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Chinese propaganda game Homeland Dream is disturbingly addictive
Tencent created the most downloaded free game on the iOS App Store in China in partnership with state media outlet People’s Daily
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
China’s hottest new game is a game that you can’t lose.
Homeland Dream is playable propaganda. The game tasks players with picking a Chinese city -- including Hong Kong -- and watching it grow richer and more popular no matter what you do. If you want to make it richer faster? Just go ahead and enact China’s Belt and Road Initiative for an instant boost.
It’s the product of Tencent, China’s biggest game company, and the People’s Daily, a state-run media outlet. And it was released just in time for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1st, part of a week-long vacation in China.
Tencent, China’s social and entertainment giant
Clearly, something about the game resonated with people. Just a day after it launched, Homeland Dream became the most downloaded free game on iOS in China. So we played it to see what all the fuss was about.
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At first glance, Homeland Dream resembles games like SimCity. While it shares the same look and does involve placing buildings on a map, this is really an idle clicker, a type of game that’s automated to play itself.
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Everything you build generates coins over time, which you collect by tapping on the building. With more coins, you can build more buildings or upgrade the ones you have, which in turn make them generate coins faster.
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