Corrupt – Political Idle City War Strategy Simulator Craft

Genre: Simulation / Idle Game

Players: 1

.

Review:

Corrupt – Political Idle City War Strategy Simulator Craft, released on Nintendo Switch in 2022, is yet another game from publisher/developer Midnight Works that features a word salad title, much as their other game I recently reviewed, Krispain Hero:Roguelite Dungeon Shooter Fire Simulator Counter FPS World. Much as with that title, half of the words in this game’s title are misleading or outright wrong, so let’s go through it all together, shall we?

Corrupt – Yes, this game does deal with corruption, at least in theory. In practice, it’s all really dry, and the corruption in question only takes the form of pressing buttons to “steal” businesses, bribe politicians, and influence voters to overlook your supposedly illicit activities. However, as much of these supposed shady deals are represented by little more than numbers on a page of text, it hardly feels like you’re being especially sleazy here.

Political – Yes, this game is at least nominally “about” politics, though it would be more accurate to say it’s more about investing, and the “politics” really only come into play when trying to improve your profitability.

Idle – Yes, this is technically an Idle game, in that you can just leave it alone and your ill-gotten businesses will earn you an income. However, they will do so very, very, very slowly. Because of this, the game will really only prove entertaining if you treat it less like an Idle Game and more like a trading Simulation, buying low and selling high, investing in profitable businesses, and putting money into laws and such that will improve your profitability.

City War – While the game takes place in a city, there’s no “war” in the game, except in the very very loosest sense of a metaphorical war of money, politics, and influence.

Strategy – No, this isn’t what we typically refer to as a “Strategy” game.

Simulator – Probably the genre that best describes this game. The closest point of comparison to this game would be the classic trading simulations Star Trader and Dope Wars.

Craft – No. No crafting in this game.

In terms of presentation, what’s here is pretty simple and unimpressive – bland, low-poly 3D environments to represent the city, some simple city noises in the background, and no music.

Still, for all my complaints about the presentation and how dry this game is, that’s not necessarily a fatal flaw – those earlier games in this genre that I mentioned were all text-based, so clearly a graphically stunning presentation is not needed here. Unfortunately, the real failure of this game is how completely user-unfriendly it is.

Start with a game that cannot be played in docked mode – you need the touchscreen to play Corrupt, even though there’s no reason this game couldn’t have worked with traditional gamepad controls. Add to this absolutely teenie-tiny text in some areas that is extremely difficult to see on the Nintendo Switch’s screen. And then on top of that, add a tutorial that rushes through the game’s mechanics without giving players a chance to really get acquainted with them.

On top of this, Corrupt is terrible about presenting the player with useful information. Which buildings do you own? You have to click on them all individually to check. Which ones are your residences and which are public residences? Again, you won’t be sure until you click on them. Which buildings do what? You know the drill.

This need to constantly click on everything to see important details extends to elements that pretty much kill the game’s Idle Game elements – you’re not shown on the map which buildings have funds ready to collect. The game also doesn’t really make it clear what your options are for contending with the protesting and rioting your activities will cause – you know that you can pay politicians or newspapers to get some heat off of you, but it’s not directly apparent just how much your efforts in this regard will help you.

On top of this, I have to mention the game’s terrible command of the English language. “Be very careful at people”, “Fortunately, the police is very corrupt”, and “Gouvernment” are a few of the odd things the game presents you with in its tutorial alone, and the game on your Nintendo Switch menu is listed as Corrupt – Political Iddle City (etc.). This is just sloppy, and I have to shake my head that someone would publish a game like this before having it proofread by a native English speaker with more than a fifth grade reading level.

I’m disappointed to have to say it, but Corrupt is a pretty good idea for a classic style of business trading Simulation game, but it is one that is implemented so very, very poorly that I cannot in good conscience recommend that anyone play this game.

tl;dr – Corrupt is a business trading Simulation game with Idle Game elements. While there are some good ideas at work here, they’re buried under far too many user-unfriendly elements, such as the requirement to use the touchscreen, and the need to click on each and every building to see even the most basic important information related to that building. The result is a game that’s only just barely playable.

Grade: D+

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