Image: Moon Mind Studio & Vsoo Games

How hard can politics be? Just say yes to the good stuff, and no to the bad! Unfortunately, in Stamperor: The Jester's Decree, you've only got so many Yes or No stamps, and a chaotically random assortment of petitioners to hear out each day, making for a fun little mix of number-crunching roguelike and Reigns-inspired kingdom management, all wrapped up in some adorable cartoon art.

In Stamperor, you play as the royal Jester, elevated to the temporary position of civilization-rebuilder as your Emperor has gone off on vacation, after having his kingdom completely implode for the 23rd time this week. Each day, you're visited by several figures with things to ask of you. You get to pick one to hear out, and then decide whether to approve or reject their request. Simple! But of the six requests to reach your desk, you've got to approve three and reject three - so sometimes you've got to say no, even if it's obviously a bad idea.

From the little bit I've played of the game so far, that initial run or two is meant to feel like chaotic guesswork. Fumbling, making bad decisions, and walking in the steps of your Emperor (who occasionally swings by to demand funding for his vacationing lifestyle, which you can also reject) - it feels unfair. But even after a couple tries, it becomes clear that there's strategy here and bets you can hedge. A key part of any run-based strategy game.

Experience teaches what things each petitioner wants. The head of the royal guard will often demand money for recruitment and military buildings, but sometimes will bring in refugees to increase population. The head of the peasant's union will most often ask for housing to be built, but will sometimes suggest just paying people to leave to reduce overcrowding. Between that knowledge and the ability to generate the occasional special rubber stamp (including one tied to the jester's temperament you choose at the start of a run), it feels just controllable enough.

Of course, that's when it starts throwing funny situations at you. Seemingly innocuous decisions you made (or thanks to running out of options, HAD to approve or deny) can have weird repercussions down the line. Sometimes you're told immediately what the stakes are (via an 'If You Deny' note pinned to your table with a dagger), but other times you've just got to clown around and find out. Given that each increasingly difficult region has its own goals, petitioners, and problems to tackle, I'm curious to see just how things escalate in the late game.

While I adore the vivid, weird art here and overall visual style, I'm not so keen on the little bits of voice acting - the audio in general, really. It's worst in the intro, and obviously not a professional cast, lifelessly reading from a script in heavily accented English. Perhaps some Animal Crossing-esque cartoon babble would have better suited the game. The effects aren't much better, and could probably have just been taken from stock audio libraries to better effect. Lastly, the MIDI-esque music is also a bit meandering. Not demanding of much attention, but nothing I can remember either, even minutes after playing.

But that's mostly nitpicking, and this seems like a neat, casual turn-based game to play while listening to something else, so those issues fall by the wayside. Stamperor! The Jester's Decree is out now for £8.50/$10, with a 10% launch discount until November 19th.