We Love It's Guide to…
Build a Caribbean island republic from colonial rule to the modern era, balancing trade, politics, citizens, and power.
Released 23 May 2014
Lead Across Four Eras
Build a Trade Fleet
Appoint Dynasty Members
Return to the remote island nation of Tropico and expand your Dynasty’s reign from the early colonial period to beyond the 21st Century, facing new challenges including advanced trading mechanics, technology and scientific research, as well as cooperative and competitive MULTIPLAYER.
Developed by Haemimont Games · Published by Kalypso Media Digital








You rule Tropico, beginning as a colonial governor and guiding the island through successive eras toward modern times. Manage your government as you pursue independence, respond to changing demands, and navigate relations with political factions and foreign powers.
Develop the island by building farms, industries, homes, and tourist attractions; manage jobs and public services; and produce goods for export. Research technologies and buildings, modernize older structures, and send ships along trade routes to import or sell resources. Exploration can reveal deposits and ancient ruins.
Members of your dynasty can be appointed to roles and developed with new traits. Campaign missions and sandbox play offer different ways to run the island, while multiplayer supports up to four players building on the same map, sharing resources and population or competing.
Players who enjoy Tropico 5 often describe getting absorbed in building and managing an island, shaping its economy, and watching it develop across eras. Reviews also appreciate the political satire and humor, and some praise the range of campaign, sandbox, and customization options. Others find the management hard to read or the campaign too restrictive, so these strengths are not shared by everyone.
The Eras - Start your reign during colonial times, survive the World Wars and the Great Depression, be a dictator during the Cold War, and advance your country to modern times and beyond. From the 19th century to the 21st, each era carries its own challenges and opportunities.
The Dynasty - Each member of El Presidente’s extended family is present on the island and may be appointed as a ruler, a manager, an ambassador or a general. Invest in the members of your Dynasty to unlock new traits and turn them into your most valuable assets.
Research and Renovate - Advance your nation by discovering new buildings, technologies and resources. Renovate your old buildings to more efficient modern buildings.
Advanced trade system and trade fleet - Amass a global trade fleet and use your ships to secure trade routes to neighboring islands or world superpowers, both for export and import.
Explore your island - Discover what lies beyond the fog of war. Find valuable resource deposits and explore the ruins of ancient civilizations.
All new art - All artwork has been re-designed from scratch to provide Tropico 5 with a unique visual identity. Choose from over 100 buildings from each of the individual eras.
Cooperative and competitive multiplayer – Up to 4 players can build up their own cities and economies on any given island map. Players can choose to share resources, supplies and population or declare war on each other.








| Platforms | Windows, Linux |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 70 |
| Age ratings |
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| Players | 1–4 |
| Play modes |
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| Other modes |
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| Multiplayer | Tropico 5 supports cooperative and competitive multiplayer for up to 4 players. Players build their own cities and economies on the same island map, can share resources, supplies, population, money, roads, utilities, and military forces, or declare war on each other. Steam lists cross-platform multiplayer, and reviews describe online play with friends, competitive objectives, co-op play, and multiplayer-specific achievements. |
| Multiplayer & mods | Steam Workshop is supported and a script mod is mentioned in reviews, but one review states that the script does not work in multiplayer. No other multiplayer mod support is confirmed. |
| Controller required | No |
| DLC / extras | 13 listed on Steam |
| Content notices |
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| Metacritic | 75/100 View on Metacritic |