Lead the clique of influential rebels and destroy the authoritarian empire from within. Make protest actions with the help of puppet oppositionists, bribe the parliament, lead the revolution - do everything to please the overseas patrons!
All Reviews:
Mixed (51) - 45% of the 51 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
Jun 21, 2018
Developer:
Publisher:

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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Early access is a key to understanding what exactly Steam community needs from our game. In most cases, when your suggestions about "what the community reaction would be like" are far from reality, you're losing not only the time you could spent to improve something in the game, but also your team spirit is lost too.
So we think that the early accesses main feature is that we could harvest as many useful reviews and opinions as possible during the process of developing - that's why we choose to release in early access.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We suppose that we'll do all that we planned by the late fall, in 3-5 months.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“What we're planning to do while we would be in early access:
  • All of our agents will be more than just npc's - we'll add some individuality and will make them different personalities with their strengths and weaknesses: agents could develop their abilities and could be arrested or even killed on a mission;
  • Influences's mechanics will be significantly expanded: you will be able to affect specific senators, heads go corporations and others who matters in a world of Shadow Council;
  • Different social groups will have more different political preferences: one region could be conservative and the other - liberal or even utopian libertarianismical.
  • Game's final will be more variable: revolution would bring another world war or even collapse of Empire itself.

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

  • Possibility to undermine stability by holding protests which increase people's discontent of government;
  • 3 social groups that have different reactions on players choises;
  • 15 regions - each has its own features and differences in mentality of local inhabitants;
  • Possibility to affect the process of laws rejection or lobbying such laws that increases or undermines stability, that defines how difficult it will be to reach the final goal;
  • Missions that help you handle with all short-termes of tasks.

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“If the price will change the difference will be insignificant.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We want to harvest all feedback through discussions, reviews and comments and make a conclusions that will help us to improve the game. All of your recommendations and reviews you can leave at Shadow Council's store page or e-mail to us!”
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Notice: Shadow Council: The Puppeteers is no longer available on the Steam store.
 
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About This Game



Well come to Zartaal, world-brother of the Earth from parallel reality. The history of this world developed in the same vein as on the Earth: epochs succeeded each other, states grew and at some point the planet turned into an arena of confrontation between the two superpowers.

One of them is the Kharnat Empire: ancient power with a rich history and a bloated bureaucratic apparatus. It's quite an authoritarian Empire and elements of democracy are present just for show. In fact, the imperial parliament is a toy in the hands of the imperial house. Despite this, it is militarily powerful empire that has an impressive industrial potential. Nuclear missiles doze in the mines, combat orbital platforms plow heaven and military hackers day and night hone skills that will be useful in the global war in cyberspace (if the motherland gives the command).



The second Superpower is an Alangan Democratic Union, the federation of many republics of the eastern supercontinent. Accustomed to solve differences between themselves through negotiations, trade and intrigue, the Alangans reached non-illusory heights in the art of diplomacy and soft power. And they are more and more worried about the western neighbor. Realizing that the empire can not be defeated militarily the freedom-loving federation accepts the plan to break up its rival from within. For this purpose, the group of influential persons sympathizing with the Alangan Union and wishing to overthrow the tyrannical regime was formed in the empire. You act as the head of this secret cell. Your task is to shake the stability of the empire to provoke a revolution. Your overseas curators regularly send you money which you should rationally spend to achieve your goal.

  • Organize meetings and disrupt the calm in the regions of the country using other ways. Different areas of the empire have differences in culture, mentality and needs of residents, and it is important to take this into account during the execution of certain actions.
  • Affect the senators to push the laws you like which would further destabilize the situation. But the special services of the empire stay vigilant. And the more activity you show the higher the chance that the authorities will find the strings leading to you.
  • Once you feel that it's time for an open rebellion - start a revolution. Depending on the circumstances there is a chance that you will be lucky and the coup will be successful. But the revolution can have negative outcomes: an uprising can be drown in the blood, a coup may lead to a civil war and finally the wrong forces can come to power. However if your real goal is to destroy the empire and not to bring freedom and democracy into it then such an option can be considered a victory.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
    Minimum:
    • OS *: Windows 7(x64)
    • Processor: 2GHz Dual-core CPU
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: 1Gb DirectX 9.0c compatible
    • DirectX: Version 9.0
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
* Starting January 1st, 2024, the Steam Client will only support Windows 10 and later versions.
    Minimum:
    • OS: Mac OS X 10.7
    • Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo or better
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: 512 MB
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
* Starting February 15, 2024, the Steam Client will no longer support 32-bit games or macOS 10.14 or lower.

What Curators Say

4 Curators have reviewed this product. Click here to see them.

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