Another great project in the series

Total War: PHARAOH, developed by Creative Assembly and distributed by SEGA, will be released on Oct 10, 2023, and is available for Microsoft Windows and macOS.

Total War: PHARAOH is a turn-based strategy game with strong RPG elements and management of resources and armies, set in Egypt in its golden age, controlling pharaohs seeking absolute conquest, with the player's choices being very important for the coordination of their empire and army, directly impacting the course of the game.



The introduction for novice players

First, I had the opportunity to choose what my affinity was with the Total War universe, so I chose that it would be my first contact to have access to the most complete tutorials, which surprised me a lot, as the instructions were very direct and at the same time very detailed, full of dialogues and cinematic that appear as things happen, as well as indicating the respective paths through the game interface. 

At a certain point, the tutorials merge with the actual start of the game, and the transition between the guides and the development of the game is very organic; I felt well-guided and soon became familiar with the whole dynamic. 

Personally, I believe that a complete initial experience is excellent, especially for beginners, as it provides a comfortable experience without being overloaded with endless dialogues and without a proper presentation of the game interface.   The principle of making decisions that may or may not be promising is that the game's mechanics don't punish that much initially. 

The game itself is very complex, an undeniable aspect of this style, which can cause frustration. Despite several elements that require administration, reading the guides and listening to what the narrator or instructor has to say is very important. I say instructor because one of the mechanics present involves an advisor to the pharaoh, who gives excellent tips on what to do. As such, the experience that Total War: PHARAOH brings is very immersive. 

Total War has dictated the rules and styles followed by other games to this day, such as Age of Wonders and Civilization, and this release certainly follows the quality standards that fans are already accustomed to, with a setting and theme that strive for unparalleled fidelity to the historical factors of the time. 

The game itself has a very slow and cadenced pace, but it's not an exhausting or tedious characteristic. Despite the amount of information added, the learning curve is large, but it's also developed naturally. The simple fact of playing makes us understand the proposal and considerably improves our decision-making. Everything is presented at the right time and in a way that seeks not to overwhelm the players, especially newcomers. 

As you'd expect from Total War, the story is part of the background, with a large part of its development based on historical facts. It's up to the player to develop them; the decisions we make, the battles we fight, whether manual or automatic, everything has a consequence, since the main objective of the game is to become a conqueror.



Mercy, slavery, or massacre? You decide.

The difficulty of the game is a point that varies; wrong decisions will hurt you, and right decisions will benefit you. The game's interface, however, has indications of your strength against the strength of your enemy to start combat, basically the odds of winning or losing, which makes it a little easier to make certain decisions. But make no mistake, combat, although very important, is not everything.   The question of the economy and functions of the game is a point that can also make the game easier or more difficult. 

During the first few hours of the game, as I said earlier, it won't be as punishing, but the enemies also get stronger and our choices weigh more heavily and dictate the difficulty of everything, which for me is a very positive point because even though it makes the game very complex, it requires us to be calm and reasoned to make decisions and choices. 

For example, what you decide to do when you conquer a village or a city is a weighty decision since you decide whether to plunder and kill them, turn them into slaves, or force them to ally themselves with your empire, which has a direct impact on their morale, their resources, and their allies, all of which weigh on the game and your decision-making.

Total War: PHARAOH, in general, is a lot of fun. What impressed me most about the game are the battles, not because it's a turn-based game, which it naturally is, but because this feature is cinematically exploited, there are lots of units to move around, lots of resources, and decisions to be made, and for those who aren't so interested in combat, the game gives you the option of doing it automatically, using the army strength prediction I mentioned above.



Experiencing great historical feats

In Total War: PHARAOH, you have various explanatory texts, menus, tabs for selecting items, attributes, troop management, city management, and diplomacy. All this is combined with a wonderful Egyptian setting and great historical figures. 

The game delivers an enviable immersion; the use of the isometric camera is the standard during much of the gameplay; we can see various details that are excellent additions to the package of qualities offered; what I liked most were the details of the scenery and the troops; the use of characteristic costumes; and how the points that interest us stand out amid the entire world generated. 

As this is a tactical game, camera control is essential for accessing useful information, especially when positioning troops and moving units during hand-to-hand combat. 

The controls are easy to adapt to, and you can do everything with the mouse. 

The game is localized in several languages, and this is a very good point for bringing in new players.



A journey through time packed with wars and strategies

My experience with Total War: PHARAOH was excellent, with great emphasis on the visual and historical fidelity of Egypt. The immersion provided by the battles and resource management, as well as its very well-crafted graphics, are characteristics that make it another great title in this acclaimed series. 

Overall, the game gave me great experiences and hours of fun, and I definitely recommend it, even for beginners, but especially for those who already love the style. 

It's worth mentioning that the soundtrack and voice acting are also very good; the voices match the characters, and the regional theme songs are very interesting, making the experience very enjoyable.



For this review, the game was experienced on PC, using the Steam platform. Thanks to SEGA for providing the access key.