Total War: Pharaoh – Into the Bronze Age

The developer Creative Assembly has created Total War: Pharaoh, which explores what it was like to be a leader during the Bronze Age collapse. Would-be rulers can choose a leader from three factions: Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hittite.

Overall, the aesthetics of the game are excellent. When one previews Total War: Pharaoh, there comes a concern that the unit models would need to be more complex. However, the release build seems to be much better.

A great first impression is created by the skybox, the color palette, the sound effects, and the background music. One is reminded of various Egyptian movies with long shots of characters traversing vast deserts.

Some combat animations may not move correctly when a leader uses a sword during the scenes to auto-resolve combat, but the spear animations look great. The background music is a joy to listen to.

My expectations for a Total War game are low, but I didn’t expect an extensive campaign story full of cutscenes. What I have seen so far has been underwhelming, even with my already low expectations.

While playing Total War: Pharoah, I found the combat to be very fun. The dynamic weather system added a new dimension to manual combat that I enjoyed. Planning the army’s route to avoid exhaustion before entering combat was also fun.

I quickly switched over to autocomplete during the mid to late game unless a particular battle seemed especially fascinating. I think there are still some new battle maps that look great, especially for specific cities and weather effects

Outposts became my greatest ally as I conquered provinces. If I planned my route properly, I could quickly reach an invading army with outposts that restored 50% of my movement.

Combined with Ramesses’ ability to attack while marching without cooldown, I was able to wipe out many armies before they had a chance to make much damage. I started using forts since they were involved in nearby fights.