Tropico 5 trailer takes you through the eras

Haemimont Games, the fun-to-spell developer of Tropico 5, have released a new trailer offering a first look at their upcoming city-builder series. Note that, while it's written Tropico, it's actually pronounced Trropicooooooo. In the world of El Presidente, the root of power comes from your ability to overly-extend vowels. Also from the ruthlessness to fix elections, imprison your enemies, and enact a program of state surveillance.

The trailer offers a quick glimpse at the new eras. While previous Tropico games were set during an indefinite Cold War, this sequel starts in colonial times and runs through to the modern age. As you progress through its four eras, you'll be able to research, build and upgrade new buildings, shifting the architecture of you city along the way.

While it otherwise looks quite similar to Tropico 3 and 4, Haemimont have imbued the game with a variety of clever features designed to test the player. Tropico's problem has always been how easy it was to settle into a comfortable routine. Once you'd learned a few of the game's tricks, you could happily get the basics in place, then begin the transition to tourism. This time, there are a vast number of potential dynamic roadblocks, forcing more improvisation and creativity.

For more details about the game, check out Tom's preview . Tropico 5 is due out this Summer.

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.