El Mequetrefe demo is out now on Steam, and it puts you in charge of a failing newspaper in 1976

Pudim Studios has released a free demo for El Mequetrefe on Steam, giving everyone a chance to try its political newspaper roguelike ahead of a full release that is still marked as coming soon. If you like your decision games with a bit of satire, a lot of moral grey, and the constant feeling that the bank manager is about to ring, this one is worth a download.

What is El Mequetrefe?

El Mequetrefe drops you into the fictional town of Puerto Bonanza in 1976, where you run a newspaper that is very much struggling. Your days are filled with calls, messages, and visits from family, allies, rivals, and people who would quite like some space in your pages. Each one arrives as a post you need to resolve, and every choice you make gets logged in a running history of your run.

Those decisions push and pull on four things: your money (Plata), your health (Salud), your family relationships, and a hidden political opinion that you never quite get to see directly. Debt is treated as a normal part of life here, which feels very on brand for a small paper, but let your health slide, isolate yourself, or rack up too many enemies and things start getting properly uncomfortable.

Putting the paper to bed

The bit that really sells it for me is the Editorial Close. At the end of each day you choose which of the stories you have earned actually make it to print, lay out the edition, and run the press. The next morning the game hands you the fallout: sales, costs, and written explanations of why things shifted the way they did. It is a neat loop, and it makes the newspaper feel like the centre of the game rather than a backdrop for a stack of dialogue choices.

Family storylines and political routes build up based on how you play, all heading towards a final epilogue. Runs are also seeded, so the same seed with the same choices will give you the same run, which is a nice touch for anyone who wants to replay a bad decision and see what happens if you do not make it this time.

Demo details

The El Mequetrefe demo is available now from the Steam store page. It is a single-player Windows game with English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, German, Japanese, French and Polish interface and subtitle support. There is also a playtest sign-up on the store page if you want to get involved further.

No release date has been announced yet, so the demo is the best way to get a feel for it right now. You can find more on our El Mequetrefe game page, and if it clicks, a wishlist on Steam is the best way to support the team.