Mr. President News

[p]Mr. President Early Access begins on January 26, 2026 during Steam’s Board Game Fest. If you haven't wishlisted the game yet, please take a minute and please do so and share this with your friends who might be interested in this game.[/p][p][/p][h3]Why Early Access?[/h3][p]Mr. President will continue to receive substantial UI, feature, and content updates on a monthly basis for the next year or so. We would like to involve the community in the game’s development so that we can create the best presidential simulation in the market.[/p][h3]Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?[/h3][p]Mr. President will be in Early Access for approximately 1 year.[/p][h3]How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?[/h3][p]During Mr. President’s development, we plan to make the digital version have feature parity with the paper version (2nd edition) and include additional digital-only features. The full version will include 100 additional Crisis Cards which will be delivered in subsequent updates as we build upon the initial Early Access Build. Also any missing gameplay systems from the board game such as Scandals, Nuclear Missile Tracks, and the remaining Crisis Chits and table roll entries will be included in the full version. The full version will also include several special scenarios based on modern presidencies as well as two additional difficulties (Easier, Harder) for the Sandbox scenario.[/p][p]Additionally, we plan to implement some special digital only features such as:[/p]

• [p]Allowing for the player to select an avatar portrait to represent themselves in the game.[/p]
• [p]A detailed Legacy screen summarizing all events that took place in a player’s presidency.[/p]
• [p]Steam Cloud Saves and Achievements[/p]

[h3]What is the current state of the Early Access version?[/h3][p]Players are able to play through a significant part of a presidential term in the Sandbox scenario on Normal difficulty. This includes Actions (domestic, diplomatic, and military), Terror and Chaos, Wars and Civil Wars, UN Acts, joint and unilateral Ally Actions, Rogue States, Russia Acts, China Acts, Conflict Tracks, landmark legislation, the Nobel Prize, the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, Cabinet priorities, Summits, and more![/p][p][/p]

[p]We’re marking the end of the government shutdown with something special — an updated demo featuring the Legislative Segment (now live on Steam) and we also have a few exciting announcements to share.[/p][p][/p][p]Legislative Segment[/p][p]Adding the Legislative Segment was important for two reasons. First, we wanted to tackle the top feedback we received from our June Steam Next Fest Demo:[/p][p]Players weren’t sure how to tell whether they were doing well or making progress. The demo emphasized the risks and dangers in the foreign policy sphere, but “survive the demo” is only a small part of the picture.[/p][p]Provide a more intuitive user interface. Some players wanted even more tooltips whereas other players felt that the zooming options were not sufficient (text too small).[/p][p]If you look at the flow below, we’re exposing more of the breakdowns and modifiers involved in resolving actions. Here you can see just one display that tells the player what their overall political leverage in Congress is, along with the result (increased or decreased support for your bills).[/p][p][/p][p]Second, the legislative segment is a major source of Legacy Points, which is how you win in Mr. President. It’s not enough just to survive the many possible loss conditions - will you have a high Legacy score at the end?[/p][p]Key Announcements[/p][p]Early Access is getting closer — we’re locking in a Q1 2026 launch! We’ve got a specific date in mind, but we’re teaming up with a few media partners to make sure the announcement lands big.[/p][p]Before then, we’re running playtests in Brussels with NATO staff, plus we’re opening up an exclusive in-person session for Mr. President fans, strategy gamers, and wargamers. Sign up to join the action: [/p][p]https://luma.com/kmlhtnii. Two participants will also win a signed copy of Twilight Struggle — autographed by Ananda Gupta![/p]

[p]Hey everyone,[/p][p]Thanks to the thousands of players who spent time playing our short demo and for providing feedback! We wanted to give an update on lessons learned and next steps.[/p][p]First, a whopping 88.1% of players surveyed (n=201) answered “very high” and “high” to the question: Based on what you saw in the demo, and the components indicated as "under construction", what's your interest in playing the full version? Those who answered our survey were primarily our core audience – those familiar with Mr. President already.[/p][p]We’re excited by this result but we know we still have a long way to go. We agree with a lot of the feedback provided, which ranged from macro suggestions to micro changes. Here are the top three:[/p]

1. [p]Provide more details on “what happens, what can happen, why am I doing things.”[/p]
2. [p]Provide a more intuitive interface, UI/UX. Some players wanted even more tooltips whereas other players felt that the zooming options were not sufficient (text too small).[/p]
3. [p]Provide a better onboarding experience.[/p]

[p]Next Steps[/p]

1. [p]We will keep our demo up, which is a change from our original plan of turning it off on June 16, because there were players who downloaded the demo but were not able to try the demo just yet.[/p]
2. [p]We’ll prioritize some immediate changes to the current demo that this cohort of players can benefit from. Specifically, we’re working on an action log that shows you previous actions, rolls, and results.[/p]
3. [p]We’re going to circle back internally to start planning towards a second demo that can showcase our implementations of player feedback and more progress on the game.[/p]

[p]If you haven’t played yet, please watch Ananda’s walkthrough in lieu of an onboarding experience. Thanks again to all of you who tried out the demo or watched Ananda's video or left feedback for the demo. Please continue to monitor our blog or X for updates![/p][p]Thank you![/p][p]-The Mr. President Team[/p]

[p]This is a pre-recorded session of a playthrough of the recently released demo for Mr. President.[/p]

[p]Our demo has been live for two days now, and the overall response has been wonderful and encouraging. But a common sentiment among players - especially players unfamiliar with the board game - is often expressed as: “What am I supposed to be aiming for in this game?” So in this post I’m going to go over some of the intro points I’ve made while streaming in the last couple of days.[/p][p]In the full game, you’ll be looking to score Legacy Points. These come from major successes: winning wars, passing legislation, and maintaining a strong political position at home (with high Public Approval, relations with Congress and the media, etc.). In the demo, though, your main concern will be China: containing the PRC’s influence and managing crises that can precipitate two of the 15 different auto-loss conditions.[/p][p]The first of those requires China to reach 15 total influence on the map. You’ll need to take actions to reduce their influence, which can come on to the board through several of the Crisis cards. The second auto-loss condition triggers if China and Japan go to war; you’ll need to keep an eye on their Conflict Track and use diplomatic actions to mediate these two countries’ disputes. If you can reach the end of the demo without either of those happening, and with US-China relations still neutral or better, then you’re in good shape, and in the full game you’d have some breathing room to advance your other goals.[/p]





In the demo, the best way to understand the gameplay is to look at all the tooltips you can. We decided that the best approach to demo-ing a sandbox game was to make the rules and systems available to the player, and to avoid scripted scenarios and rails. We may change our tune on this for the full release, but for now, the tooltips on all of the counters and markers and tracks should give you a sense of what you need to watch out for and what actions you should consider taking.