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Assembly City

Lead a citizens’ assembly through a roguelike deck-building campaign—mediate factions, manage crises, and keep the city from tearing itself apart.

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Gameplay overview

Policy puzzles as a deckbuilder

Assembly City is a Ren’Py project from Remarkable Games that blends narrative storytelling with deck-building strategy. Each run places you in charge of a citizens’ assembly tasked with tackling a hot-button civic issue. Draw cards that represent motions, facilitation techniques, or stakeholder appeals, then sequence them to steer the debate and keep support high.

Fail to balance competing interests and the session implodes; succeed and you’ll unlock new cards, characters, and future scenarios reflecting real-world civic processes.

Controls

Visual novel basics

  • Left-click / Space / Enter: Advance dialogue, confirm card plays, or choose menu options.
  • Right-click / Esc: Open the game menu for saves, settings, or to skip scenes.
  • Scroll wheel / Page Up/Page Down: Review previous text via the backlog.

Why play it?

Civic storytelling with replayability

  • Procedurally reshuffled decks and branching events keep each assembly session fresh.
  • Gorgeous illustrated cards and characters provide an approachable civic education angle.
  • Open-source Ren’Py project—extend it with your own policy scenarios or incorporate new mechanics.

Tips

Keep the assembly on track

  • Balance consensus-building cards with agenda progress—stalling too long drains momentum.
  • Monitor faction meters and play appeasement cards before crises erupt.
  • Use the backlog to reread stakeholder demands and plan future turns.