Almost equally well-written and well-performed are the lines declared by faction leaders when issuing demands, though these grow tiresome early on due to their frequent repetition and wholesale irrelevance to the actual details of their corresponding demands. By and large, the writing and voice talent behind Penultimo, El Presidente's exceptionally sycophantic right-hand man, steals the show. While the gameplay delivers an equal parts comical and bleak interpretation of real-life socioeconomics, some of the game's funniest moments come from its largely stellar voice acting. Similarly, players aiming to forge a completely self-sustaining Tropico are highly likely to come to rely on foreign support in the forms of trade, tourism, and shady backroom loans when under economic duress, slowly morphing El Presidente into a run-of-the-mill kleptocrat. Sure, one could set out to establish their nation as a pacifist state that altogether renounces militarism, but within the same playthrough they might discover they've somehow slipped into a full-blown police state that keeps a tight grip on the press and practices mass surveillance to better protect its people. And, if they've got a decent sense of humor, they'll probably do so while occasionally chortling aloud at the all-too-real irony of many decisions that mirror reality.
Though Tropico 6's comedy sometimes wanders into the realm of the preposterous - which it also does well - even the most apolitical player will find themselves engaging with some of the most difficult choices that come with the office of de facto dictator. The fine tightrope walked here is accordingly reflected in the game's abundance of thematic satire. However, in later eras, the player must maintain their grip on power by winning decennial elections through all available means, all the while staving off the ever-present threat of popular rebellion. Initially, the goal is to simply win Tropico's independence from the Crown - an on-the-nose comical stand-in for the British Empire - as the rebellious colony's governor during the Colonial Era. In order to successfully shepherd their Tropicans through four eras spanning the 20th century to the modern day (a mechanic introduced in Tropico 5), players have to engage in a precarious balancing act of spending and managing resources, placating and intimidating local factions, and trading with world superpowers while robbing them blind. Related: The Division 2 Review - Technically Brilliant Since the series' inception, Tropico has centered around the concept of allowing players to fill the gleaming shoes of El Presidente, the absurd-yet-accurate caricature of a dictator running a Carribean island nation from the top-down. This is still the case in Tropico 6 (which now rests in the care of of Limbic Entertainment), except this time El Presidente's budding banana republic lies upon an archipelago that can be connected via bridges and ports.