This is the retro-"House of Cards"-narrative game most of us deserve.
Also: a must buy for everyone loving text-based adventures.

This is episode one only. In my opinion, a waste of time until the game is complete and there is an end to the story. I wasted more than an hour to get nowhere.
Games should either be released completed or with the possibility of buying the whole package at once.

Quite dissapointed that I wasted 1+ hours.

Seems like a nice premise, but, until is complete, do not waste your money or your time.

Shape of America: Episode One is a political role playing game. The setting is late 90s in the USA, art and all those events like Internet boom create quite specific and recognizable vibe.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1692375041
At the very beginning MC is just a waiter but depending on your choices you may get drawn into the world of economy and politics. I can't say that all that flattery, deceive and other schemes that are inevitably involved in the process sound very appealing to me. But the game is rather short, just a couple of hours, so I decided to give it a try. And quite soon I became addicted. The idea to use words as your weapon to reach success is nice. It was exciting to debate and make speeches, though it took some time to understand how everything works. And discussions as battles is a great idea but I expected something deeper, real arguments, dunno, but it was more like using different tactics, so quite general approach but still kinda fun as it also involved random luck element. Plus to use the right tactics you should try and understand the opponent's personality or political beliefs of the audience. So things aren't too simple really. I guess that's why the game turned out to be so captivating.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1692244889
So I didn't even notice how deeply involved I became, I seriously was about to win the elections and become a new president when...the first episode suddenly ended and the second one was promised 'soon'. But it's more than a year already and the dev is silent, no questions are answered in steam discussions which is not very reassuring. I'd like to see the continuation.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1692375095
Sure the game is far from perfect: there're some typos, I don't like how save/load works, it'd be nice to have the list of endings. There're so many choices, it's a great fun to meet so many people, to debate, to make really meaningful choices but what about the amount of possible outcomes. I'd like to know not to miss any.

I know it's just the first episode but the whole experience left me unsatisfied. I hope the second part will be released. No doubt it's totally unique and catchy but for now it's kind of a neutral review.

Surprisingly well executed and presented game. I like the retro, CRT vibe and the fact that such a small production provides choices. Although the music could've been a bit better.

I have this to say, I'm a fan of this game. I can not however in good conahence advise people to buy a game that will not be finished

This game was really fun. I dont think ive ever seen a political rpg before. Good idea to make one.

cool concept not explored much before, excited to see what this series will bring

great i love it make episode 2!

Episode 1 shows the promise of an innovative, engaging RPG. In all, this is an innovative concept that's very well executed. I was invested and my imagination was engaged. The 3-5 hours is definitely worth the 5 bucks.

In terms of gameplay the adventure aspects of the game strongly outweigh the merits of the RPG elements, but that is largely by design. Most RPGs may have white mages, thiefs, etc. etc. this game instead has the four greek humors representing different classes. The system could stand to be refined a bit... once you figure out what class an opponent is its not hard to beat them, at least in episode 1, but again that doesn't substantially take away from the emotional investment or enjoyability of the game.

I'm curious to see how designers deal with the rapid acceleration they allow for in this first part. It's not hard to gain a lot of momentum if certain choices are made. Inversely, it seems easy to miss out on some opportunities if you're not careful that could drastically alter your trajectory moving forward. This wide varience of outcomes could cause some difficulties for episode 2 design.

One of the keenest design aspects of the game is the lack of a save feature. If you lose a crucial battle or make a mistake -as mentioned above- you can't simply rewind to a new day. This safeguards raises stakes and really makes caution much more important.

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The Short of it: A really unique RPG/visual novel type of expereince. I've never seen a game with quite this premise, style, or setting. I was 15 in 1999, so it's all very nostalgic, and realistic to me. Worth a look!