Total War: Pharaoh announced

[The_J]

Today, Sega has announced the newest title in the Total War franchise, Total War: Pharaoh.
Fans of the series will not be suprised: Total War: Pharaoh continues with everything what belongs to Total War, so a turn-based overview map and real-time battles. The game will have 8 playable factions, of which Egypt, the Hittites and Canaanites are already known. The game will come in 3 different editions, on different price tiers, of which the last will already include 3 DLC factions and a DLC campaign. There are also pre-order bonuses, and a physical edition will come as well.
Total War: Pharaoh is scheduled to be released in October 2023.

For further information, please see the following links:
- https://pharaoh.totalwar.com/news/announce-faq/
- https://store.totalwar.com/en/total-war/total-war-pharaoh

 

[Quintillus]

@The_J The title/description is missing the "h" in Pharoah. I checked to make sure that wasn't correct in British English either, and it looks like the "h" has been present since 1611 with the publishing of the King James Bible. Although that means you would be correct in Elizabethan times... are you a medievalist by chance?

But this is exciting! And pretty soon all things considered. I'm all about history over fantasy, so I've been disappointed with the general direction Total War has taken over the last 8 years or so - Three Kingdoms but also three Warhammers. I've really been hoping for a Medieval III, but this also looks pretty exciting and is new historical ground in an era that should play to Total War's strengths in hand-to-hand combat and chariotry (I could never get into Napoleon as much with its gunpowder).

The trailer doesn't really say anything about the game, but the FAQ does. Eight playable factions from three cultures - so it looks like the Egyptians, Hittites, and Canaanites are the playable faction. Though they already indicate there will be three faction DLCs, and a campaign one, which isn't surprising as Rome II followed a similar pattern. I see Kush as roughly the southern area of the preview of the printed map, which makes sense.

And it says it'll take place at the time of the Bronze Age Collapse. Certainly an interesting choice. Will we see Sea Peoples? I would expect so.

Still limited to two-player co-op, which is a bummer, I could sell copies to friends a lot more easily if multiplayer supported even one or two more factions. I guess we'll have to keep playing Civilization when we have larger groups.

Also interesting that Arabic isn't among the fairly extensive list of languages they plan to support. I would have thought the Arabic market, including Egypt, would be an obvious area to try to expand their audience given the theme.

 

[Civinator]

@The_J The title/description is missing the "h" in Pharoah.

 

[The_J]

@The_J The title/description is missing the "h" in Pharoah. I checked to make sure that wasn't correct in British English either, and it looks like the "h" has been present since 1611 with the publishing of the King James Bible. Although that means you would be correct in Elizabethan times... are you a medievalist by chance?

I'm just German, there it's different .
Thanks, fixed .

And this indeed looks a lot more interesting than the Warhammer titles. But I guess we as a community are anyways biased ^^.

 

[TempusFugit]

This sounds very cool! With a name like “Total War: Pharaoh”, I was expecting an ahistorical representation of the Ancient Egyptians set around the time of the Roman Empire, but this bronze age setting sounds so much better.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Oh, wow!! Something to look forward to, especially as someone who binged on ImpressionGames' Pharaoh in high school.

 

[Quintillus]

I was also thinking at first, is this going to be Rome III but with a geographic focus on Egypt? I am also glad that it won't be. We don't need a successor in that time period yet anyway.

I wonder if they'll eventually also have expansions in the Old Kingdom or other areas of Egyptian history? Probably if Total War series history is an indication. And that wouldn't be a bad thing either, so long as the core Bronze Age experience is well-baked and solid.

 

[The_J]

Reviews seems somewhat mixed, if I see that right.

 

[The_J]

After having already made a great effort with art for the release of Humankind, SEGA has now again commissioned great art for the release of Total War: Pharaoh. This time SEGA gives us a range of sand sculptures, from the Sphinx to the pyramids over status of the pharaohs. Check out this article by PCGamesN for more pictures.

 

[Quintillus]

Has anyone picked this up?

It fell off my radar after its release, and apparently off other peoples' as well. Mixed reviews in relatively low quantity for a Total War game, and the price has already been cut (not just on sale, but base price cut) from $60 to $40. Which does make it less of a commitment to pick up, would've fit into my Steam holiday sale budget at that price had I not already forgotten about it.

If you have picked it up, would you recommend it?

 

[Kyriakos]

I heard it wasn't popular with the TW players.
The original game allowing only very few countries to be played - and most of the map being grey - didn't help.
But apparently there wasn't even much of an interest in this time period.

 

[Quintillus]

I heard it wasn't popular with the TW players.
The original game allowing only very few countries to be played - and most of the map being grey - didn't help.
But apparently there wasn't even much of an interest in this time period.

That's along the lines of what I've heard. An expectation mismatch between the branding as a mainline Total War game, and the scope of prior ones (and the scopes of the lower-price Sagas).

And yeah, for the time period... (searches previous posts)

I've really been hoping for a Medieval III

I'm sure I wasn't the only one. There were probably some hoping for Rome III or Empire II or Shogun III as well, but Medieval almost surely was the top wish list item given that Medieval II has been current since 2006, and IMO was one of the best ones. And even aside from that, while I think you could have a great Bronze Age Total War game (although how can the Assyrians be left out!), it is a less prominent time period in popular knowledge.

Still looking for: A CivFanatic who has tried Pharoah and can comment on it for what it does offer, rather than what it unfortunately lacks. Should I play Pharoah after I finish my Attila campaign, or would I be better served by picking up, say, Thrones of Brittania?

 

[Quintillus]

The map expansion (which is a free update) to Pharoah is arriving on Thursday.

I'm at least somewhat interested; the reviews indicate that the mechanics are solid, but the map was underwhelming. If the map will be fixed, does that imply the potential for a really good Total War game?