Total War: PHARAOH
In Total War: PHARAOH, the newest entry in the award-winning grand strategy series, immerse yourself in ancient Egypt at the zenith of its power and experience the dramatic events that threaten its destruction.
Total War: PHARAOH is a strategy, rts and grand strategy game
developed by Creative Assembly
and published by SEGA.
Released on October 11th 2023 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 12 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Czech, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Turkish.
It has received 4,930 reviews of which 3,162 were positive and 1,768 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.3 out of 10. 😐
The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam and has a 50% discount.
The Steam community has classified Total War: PHARAOH into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Total War: PHARAOH through various videos and screenshots.
Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
- Processor: Intel i3-2100 / AMD FX-4300
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 / AMD R9 270
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 50 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: macOS 13.4
- Processor: Apple M1 (8‑Core CPU) or better
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Apple M1 (7‑Core GPU) or better
- Storage: 50 GB available space
- Additional Notes: The game is officially supported on all Mac models released since November 2020 with an Apple M1 chip or better. To check your Mac model and when it was released, select About This Mac from the Apple menu on your menu bar.
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I got TWP a year after release and not long after the Dynasties update. I was unsure if the game would perform well on my computer because TWWIII has pretty poor performance. But with the price drop, I thought it was worth it. I've had a lot of fun playing vanilla TWP. The Ramesses III campaign has been fun so far, and I just completed the sea peoples. The aesthetics and immersion of the game is great. The cities look good and the map captures the bronze age aesthetic well. Unit types like chariots look great, and the units are well done too. The battles have some good features. I like the more advanced weather features like the weather changes. Terrain features like mud are also a solid addition, and the units getting covered in muck when fighting in the mud is a nice touch. I've been playing a lot of Shogun, and though Shogun might be my favorite TW game the maps are remarkably more simplistic and one-dimensional. The maps also feel more lived in and alive, as you see the little huts, farms, and canals in Egypt. Canaanite areas feel less developed, but this works for the immersion too to highlight the difference between the different cultures. I like some of the additions to the campaign map too, like outposts. The campaign map feels much more like a real civilization, as opposed to more sparse prior games. Some of the outposts are special archaeological zones too, which I think is a fun addition to the game. Putting the cities in Egyptian names like Mennefer instead of Memphis or Iounu instead of Heliopolis is a nice touch. Some of the cities have special buildings too which make them more strategically interesting. The 4 resource economy is more interesting than the standard TW resource system which is more simplistic. It makes you form more diplomatic relations, and makes trade more interesting. A cash economy is just anachronistic, but also doesnt capture how central economics and logistics are to warfare and strategy. There are downsides to the game of course. The lack of naval warfare is unfortunate, especially considering this was the age where naval warfare is first recorded. This is the invasion of the sea peoples after all, and naval battles on the Nile would be a nice touch. CA has unfortunately abandoned naval warfare in their TW games. It's also odd since I always end up with a surplus of wood, and naval units would be a nice way to spend some of that surplus wood. The sea peoples are overpowered by the end of the crisis since they get massive leadership bonuses and you get massive leadership maluses. This is alright, since it's meant to be a castastrophe, except the Sea Peoples AI doesnt seem to factor this in to when they attack. As a consequence, once the sea peoples invade, they only attack when they have a massive advantage and you are unlikely to win the battle. There would be more compelling siege battles instead of sieges where the Sea Peoples just wait until they can absolutely crush the defenders. Their leadership bonuses also make it a slog to defeat their armies end game because their units take forever to break. One more thing, there's an odd bug where the sea peoples event turns your vassals against you and ruins your reputation. This is not great since it means there's no reason to get vassals before the sea peoples event.
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Note to anyone considering buying this: This game received a massive update doubling the size of its map and adding many new playable factions and features, to the point that it required a separate .exe to run. This new update is listed on Steam on a separate page as 'Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties'. If you want more detailed reviews on the current state of the game, check that page instead. (Review is positive because the Dynasties update was pretty good.)
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On release this game was a bit lacking in content, but with the free Dynasties update it's well worth the asking price. It's perhaps a little arcady in some respects, especially on the campaign map, but it doesn't go quite as far as Warhammer. Pros: - Unique setting. We don't see the bronze age much at all in media, and this colourful imagining of it is very compelling. - Solid battle fundamentals. Tactics are actually rewarded and allow you to punch above your weight. Head-to-head brawls take a while to resolve, but finding ways to tip the scales through flanking, encirclement, missile units, cavalry etc is the fun of the game. - Surprisingly varied roster. Yeah it's mostly dudes with clubs, swords, spears, bows etc but light/medium/heavy infantry actually feel distinct in their roles, and its often worth keeping around low tier units long after you've unlocked the fully armoured up troops. I felt like I had to take more care over the composition of my army than in Warhammer, and that game has dragons and tanks and shit. - Factions feel distinct in how they play. Not only are their rosters different, but their campaign mechanics do a good job of distinguishing between. Cons: - AI is still a bit crap. This is a problem in most Total War games. Here it's less of an issue in some ways because there are no complex units like artillery to misuse, but in other ways its more obvious because things like flanking are incredibly potent and the AI just can't grasp the fundamentals. - Difficulty is very frontloaded. Again, a problem in most Total Wars. If you manage to survive your starting area and get a few provinces under your control you'll probably begin to snowball. It's a shame that by the time you become a late-game power there won't be much else to challenge you.
