FOR THE PEOPLE

The game deserves praise for making a rare attempt to create a sympathetic story of reformism, based one generation into a revolutionary socialist society. Rather than lazily using Communist Dictatorship tropes and implying villainy of the system and of the government, the game treats the revolution as both successful and necessary.
This allows the developers to address the very real contradictions that would exist in the society they've created. A critique of meritocracy is a core theme of the game: dynastic nepotism is visible from the start and reminds us that the nobility of feudalism was never destroyed under capitalism, and it continues to hold steady under socialism as well. It is not an easy problem to address.
The idea of young leaders replacing older, more experienced bureaucrats and being much less effective than them is also addressed. Unlike in the Totalitarian Socialist story trope, the previous leaders aren't killed or exiled by the next generation to make way for reforms. Instead, they're just sending letters-to-the-editor complaining about how they're bored in their retirement and frustrated that their replacements are totally braindead. It's charming.
The game also addresses race relations, cultural differences in skillsets and the use of leisure, as well as the blurring of the lines between the military and the government which can occur under any economic system as state and legal institutions deteriorate. The developers address the kind of worker unrest that occurs when the mode of production is the last capitalist institution to be reformed by the revolution rather than the first - a historical conundrum seen time and again during the 20th century.
However, the game doesn't shy away from the political realities of government by a vanguard party. You will face consequences if you disappoint the party or allow the fostering of counterrevolutionary behavior, even if you do so in order to prioritize the needs of the workers in Iron-I. Sometimes the devil of primitive accumulation can be too Goliath to stare in the face.
Less of a game and more of an interactive visual novel, For the People does a wonderful job of telling a story that is often left untouched. For that reason, and for the successful implementation of material analysis in such an experimental genre, I have to emphatically recommend this game.

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Paint.exe
---{Gameplay}---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It‘s just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Starring at walls is better
☐ Just don‘t
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Human
☐ Lizards
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boiiiiii
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Difficulity}---
☐ Just press ‚A‘
☐ Easy
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Grind}---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isnt necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You‘ll need a second live for grinding
---{Story}---
☐ Story?
☐ Text or Audio floating around
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It‘ll replace your life
---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{Bugs}---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

