Devolution is a game about the dark nature of politics, where you will attempt to take control of the Judiciary, Media and Strategic Companies to gain the absolute power over the Republic and become the Supreme-Leader-For-Life! (Just a heads up though, life may be short and death unnatural).

To do that, you will need to gain popularity points by bribing or manipulating the voters. It comes at a cost of increasing depravity of public life and so the doomsday clock is set in motion! If you don't seize power before it reaches 100, the people will storm the palace gates and hang everyone.

The increasing depravity may not be all bad news. When the Depravity Meter reaches 70 there will be an opportunity for one of you to seize power as the leader of the revolutionary movement that will soon swallow everyone. Players can also seize power with the generals in a Coup d'État or with Priesthood or with Business.

winning conditions depend on the number of players

Each player holds seven cards and plays 2 per turn. These and popularity can be used to buy cards from the Republic deck or to spite and stop the other players which raises the depravity which, as Depravity Meter reaches 70, gives one more opportunity, for those holding the Spirit of the Revolution card, to seize power as the leader of the people. There is a variety of cards in the deck, some can be used out of turn in reaction to another player’s play adding more dynamic interaction to the game (you can foil someone else’s plan by assassinating the Judge they needed to gain an Judiciary Institution with a Black Ops card, for example).

Like in politics, the effects of one’s actions are not always 100% predicable: dice rolls) and as the Depravity Meter goes up past bomb-marked fields, the player causing the depravity has to draw a card from the Shit Happens deck which may adversely affect just them or everybody at the table (the logic being that the misdeeds withing the party affect the image of the whole party). Players draw cards at the end of their turn.

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