I was going to start this article by writing about how I feel like there's a new Tropico entry every time I return my attention to the series. I was going to write about how it wasn't that long ago I was pouring many hours into Tropico 3, and now there's apparently a seventh game on the way. I was going to write that they should clearly pump the brakes on this thing.
And then I recalled that Tropico 3 came out in 2009 and the previous game in the series released six years ago. Help. Tell me I'm still young and beautiful.
But enough about my swiftly encroaching demise. Kalypso has announced Tropico 7, the latest in its long line of autocracy sims, due for release some time in 2026. This one seems just a smidge less autocratic than previous entries, though—the headline feature is a new political council system, which will see you browbeat and cajole various faction reps in order to bring your island to heel.
And then when that doesn't work, send the army in. In the Tropico games I've played, the military has always been a bit of an abstract concept. You had the guards posted outside your presidential palace, sure, but you weren't exactly doing anything resembling strategy or tactics. That's set to change, because Tropico 7 promises a "reworked military system enabling more direct control of your military units."
I'll need to see that in action before I know how I feel about it. I come to Tropico for daft, Cold-War-era citybuilding. If Tropico 7 starts demanding I start thinking about troop deployments, it could be more than I really want. But if it's just a neato way to crush dissent beneath the iron bootheel of your state? Sounds good to me.
That is, if you ever have to crush dissent. I've always enjoyed Tropico's vibes, but the series has never felt like I ever had to become a tyrannical despot. It was always very easy to keep everyone happy in a socialist paradise. Even the CIA didn't seem to mind, which isn't enormously true to history. If the double whammy of the new factions system and a reworked military mean it'll actually be more of a challenge to keep the gears turning on my Caribbean commune/free-market utopia? I could go another 70-or-so hours of Tropico, sure.
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5. Best high-end: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090
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