I will try to come back later and do a fuller reply, as I didn't expect so many lengthy replies to my request for elaboration.

One of the things I don't think people really touched on here is that there's political like big and in the foreground text, and there's political in other ways.

For an example, what are the win conditions in civilization? Using military forces to annihilate everyone else is a win condition. That is a political statement.

The game could also say you lose if civilian deaths cross a certain threshold. I don't think it even models that. What the game choses to model and reward are part of the "text", and when doing a critical read should be considered.

The stuff about "oh you can be a democracy or autocracy" is political in its own way, but that's only one dimension of the subject. There's more to it.