I'm intrigued by this political sim that puts you smack-dab in Germany at the end of World War 1

What if a board game was a visual novel and that visual novel knew what the Zimmerwald Conference was?

This was, I assume, written on the whiteboard at Red Echoes' conception. It's a well-balanced mix. In the demo, you take in the story through the eyes of three characters who each have their own special abilities—increasing revolutionary fervour wherever they're based, or putting a cap on reactionary zealotry, or decreasing the pressure experienced by other characters—and your task on a gameplay level is moving them around the board to where those abilities will be most useful when the turn ends.

Choices you make in the visual novel sections will impact the state of the game board: a decrease in fervour here, an increase in pressure there. Naturally, as a rashid proletarian you'll be inclined to make all the choices that lead Germany into a glorious red dawn, but playing a long game may mean making choices that go against your …