more about your career? Once the king sends 40,000 troops into the streets, who are you going to side with? Once you pick a side, there’s going into the various politics screens and arguing about politics because, you’re not going to believe this, in a revolution, people may get into arguments about who is more revolutionary. Twitter is real life once again.
The actual battlefield fights are pretty simple but engaging: troops are appropriate to the period, everything from peasants with pikes and hand weapons to the requisite line infantry, cavalry, and artillery (and, let me be clear, giant robots). I even found myself muttering like Napoleon himself as I frowned at my situation. “Murat’s cavalry is getting devastated, but I need him to hold while I bring up the infantry!”
The demo is pretty time-limited right now, eventually, the king tries to escape your benevolent rule and you either manage to catch him or he gets away annnnnd scene…but what’s here is an intriguing little demo of what could be a pretty interesting little war/strategy game based around the French Revolution with some historically questionable giant robots.
Bonaparte: A Mechanized Revolution Early Access starts in Q1 2025.
