Several weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to attend an event for Sega and Creative Assembly’s perennial strategy series, Total War. I could watch and then get my hands on an early build of their latest historical title, Pharaoh, and even though it was a small slice, I still came away from it impressed and eager for more. Total War: Pharaoh is the newest historical title in the lineup. After going deep into fantasy with Total Warhammer III and such a colossal map, Total War: Pharaoh brings the entire franchise forward with some great new features and enriches the moment-to-moment gameplay by adding more depth and nuance to its returning ones. Check out our full Total War: Pharaoh impressions below.
A Bronze Age Beatdown
It’s felt like forever since we’ve had a straightforward historical Total War, and it felt like a relatively new experience for me. Between Warhammer III’s magical fantasy and Three Kingdoms’s over-the-top but fun Romance mode, I was worried that back-to-basics grounded gameplay would feel lacking. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
The setting is fascinating and has never been done before in a Total War title. Taking the battle to the collapse of the Bronze Age in Egypt makes for a captivating campaign, as technology is decent but still stripped down enough for basic unit composition to truly matter, and the new enhanced weather conditions demand your utmost attention. Each leader vying for legitimacy also makes for a nice twist on the meta for campaign strategy. Regarding battle, maps seemed more extensive than usual, but that could be due to the environment affecting troop movement significantly during combat. The new and improved dynamic weather system is incredible and my favorite new combat mechanic and strategic element. Choosing to battle during a sandstorm if you have a melee-heavy army is a brilliant idea since you can safely move against ranged units. By the time the storm would clear, you would be on top of the enemy, giving them no time to react.
Units are much quicker to respond to commands, and the animations for melee attacks and charges trigger much faster than usual. The unit response time leads to a very snappy pace for the combat, as units can engage and disengage quickly and precisely, which allows more time for planning around the elements and ensuring proper position during battle. Siege AI also seemed like a big step up, as during my 50-turn campaign, I had multiple defense siege battles that felt good, and the AI didn’t fall for the usual set of traps I could set for them in prior games.
A Refined Campaign Experience
The campaign map was not as groundbreaking or “different” as what a veteran would come to expect, but it still has some fun ideas. The concept of placing new buildings that exist outside your main settlement leads to new combat scenarios. Starving somebody out or laying siege to a fortress before attacking the central city is a viable option and one the AI is just as keen to take advantage of. The new court legitimacy seemed like a fun concept but not one I could explore in-depth in the limited demo I played.
The last major thing I want to speak on is Campaign Customization. This feature is designed to soothe frustrations usually smoothed over or mitigated by mods. This new system resembles rules and sliders you’d get in a sports title. Players can change everything affecting AI, campaign, battle mechanics, and concepts. My favorite change, which I usually like in my Total War mods, is morale. Being able to customize AI gold advantage and how quickly units fold to morale is a big deal, and a handful of custom settings allowed me to create the perfect, ideal campaign scenario to experiment with. It’s one of the best changes added to a Total War in ages and hopefully is a mainstay in all their titles moving forward.
At the end of 50 turns, my Total War: Pharaoh impressions solidified, and all I wanted was just one more turn. I’m curious to see how the mid to late game pans out, as that is where the campaign diplomacy should really shape up. Fans of the series or newcomers looking forward to their first Total War can look forward to a much more in-depth Total War: Pharaoh analysis from The Nerd Stash when it launches this October.
