Social Democracy: Petrograd 1917

Adapted from a SpringThing25 Review

Played: 4/3/25
Playtime: 1hr, lost to Bolsheviks

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is one of my literary heroes. I find his prose magnetic EVEN IN TRANSLATION. I can only imagine how glorious it must be in the original Russian. I am one of maybe 4 people in the US who started (in good faith) his Red Wheel novel cycle as it started to be translated into English. Red Wheel is a sprawling, epic, fictional account of the events dramatized by this game. Its four volumes start massive and grow to thousands of pages, increasing as the work drives on. Its translation is also incomplete, the initial English language work halted by the publisher after only two volumes were released. The third volume has subsequently been split into 4 hardbacks by a different publisher which I have not yet read, waiting for paperback releases. The final volume has still not even been translated, nearly 35 years on. Solzhenitsyn! What the hell world, what are we waiting for??? This is how capitalism fails us.

I offer this to establish I have a passing, though (vis a vis the game) debilitatingly incomplete knowledge of this setting. I also have a hunger to know more! When I first saw this game, it did not click for me exactly how it would resonate. Instead, my initial reaction was “OMG I loved the original, it is still in an open tab on my desktop! The original features NAZIS, how could this POSSIBLY measure up?” Only when I dove into the required preamble reading and party- and character-names started ringing for me did I grasp the full grip this author has on my psyche.

Don’t get me wrong. Like its predecessor, 1917 is a COMMITMENT. SO much detailed background, more than you can possibly internalize before playing. (And bear in mind, I have a head start here!) I spent a full quarter of my first playthrough reading background! How can you possibly justify that investment? Who on earth would possibly commit to this?

Besides me, I mean. Kinda like the Red Wheel itself.

This game builds on its predecessor in daunting ways. Where the previous was juggling multiple competing faction alliances, social unrest, government management, and population service with woefully inadequate resources, this game increases scope in nearly every dimension. It substitutes two new dimensions “Government” and “Economy” as indirect windows into the former games’s “Polls.” I didn’t do a full comparison, but each tab FEELS like it has more variables to watch.

It shares the card-driven paradigm of the first, with multiple decks based on what your party has secured control over. As before, you have a limited hand of options, a limited (though configurable) slate of ‘advisor’ cards to bust out for special powers, and must-face ‘event cards’ that demand responses every turn. The amount of variables in play is untenably large. You cannot possibly keep them all in your head, and while you have a vague idea how to influence many variables, there is no truly predictable cause and effect. “The peasants are hungry” “Let me spend resources to feed them!” “Well, the numbers barely move and it is unclear how well that worked.” As a card game trying to minmax to victory, this is frustrating beyond justification. As a simulation of governing, where you have clumsy, uncertain levers to influence complex problems it is PERFECT. Ditto the concurrent game of adjusting policy and actions to keep an effective coalition that doesn’t usurp your priorities for their own.

Like its predecessor, while technically a work of interactive fiction, its gameplay is just outside what that label generally implies. Also like its predecessor, that caveat is immaterial. I adore these games. I am overwhelmed by these games in the best possible way. At some point, I am going to cede some fraction of my RAM to Autumn. This is the second game that will just be permanently open on my desktop. I guess I kinda already have ceded that space.

Horror Icon: Pinhead
Vibe: Big Box Boardgame
Polish: Smooth
Gimme the Wheel! : I recommended its predecessor be Kickstarted as a cardboard implementation. Even then, I underestimated the wooden-counter cost of reflecting its breadth of variables, nevermind the mechanical demands of keeping them updated with every action. 1917 has shown me how ill-advised that actually was. No, if it were mine, I would use the full weight of my subject matter authority and clout to see the final volume of Red Wheel translated and published. That kind of seems more in reach than the Kickstarter. UPDATE: I see that the fourth volume has a publication date of Nov 2025. Thanks Autumn!

Polish scale: Gleaming, Smooth, Textured, Rough, Distressed
Gimme the Wheel: What I would do next, if it were my project.

Note: This review was written during Spring Thing 2025, and originally posted in the intfiction forum on 29 April 2025.

On to this alternative history simulation of 1917 Russia, and the political machinations between Menshevik, Socialist-Revolutionary, Kadet and Bolshevik parties. Note I’m going into this with very little knowledge of the period. Also I have not played the Social Democracy game from 2024.

I played for about 40 minutes, right through, in easy mode. I chose to control the Socialist-Revolutionary party, and pushed for agricultural reform and an end to the war. That strategy did not ultimately go well, though it was fascinating to follow, week by week, as the multitude of factors interacted. Not towards a good end for my goals.

Not being familiar enough with the different Russian political parties then, I found it hard to differentiate between them clearly as I played and made decisions. I focused on the single party I was personally controlling, the party of the peasants, and tried to keep a clear idea in my head of what I wanted to achieve. But I was still rather overwhelmed by the other factions manoeuvring. And felt out of control. Which is probably not unrealistic for the situation being simulated.

The interface was nice. Even worked on my low resolution massive font view on the browser. On the left panel I had stats appearing (rising inflation aarrgghh!). Then on the mid/right area the game text would appear as I interacted. In addition I could draw cards, seemingly at random, for each organisation or institution I controlled, which would then let me choose what to interact with. The randomness of the cards - or seeming randomness anyway! - was fun, and added unpredictability. But it also made things frustrating. For example I’d want to change the food policy, or taxation, and it seemed to be pot luck whether those cards would appear.

It’s not a game I would want to replay soon, but I think I may well come back to it in 6 months or a year. And I would very much like to play its precursor game from last year.

The game has prompted me to want to learn more about the period though. I know quite a lot about the Romanov side of things, but less about the various political parties and their activities in this period of Russian history. And I would like to read more about that. It might have been nice to see a recommended reading list at the end from the author, or tips about useful resources to go to.

I’m an academic historian but this absolutely isn’t my historical period or context. So I’m totally unqualified to judge or assess the game’s accuracy in historical terms, or how good a simulation it is. But as a player I found it captivating to play through, albeit somewhat overwhelming.

Definitely recommended.

Postscript: Just had another play through of Social Democracy: Petrograd 1917, and discovered a few more options. Further down the screen - off my screen, with my huge font and low resolution - there were extra advisor options I could select. So more to do. But still as unsuccessful an outcome as before!

It is a fascinating game though. I really look forward to reading any post mortem / after competition thoughts from the author.

I should preface this by saying that this game (and the game it’s a sequel to, set in Germany) are fantastic educational tools. My school’s IB history teacher plans on using them for assignments next year.

This game is a card-based simulation game where you take control of one faction of the new Russian government directly after the overthrow of the aristocracy.

You track stats like party support for all the parties, resources and budget, and so on. You can place ministers in different positions. You can affect food supply, propaganda, the war effort and more. You also react to frequent new events.

I think this is a fantastic game. My only reason for four stars instead of five is that even on easy setting the game is pretty overwhelming; with the German game I had some idea of the background and events but coming into this cold I felt confronted by a mass of new people and parties and policies, and it was hard to know what to do. My people starved and revolted and the Bolsheviks won.

I feel like the game is fair, and that repeated play would make what’s going on apparent, but I did like the emotional impact of seeing my empire crumble and it made me imagine the stress and fear early Russian officials must have felt.