Introduction
For the People is a mix of a social and political novel with simple strategic elements. The game puts you right in the shoes of a young state official in a fictional country with a communist regime. Your task is to maintain and make the future better for your town and satisfy your superiours by all means necessary. And while For the People manages to deliver an authentic and immersive experience with its political setting, its story is rather uninteresting with forgettable characters.
Story
After the war and the recent revolution, your country, the Union of People’s Orange Communes, faces several problems, such as an economic deficit, shortage of supplies, deepening social crisis, and the lack of proper experts. Therefore, the Party decides that it is finally time for a change. They put more keen and diligent young people into important positions. And one of those positions is yours to take. You play as Frank Rivers, a freshly promoted state official in an industrial town, Iron-1. Your task is to fix your predecessor’s mistakes, fulfill the Party’s requirements, and satisfy your citizens. In doing so, you discover that not everything is working as your Party claims it does and that many secrets might threaten your position.
What does For the People excels in is its presentation of citizens’ problems, as well as political intrigues. The game manages to bring the feeling of being in charge of the town for which you must deal with several different problems, from small ones to almost threatening ones. It also has a lot of humour which I enjoyed a lot, as I am familiar with how daily life looked like in a communist country, as I live in a post-communist one. Sure, the game simplifies the whole theme a lot, as it is short, and it is, after all, not a simulation. Yet, that did not bother me at all, and I enjoyed the game for what it was.
Unfortunately, I still had a problem with the story, or to be precise, with its characters. There is not enough time for their development, and there is no reason why I should care about anyone. That is especially a problem with your love interest, as it does not fit the game at all, and it feels like developers just wanted to have it in there at all costs. And that is quite a shame, as it is visible from the game’s visuals that they tried to make every character look unique with some specific traits, yet most of them only appear for a while, so it does not matter much.
Gameplay
For the People is divided into several days in which you need to fulfill multiple tasks. Reading letters, documents, and reports will become your main activity. And there is usually a decision waiting for you at the end of letters and documents. You will be solving citizens’ needs and problems, deciding about what infrastructure to repair, or if your funds will go to hospitals for better equipment or police for more patrols. To help, you mostly need money, and the only way to get some is to call your superiors. As you can guess, that is not something they want to hear from you. Reading the letters was my favourite activity, as they were in a humorous nature and did not relate to the main story much.
Another important gameplay element is an investigation which, unlike letters, last for more days and the choices there matter more. They also require a bit more attention from you, as they influence the main story a bit. One part consists of reading several documents and reports while in the other one you send agents out in the field. From your agents’ description, you decide which one is the most suitable for the mission. However, it seems like most of the time, the results from sending agents were random, as agents managed to fail their mission, even though they had the necessary skill for it. For example, if you need to get information from someone, then it is advised to send someone with good communication skills. If you need to beat up someone, then a beefy guy is your choice. From my playthrough, it also seemed like it does not really matter if they fail or not, as the events turned out to be positive for me in the end anyway. I just stopped caring at all and started sending random agents after I reached half of the game, and I did not notice any difference. That is a shame.
Now for the strategic part of the game. You need to have a stable income of resources, such as food, medicals, and such. However, there are not enough of them for every district. To produce more of them, you need to spend your steel. However, the Party wants its share of it every few days. So, it is necessary to balance between goods every day. Your town divides into four districts, and each must have enough resources. This activity is simple, yet it becomes pretty annoying later on. This gameplay element is not enjoyable, and it feels like a filler. It seems there are really not any stakes either, as one of my districts was in shortage of medical supplies for days, while the other one was starving, yet I still managed to get an ending where people loved me. Their love was probably the same one people provide to their leaders in North Korea.
All of the abovementioned activities have effects on your relationship with the Party and four city districts. If you displease the Party often, you are finished. To summarize it all, I enjoyed the game while reading numerous letters and reports, but when it tried to force some activity on me, it was just annoying. However, an important thing to keep in mind is that the reading is the main activity you will do, while the ones I had problems with are minor yet required for finishing the game. There are also a few side activities, and those are okay if you do not mind extra reading. You can learn about the city’s history in the local library or watch the progress of the recent war on your office’s map.
Audiovisuals
The game’s art style is brilliant. The stylization consists of greyish and whitish colours with glimpses of glaring orange, as that is your national colour. It caught my eye the first time I saw the game at Steam’s Store page. And overall presentation reminds me of that communist way of life in Eastern Europe. Even most of the characters look unique and have some specific traits, so kudos for that.
As for the soundtrack, it got me right from the main menu. It fits the game perfectly, and it manages to provide the right atmosphere. There are not a lot of compositions, but when they play, it is just great. Unfortunately, there is no voice acting.
Performance
The game was tested with an i5 8300H, GTX 1060 6GB, and 16GB RAM, running at 1920x1080 resolution. However, I had numerous framerate drops when choosing between activities, such as going from letters to a strategic map. It was a bit uncomfortable, as those drops went from 60 frames down to 15-20 frames per second. The animations and overall mouse movement just felt weird in those moments.
Conclusion
While I mentioned several shortcomings with For the People, I would lie if I said that I did not have fun with the game. Sure, the additional gameplay mechanics need improvement, and characters could be a bit better. However, reading the abovementioned documents was enjoyable enough for me.
Comrades! Follow our curator group, Devils in the Detail, or face the harsh consequences!

The game is very well-written, it has humor and atmosphere in it. Characters are interesting and story is intriguing. To cut it short, it's like Papers, Please meets parts of This is the Police. Highly recommend to all fans of visual novels, and resource management games!

Great game, especially if you are a fan of Paper, please or Beholder! I like the parts where you need to assign agents on the missions and respond to complaints. We need more games like this where your actions actually matter, at least for now it seems so.

Good game but why is it so short? it took me less than 4 hours to finish it...

Игра мне понравилась, отличная проработка мира и атмосфера, стиль и "writing". Как советский нуар-детектив игра отлична. Раздумывать над миниквестами и детективными уликами в меру сложно и приятно.
Но и минусов тоже хватает. Совершенно никудышный баланс и менеджмент ресурсов. Что бы ты не делал, областной комитет партии тебя обожает и заваливает деньгами, а завод стабильно производит чугуний сверху нужного количества для местных заводов и выполнения плана. Соответственно, даже если ты фейлишь "квесты" - это мало повлияет на твои успехи. Опять же, не надо думать на что распределить деньги и чугуний, чем пожертвовать, так как их хватает завалить всё и ещё столько же остаётся на складе. Задания одни и те же, один и тот же правильный выбор. Как следствие этого - нет реиграбельности.
Небольшой сюжетный минус - основной выбор в игре - это выбор без выбора. Выбирая "за народ" ты ничем не жертвуешь, но получаешь всё. Выбирая стать коррупционером, конечно, получаешь деньги, но проблема в том, что ты и так ни в чём не нуждаешься. Нет дилеммы, а, учитывая вышесказанное, ради хорошей концовки не нужно "напрячься". Возможно для открытия хорошей концовки стоило бы потребовать близкое к идеальному прохождение...