Tell Me How This Ends puts players in the role of the US President making impossible decisions.
Plenty of games ask players to make decisions and deal with the consequences, but few of those are based on the real-life possible cost and outcome of American military action with Iran. Tell Me How This Ends, a free online simulation from the Truman National Security Project, “challenges players to deal with the aftermath of a decision to attack Iran” and aims to open up discussions about the consequences of a war with no clear endgame.
The simulation is pretty basic, requiring players to read briefings and choose which of the two or three options available is preferable. Tell Me How This Ends “was developed in close consultation with former senior Department of Defense officials and national security experts,” and the group behind it claims that “it represents a realistic, if simplified, scenario” based on the Iran Project Report detailing potential outcomes of military engagement with Iran.
Under my reign, America basically made all of the wrong choices, and long story short, gas is now $6.25 a gallon (sorry, guys) and “military action intended to stop one Middle Eastern country from acquiring nuclear weapons has led to the entire region going nuclear.” The outcome was similarly grim on a second playthrough with different decisions, which seems to be the point the Truman National Security Project was trying to make.
Tell Me How This Ends is playable online right now, and will be advertised on TV during the national security presidential debate on Monday, October 22.
Source: Truman National Security Project