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For someone who thought the game would suck, I did enjoy playing it. THE GOOD THINGS: 1. Unit Variety - Although it needs more, I was under the impression that the base game would be like shogun 2 where factions would just have same units with different colored jerseys so I was quite happy there is actually different units available. 2. Great Map Designs - I love seeing the details of the houses, Large battle maps and different elevations. The settlements are truly wonderful. The designs are so beautiful to look at. 3. Court System, Legacies, Local Deities, Traditions - all adds to a layer of play style in the campaign. You can do politics, be a Merchant, Build Ancient Wonders, Plan an attack for a siege, and more. 4. Fully Customization of Campaign Rules - This one really made me appreciate the game, allowing you to do change rules at the start of every campaign and not relying on mods like, 0 morale, 100% replenishment, upkeep cost and so much more. You can even adjust some of the settings while playing the campaign, like morale, upkeep, etc. 5. Removal of Victory Point Timer - I hated that an army can capture your city center and win by standing there for 2 mins. Now it is gone. 6. More Graphic options - They added, Live preview of changes you make on the Graphics settings which makes it easier for you to tweak the options, even now allowing you to change arrow trail lengths. The settings now is more detailed and comprehensive. 7. Dynamic Weather - having 2 weathers in 1 battle is amazing, one moment the enemy is dominating you with a large number of archers and a sandstorm or a thunderstorm comes in the middle of the battle and the tide suddenly change to your favor. It adds opportunities for strategies. 8. New Unit Commands - I have been waiting since Empire for them to add more unit actions in battles and though it is not much, they added advance, formation retreat and other stances which made battles more interesting. 9. Outposts - gives more area in the map to attack and defend and gives bonuses. It also makes the map populated instead of seeing a large area of no structures. 10. Photo Mode - Changing Weather - This new feature is amazing, allowing you to change the weather, lighting and time of day is so much fun. There were times I wanted to just play on a bright sunny noon to see all details, and others when I change it to night so the vibe would be different. Or changing it to rain to feel the struggle of the men fighting. 11. More Battle map area type effects - being in the trees really help you counter mounted units or arrow fires, Mud slows down and hinders fighting abilities of heavier units, and much more. 12. Useful Victory Point bonuses - Armor repair, Stamina Recovery, Hit-point replenishment. THE BAD THINGS: 1. Same old AI - now with the advent of AI and ChatGPT I hope they can improve the Battle AI so it acts like a human with actual strategies on the map. 2. Not a Popular Time period or Faction 3. No Naval Battles 4. No Cavalry (which was saved by mods) 5. Faction & Unit Variety is more than expected but not enough yet. - Due to the location and scale of the campaign map, we only get similar culture of people. A theme weakness. WHAT I WANT TO SEE IN THE FUTURE: 1. More Unit Commands - sadly because of the same game engine being used, we are trapped with no new features in battles. When the new engine comes out I want to see more unit commands that do something else, Like the advance and retreat features in Pharaoh and more of that moving forward and more formations. 2. More dynamic Siege Battles - Like archers resupplying in battle, They could add a victory point in Siege battles that resupply ammos. Return the oil in the gates, or throwing rocks to climbers. Make the siege battles more organic with how the units interact with the walls and not look like robots on the battlements or in ladders. 2 level siege battles also are fun where you could retreat to a second defense. 3. Street & House Battles - They should add the feature in empire where soldiers could go into houses and apply it to future games. There should be new animation and commands to fight in houses, around them and in the narrow paths. 4. No more unit Blobbing - unit blobbing kills the vibe, it is so unnatural. Soldiers should have spaces between them especially those waiting at the back. and make them react to whats happening around them. Archers flanks a unit and the unit stays looking the other way while being shot at. 5. More battle and kill animations 6. Cavalry fights - when cavalry fights, they should be constantly moving and not stand around like melee units do. it's like a series of jousting where cavalry would circle and run before hitting another person in a horse. atleast 50% of the units should do that. 7. 2 Turn / 2 level Siege battles - imagine having 2 turn siege battles, when you breach the first wall and the enemy routes, the 1st battle will end and you need to wait another turn to attack the Inner walls. This will add another layer to major city battles and also give enemy or yourself another turn to send in reinforcements. I'm a Rome I total war fan and stopped playing after Warhammer I. I was waiting for the return of Historical Titles but when Britannia came out, there was a lot of bad reviews that I did not even bother playing it. Next news for me was Troy Total war and also came with a bad review. It did come out free so I was able to get my hands on it but did not actually play it until a month ago, and finished it. It was a decent game especially after the mods saved it. Now with Pharaoh it is the same again, nobody was happy since fans are waiting for a Medieval III or Empire II release after the fantasy genre, but after Troy I needed a new game so I tried it. It might not be ground breaking but I like the game & it's new features. Of course the mods have to save it again, and although it might not be historically accurate but the Cavalry Mod is a must on Pharaoh. It adds Cavalry units to the game and you get to enjoy it like Medieval.
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Look, it's not that bad. It's wildly overpriced (Saga: Troy was a bigger game) but it's interesting enough for a few playthroughs. But CA, I don't know how else to put this, since you're just not listening. WE WANT MEDIEVAL 3. Fuck all your other games. WE WANT MEDIEVAL 3. We're CRYING OUT for Medieval 3. It's not rocket science. Every new strategy game that releases has a Medieval/Euurope mod, or is that way inclined. Look at the hype for Manor Lord ffs. How else do you need this put? MAKE MEDIEVAL 3 and I'm not buying another title from you until you do. Ta ta.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 18 November 2024 02:06 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 20 December 2024 01:42 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 12:50 |
| Steam reviews | 23 December 2024 16:00 |
Online players
115
Developer
Creative Assembly
Publisher
SEGA
Release
11 Oct 2023
Platforms
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