Frequently Asked Questions

Updated November 22nd
Q: What is Secret Government?

A: Secret Government is a Grand-Strategy game where you will become a leader of secret brotherhood that is ruling the course of human history from the shadows, while you wage an invisible war against other secret societies. You can either follow the historical timeline exactly as different events unfolded or you can change the course of history to your liking. The possibilities are endless and history is your sandbox!

Q: Who is making Secret Government?

A: Secret Government is being developed by Russian-based indie studio GameTrek.

Q: When can I play Secret Government?

A: The game is now available in the Early Access which will be regularly updated with new content, until the game’s full release, that is currently planned for 15th of October 2020.

Q: Which platforms will Secret Government release on?

A: Secret Government is being developed for PC, Mac and Linux. There are currently no plans to bring the title to other platforms, but we will keep you posted if anything changes about this.

Q: Will Secret Government have modding support?

A: Currently we are fully focused on development of the full game and its content. We might add modding support further down the line or as a post-launch update, but right now it’s not our priority.

Q: Will Secret Government have Multiplayer?

A: There are no current plans for adding multiplayer to the game. We are fully focused on expanding and improving the single-player. In case something changes, we will keep you posted!

Q: What can I expect from the gameplay of Secret Government?

A: Secret Government is a strategy game with a steep but rewarding learning curve with very deep and complex game mechanics. You will be leading the secret cult that is interfering with the course of human history to fit their needs and beliefs - it’s up to you to decide the outcome of events such as French Revolution or if they never even happen. Your choices and their consequences will resonate through the history and can change the human timeline forever. However, you are not the only one who is trying to change the world to his liking – there are other brotherhoods with their own goals trying to fold your plans. So, choose wisely when you will be deciding whether to stage a coup or assassinate the leader of the country – it might have long lasting effects on the world as whole.

Q: This is amazing! How can I help?

A: Thank you! You can join the brotherhood either by wishlisting the game or jumping straight into Early Access and helping us improve the game by letting us know in the Steam forums, what you’d like to see added, fixed or removed.

Q: I have come across a bug, how do I report it?

A: Ideally, use the in-game bug reporting feature by pressing the CTRL + F11. This will open up a window where you can put in a short description of the issue you have come across and will provide developers with all necessary logs and files to fix this issue. If this isn’t possible for some reason, please turn to our Bug Reporting Subforum and start a new thread there if you cannot find the problem you are having already reported in there.

Q: Will Secret Government have a physical release?

No - Secret Government will be digital only release.

Q: How much will the game cost after the Early Access ends?

A: The brotherhood has not yet decided what the entry fee for new acolytes should be, but we expect it to be around 25 USD / EUR.

Q: I think the Tutorial could be more detailed. For example, I don't know how to satisfy a man's need for clothes. I introduced subsidies for the undeveloped leather and livestock industries to provide the necessary fuel to produce simple / durable clothing, but now the treasury is draining FAST and the peasants / workers are not getting their clothes. Are subsidies my best tool for developing the industry? How else can I increase profitability and incentivize capitalists / owners?

A: Right now, we're working on some serious improvements to the mechanics before the release — in particular, in economic and social processes. Once we've done that, we'll be able to give the tutorial a much-needed overhaul.

Q: Does health ever recover?

A: Not in the current version. But we are planning to change this. We have already moved away from the "tabletop" logic with three token hearts and made the health indicator a numerical parameter. In the future, it will be measured from 0 to 100. Diseases will gradually reduce health. Wounds will reduce it instantly by some value. In this case, health will be regenerated. The rate of regeneration will depend on age and traits.

Q: When capitalists want development, does that mean the development of the industries they predominantly own, economic institutions, or both? When peasants want stability, how can I give it to them?

A: In the current implementation, there are indicators that reflect the situation in the country: order, development, equality, militancy, and so on. These indicators are influenced by the laws adopted in the country and the events taking place (war, rampant crime). Unfortunately, not all connections between events and indicators have been implemented at the moment. It is possible to influence indicators such as equality or stability in a relatively small range, either through actions or through laws.

Q: I don't see a way to look at the demographics of nationalities, but there are laws in the game that affect the majority / minorities in the mass. Is there an effective way to see where national minorities work, what they own (if any), which parties do they support and in which regions they live?

A: At the moment, the mechanics of nationalities is only partially implemented. Its full version, with an accompanying interface, is planned for January-February 2021.

Q: I think it would be great if I could see a log of everything I've done, broken down by country. Or at least look at the log of what my Adepts have recently done, as I can with my Masters.

A: We are working on event logs. This mechanism was even implemented earlier, but now we have temporarily disabled it, as it created very heavy save files and slowed down the game during automatic saves.

Q: I would like to know exactly what is included in the profits and losses of the country's treasury. Why is England losing over 1 million every day? Why is the cost of maintaining civil servants almost double the income?

A: Profit is formed from taxes collected from the population and enterprises. Spending on civil servants is structured in such a way that the country allocates from its treasury the amount of money it will need to buy the necessary goods. For example, soldiers need food and clothing. The satisfaction of the soldiers is set at 60%. This means that the country will provide each soldier with 60% of the current market value of food and clothing (if the treasury has enough funds for this). It turns out that if the population earns little, and the cost of goods on the market has increased, then the country will lose a lot of money, trying to support all the officials and soldiers.

Q: Personally, I would like to be able to move open tabs around the user interface. I would look to Crusader King looking for ways to improve the user experience because they've improved theirs significantly over the years. This game is even more challenging and will benefit even more by making navigation / data collection easier.

A: Right now we are improving the interface. We cannot promise that moving windows will be possible, but we will definitely make it more intuitive. And yes, we ourselves are impressed with the work that Paradox has done in the latest version of Crusader Kings :)