Secret Government will let you run the Illuminati in October

Secret Government is a sneaky grand strategy game that puts you in charge of a secret society, starting in the 18th century. By manipulating governments, engineering conflicts and tinkering with the economy, you'll be able to create seismic shifts, starting revolutions and toppling monarchies. It's hitting Early Access in October, and you can check out the announcement trailer above.

Crusader Kings 2 remains my favourite grand strategy game in large part thanks to the copious amounts of intrigue, so I'm quite keen on the idea of one that focuses exclusively on that. Sitting back and letting nations go to war while I reap the rewards sounds lovely.

Instead of one big sandbox, it seems like Secret Government will be split up into missions where you'll need to become a puppeteer and make sure big global conflicts end in the secret society's favour. That means coercing world leaders, placing agents in positions of influence, creating civil unrest and generally trying to destabalise everything.

You can even create your own political parties, which you can then help to attain power or kick off a revolution. According to developer GameTrek, everyone can potentially become a pawn, though they might not know it.

As hinted at in the trailer, there's more than one meddling secret society. There's competition, presumably with similar abilities and their own pawns. Sharing power seems a bit unlikely.

Secret Government is due out on Steam in October.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.