Tropico is a series that I personally was a real latecomer to. As a matter of fact, had Tropico 5 not been given away with PlayStation Plus, I still might be ignorant of the series! Anyway, Tropico 6 was certainly a game that I was not going to miss out on and rather than reinventing the wheel. Tropico 6 is looking to make things bigger and better, but also feel very familiar.
How to Download Tropico 6
Tropico 6 can be downloaded from Steam. If you like city builders check out also Elvenar, Cities: Skylines or Dawn of Man.
The Game Review
The basic idea of Tropico 6 is what it has always been. You are the El Presidente and you are tasked with taking your tropical paradise from the colonial days to the modern day. At first glance, the whole idea of the game does not sound that different, but that is not a bad thing. Tropico 6 features tons of missions for you to do and a narrative that is also quite fun.
The fact that this is a series that is set on a tropical island has often made the series feel a little claustrophobic. The new team behind Tropico 6 though has found a clever way around this and that is with smaller islands. These smaller islands let you expand and while it may not sound like much, these smaller islands play a huge roll in your civilization moving forward.
The most obvious example of this is that certain islands will have certain resources. For example, one may have some very fine iron and ore and you will need to set up a mining station there. One might be rich in wood and there you can set up a logging station. It sounds very straightforward stuff, but there is a lot of strategy at play.
What causes you to think is the way that your people will work. They are “on the clock” and will only work when they are being paid to do so. This means that production can come to a halt at certain times of the day. Or if there is a disaster or something else happens. Also, these islands need to be connected to your main island.
This means building bridges and ports, but then if you do that you of course first of all need to build these things. Then though you need bus services or boat service to transport people. Not to mention you need to create houses and entertainment on these islands for the people that live there! There is a ton going on in Tropico 6, but it never actually feels overwhelming. It can on occasions make you wonder how you will cope, but working through this is part of the fun.
Of course, as this is a Tropico game, dealing with other nations is something you have to work on. This is something I actually had a great time with, from working out trades to straight up raiding them for national landmarks! Dealing with other nations was always something that I looked forward to doing… even if I did abuse my power just a wee bit!
As I write this there are 15 story missions for you to have fun with. These are quite varied and they do add a fun narrative to what you are doing. Also, there is a really awesome sandbox mode and this can be a ton of fun and really let you flex those creative muscles. Tropico 6 is certainly a game that is going to keep you very busy!
It is more than fair to say that Tropico 6 improves on everything that Tropico 5 offered. There is a ton of stuff going on here and because of that the way I played it could be drastically different to the way you did. It is a challenging game, but it is also fun and feels very fair. If you want a strategy game that makes you think, but is not all super serious and without fun, Tropico 6 is for you.
