Total War games spent so much time trying to do more. There are countless clever strategy games out there, but this series always prided itself on having a massive scale. Pharaoh totally changes that formula as it scales down and rethinks the gameplay flow of the series. Everyone has their favorite Total War game (mine for the record is the original Rome Total War). I’m sure that someone out there will be quite unhappy with some of the Total War changes. But from where I sit as a long-time player, Pharaoh is a total blast, and has me more excited for the future of the series than ever before.
When playing Total War: Pharaoh, time simply goes by easily. Creative Assembly delivers another outstanding strategy-game, that connects all its aspects well and motivates with constant progression. Despite some minor flaws in the user-guidance-department, Total War: Pharaoh is a must-have-game for every RTS-fan.
The game has an enormous amount of depth and simply cannot be mastered within a reasonable time. Every element is very granular and can be played around in multiple ways.
The Ancient Legacies let you build your empire in any way you want, along with the court and pharaonic/great king **** battles are excellently paced and I have to say I found a good use for the chariots, which are the only type of unit, that's hard to micro.
Sometimes the AI on the campaign can behave unexpectedly, but is nonetheless very reasonable and for example on Legendary difficulty Merneptah suddenly attacking you with his vassals is a rare and refreshing event, forcing you to use all of your wit.
The outposts bring a lot of strategical depth, especially the fort.
The local deities system mish-mashes a lot of power effects, sometimes making province management irrelevant, but is customizable and fun to play around with nonetheless.
The royal decrees look hard to grasp at first, but as you play more and more, you realize why they were ordered that way, that is to create many opportunities to change your path on the go because priorities change within a campaign. You cannot get only military or only economic decrees. You need to choose whether you want to focus on melee or ranged infantry or chariot military decrees. You need to choose whether your end-game economy will thrive on lvl 5 buildings or on max workforce. You have many sub-decisions, that are designed to provide replayability with a straightforward system.
Overall, it is my favourite total war in the series!
I've played all historical Total Wars since the beginning and I've been playing Pharaoh about 25 hours when writing this.
Pros:
- many interesting mechanics in the game and the playable leaders feel very unique in their playstyle
- regional recruitment is fantastic
- many unique landmarks and buildings to conquer
- the court mechanic and the ability to become Pharaoh with access to royal units in genious
- the combat feels just right and fun to play
- campaign customization is amazing and helps keeping the game fresh
- The overall performance is unbelievable good, best running Total War ever!
Cons:
- I really need the Blood Pack DLC now
- I guess I wouldn't mind if the map was a bit larger and there was a couple of leaders more to choose from. I'm sure the DLC's will fix that.
Buy the game, play it, have fun - you won't regret it. And support CA and the Sofia studio for making such a great game.
Total War: Pharaoh delivers the series’ best campaign experience yet, becoming its new gold standard for customization options and mechanical depth, while improving on its predecessor’s battles. It manages to translate the fascinating and mysterious history of the Bronze Age Collapse into video game form in a great way, though budgetary constraints are sadly visible when it comes to scope: How beautiful would the addition of the Assyrians and Mycenaeans in the east and west or actual trade routes on the map have rounded out this game. If Total War: Pharaoh has proven one thing, then that Creative Assembly Sofia has earned the chance at working on something bigger next time – this kind of quality campaign deserves a grander stage.
Placing the next Total War game in Egypt was probably not the best decision. The Bronze Age simply tied the creators' hands too much, and you can see it especially during the fights. A small variety of units and battles that lack real juice drag the rating down. On the contrary, dynasty management is fun and last a long time.
There are some design (and marketing) choices about Total War: Pharaoh that are still unexplainable, but some of the innovations that the game introduces are what we hope to see more in the future of this glorious saga.
Total War Pharaoh is a fun game, but one that lacks ambition. It squanders its potential with meagre gameplay, story, soundtrack, and performance, and fails to add anything of note to the Total War series, or leave an impression of its identity.
Quite frankly, the people leaving any below a 5 for a game are straight-up trolls and overdosed on the "HateTube" phenomenon that has taken over the Total War community on Youtube.
This is a labor of love from CA Sofia that has brought a very in-depth campaign to a great period in history. The battles may seem bland, but the new tactical options you have make things interesting and you always have something new or unique to deal with thanks to dynamic weather and environmental obstacles.
Total War games have become a cash cow for CA to fund other projects that they truly want to make[Hyenas]. They do the bare minimum and expect you to pay full price, and buy inevitable DLC's as well. This is the new installment in Total War series. Over priced DLC that they call a full game. Most of what you see is taken from their other games. I would advice against buying anything from them.
This game is the same as total war troy. But its even more tedious, boring and soulless. Your population is a chore to manage, always unhappy, rebellions all the time. To hard to maintain armies. You have to many resources you need to manage to keep an army. I get why they do it, and its more realistic but its not fun. It feels like a chore... And the different rulers are to few and not really interesting. Also i feel like the UI is terrible, and not very intuitive... Its a poor game. You get bored quick
This is a full priced mod for Total War Saga: Troy. Bronze age is portrayed very poorly. There is no unit and faction diversity. In a historical TW you would expect a real war simulation but this is closer to fantasy titles. CA must accept the fact that this engine is dead for 2023 standarts. They must revolutionise how we interact with the battlefield in coming titles or others will take the lead.
SummaryTotal War: PHARAOH is the newest entry in the award-winning grand strategy series from the developers at Creative Assembly. Experience Ancient Egypt during the vibrant and tumultuous era of the Bronze Age Collapse and master dynamic real-time battles and turn-based empire management to rise above your adversaries and become Egypt's last ...