Total War: PHARAOH Reviews
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.
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.
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
Total War: PHARAOH is a smashing success as a grand strategy game and brings the hit franchise to a new historical era. Fascinating leaders and subplots with mechanics to match help make each play session fresh and enjoyable.
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
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.
Review in German | Read full review
Once you master the complexities of its systems, pulling off your master plans in Total War Pharaoh is immensely satisfying!
Total War: PHARAOH confirms expectations and delivers one of the best titles in the Total War series in recent years. Although its battles are logically slower and less spectacular compared to the great fantasies of the WARHAMMER trilogy, at no point do they prove less exciting or addictive. To top it off, we still have one of the most interesting campaigns in the series, with several branches and customization options capable of extending the game's lifespan for months and years on end. Becoming pharaoh (or king of the Hittites) is only half the battle; The story of Egypt's reconstruction is more complex than it seems. We, the players, benefit from this.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Total War: Pharaoh's battles may be limited by history, but Creative Assembly compensates for this with a complex, thematic, and highly dynamic campaign.
Total War: Pharaoh's interesting battles complement an impressively rich campaign centered on the Late Bronze Age Collapse.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Is Total War Pharaoh a worthy successor to the historical franchise? Yes. Total War: Pharaoh takes more steps forwards than back, and I can live with that. At least, it didn’t crash and burn like so many civilizations it portrays, so that’s something.
Total War Pharoah doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does introduce a handful of promising and sometimes deep new ways to approach the familiar formula. Combat is still hit-and-miss, but the approach to history and empire-building are among the best in the Total War series.
Overall, despite its shortcomings with performance and AI pathing, Total War: Pharaoh has been one of the most enjoyable Total War games I’ve played for quite some time. Its refined focus on a smaller period of history has allowed for experimentation elsewhere, with dynamic weather and terrain, resource generation on the campaign map, and a wave-based invasion system with the Sea Peoples that constantly keeps you guessing. I hope that some of these mechanics can be taken and expanded on for future, main series releases for Total War.
As a whole, Total War: Pharaoh is more than a capable entry into a storied franchise, with the grand strategy elements much more intriguing than before. While it fails to match up in bloody battles when compared to Warhammer or Three Kingdoms, everything else maintains that level of quality that fans know and love. Just like entering a new age, the game is still in its nascent days, and it has plenty of room to capitalise on its potential, we can only hope that’s the case in the coming days.