Total War: PHARAOH Reviews
Dull warfare mars a fascinating battle for supremacy during the late Bronze Age collapse.
Total War: Pharaoh's interesting battles complement an impressively rich campaign centered on the Late Bronze Age Collapse.
Total War: Pharaoh's battles may be limited by history, but Creative Assembly compensates for this with a complex, thematic, and highly dynamic campaign.
A Total War game proves not to be the best way to explore one of the most fascinating periods in ancient history, with boring real-time battles dragging down positive changes to the grand strategy elements.
Ultimately, Total War: Pharaoh is an attempt to provide an accessible experience that delivers what feels like an abridged version of a world history course. Most of the systems in Pharaoh offer glimpses of greatness, but aren’t deep or refined enough to deliver a memorable grand strategy experience. Creative Assembly’s take on the Bronze Age is not thematic enough to engage a novice, but not accurate or expansive enough to appeal to Total War veterans, leaving us with a Total War title that’s unlikely to stand the test of time.
In the end, Total War: Pharaoh stands atop the pyramids of grand-scale RTS. It takes the franchise in a bold new direction, adding a slew of new systems and features that enhance the gameplay. Despite choosing to play it safe with battles, the new systems are a big step forward. And while it has its flaws, Pharaoh features one of the best campaigns yet in an exciting and beautiful setting.
Pharaoh is a solid new entry in the Total War series, although it lacks some ambition. If all you wanted was some fun playing as a general in a Bronze Age setting, you'd probably be satisfied here, but if you were waiting for the next big thing, you'd have to wait a bit more.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Total War: Pharaoh lets you play your way, and throws a lot at you to deal with. Fans will lap it up once they get to grips with its new mechanics.
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.
Every single change Pharaoh makes to Troy is for the better, and some changes are so good that it's going to be difficult to play any Total War without them going forward. But the fundamental issues of Total War - mainly enemy battle AI - are far too entrenched to fix in a few years, and the bronze age setting doesn't allow for enough unit variation to make up for them.
From a brand-new campaign with exciting new features to a battle system that has been shaken up with new mechanics, Total War: Pharaoh has a lot to offer players looking for a new strategy experience to sink their teeth into. Some of its unique features may feel a bit bland, but it makes up for it by offering players unprecedented freedom to shape game and history how they see fit. And even though it may be smaller than Total War: Warhammer 3, it is still a worthy entry in this iconic franchise.
Total War: Pharaoh introduces a number of great new systems and mechanics for the long-running strategy franchise, and there's plenty of fun to be had staving off an ancient apocalypse, but a large number of bugs bring down the experience.
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.
Total War: Pharaoh is a successful return to pure history for the series. While some may not like aspects, such as a limited unit variety and a map that can feel a little narrow in areas, the gameplay is enhanced across the board thanks to a variety of features, increased tactical options in combat, and more.
A splendid campaign mode with many systems working in conjunction to offer a varied experience without losing the focus on the military conquest. Few cavalry units are partly compensated by a renewed attention to different types of infantry, but to be honest I do miss a good old cataphract charge.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Total War: Pharaoh is truly a return in style for the famous saga of real-time strategy games.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Like its predecessors, Total War Pharaoh is extremely time-consuming. It delivers a truly colossal punch. In addition to being visually very pleasing, it has the luxury of offering numerous new features in terms of gameplay, which fit perfectly into the setting of Ancient Egypt.
Review in French | Read full review
Old issues return and some of its new ideas are less effective than others, but Total War: Pharaoh remains a strong and exciting addition to the series' historical catalog.
I can’t say that Total War: Pharaoh is a bad game. It’s simply the same well-known game that was spruced up (again) and sold for a full price. But if you wait for a discount, Creative Assembly’s newest game should deliver dozens of hours of fun.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Total War: Pharaoh isn't a terrible game, but it's definitely not the grand return to the heyday of historical Total War games that fans have been desperately waiting for.