By Joseph Luster

It’s time once again to step back into the shoes of El Presidente, securing your glorious rule by developing and expanding your island in Tropico 7. The simulation game series from developer Gaming Minds Studios and publisher Kalypso Media is back with another in-depth city-builder, gifting players with the ability to shape their own landscape and realize the perfect vision to complement their multifaceted style of leadership.

As usual, the pressure is on as El Prez is tasked with succeeding through five campaign maps complete with new challenges, the series’s biggest islands to date, and even a new nemesis in the form of Victoria Guerra. There are more ways than ever to go about your duties, too, whether you’re changing the shape of the land itself or navigating the tricky, mine-filled world of internal politics.

In addition to the larger islands and main campaigns, Tropico 7 boasts 10 extra scenarios and over 20 sandbox maps, as well as the ability to throw further wrinkles into the mix with the help of the random map generator. The new terraforming feature also ups the customizability of it all, giving players a chance to form their islands as they see fit and even create new ones entirely. If you have a project in mind as the glorious leader, chances are you can shape the land to make them work in one way or another.

The military system has also been reworked for the new entry, giving players more direct control of military units to assist in fending off rebels and threats from foreign lands. Doing whatever it takes to maximize the use of your land and keep your citizens happy continues to be the name of the game here, and it’s nice to see Tropico 7 build on its storied past in more interesting, freeing ways.

The Tropico series has been a pretty safe bet for years at this point, so it should come as no surprise that we’re happily embarking on the seventh entry. If it’s anything like the sixth, we’ll be playing this one until… well, probably until El Presidente sees fit to return yet again.

Genre: Simulation
Platform: PC
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Available: 2026

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