Democracy 3: Clones and Drones DLC Review

Positech Games’ Democracy 3 is a game that we’ve looked at twice in the past, first with the base game and Social Engineering DLC review, then with our Democracy 3 Extremism Review. Today, we’re taking a look at Democracy 3’s third DLC, Clones and Drones.

Clones and Drones, much like the previous 2 DLC packs, adds a number of new policies, dilemmas, situations, and world events to the already content-packed game. Where the previous DLCs tended to fill out the game’s policies in a way that better balanced the game and added things that were sorely missing, Clones and Drones takes a much more ambitious approach by focusing on technological and futuristic situations.

Rather than simply playing through a modern times political simulation, players now have the opportunity to advance their societies using technological advancements that may or may not be far off in our real future. Policies such as “One Child Policy” and “Electric Cars Initiative” make perfect sense, and help further round out the game. But it’s in policies like “Human Cloning Research Grants” and “Anti-Gravity Research Grants” that Clones and Drones really sets itself apart from the previous content we’ve seen.

Following in the path he’s previously set with the game thus far, developer Cliff Harris has filled Clones and Drones with a startlingly realistic look at issues that we face currently. Well researched descriptions accompany each policy to get players up to speed on the challenges behind each decision they make.

Whereas in previous play throughs of the game, players might aim just to make certain political demographics happy, players now have the added stress of injecting human clones and robots into the delicate societal mix. Will the populace embrace their robotic overlords, or will the luddites revolt and try to assassinate you?

Despite many of the policies being out of our technological reach for the time being, nothing about Clones and Drones feels all that impossible. In fact, many policies like “Antibiotics Ban” and “Synthetic Meat Research Grants” address real problems and technologies that are firmly set in science fact, rather than science fiction.

The forwarding thinking nature of our future’s issues presented in Clones and Drones makes the experience unlike any other modern political simulation that comes to mind. Whereas the previous Extremism and Social Engineering DLCs focused on civil or extremist political issues, Clones and Drones offers players a fascinating look at many of the potential challenges that we’ll face in the coming decades as technological advancements render some of us almost completely obsolete. Fans of science fiction, or really just scientific technologies in general, will really enjoy the new gameplay opportunities that Clones and Drones introduces.

Democracy 3: Clones and Drones DLC

Summary: Clones and Drones offers a scarily realistic look at problems that very well could affect our society in the near future. Consider this a must-have addition to an already must-have game.