Total War: Pharaoh is more of a pretender than a true heir
It’s pretty wild to consider the ground the Total War franchise has managed to cover since its inception. With the introduction of the fantasy-focused Warhammer trilogy, and the theatrical Three Kingdoms, developer Creative Assembly has brought its massive strategy franchise to whole new audiences. However, with the exception of the remastered Total War: Rome, this has left many long-time fans of the franchise yearning for a return to Creative Assembly’s historical roots. While Total War: Pharaoh is more grounded than its supernatural cousins, and deploys a slower overall pace, its attempts to bridge accuracy and accessibility leave its Bronze Age campaign and combat feeling a bit dusty when compared to its larger-than-life counterparts.
If, like me, you only have a vague recollection of your high-school world history course, the Bronze Age is that period in human history that brought us bangers like the wheel, written language, and metalworking. While dozens of civilizations coexisted during this time period, for the purposes of Total War: Pharaoh, Creative Assembly has focused primarily on the Hittites, Canaanites, and Egyptians as they existed around the Bronze Age collapse circa 1200 BC.
Total War: Pharaoh most closely resembles Troy: A Total War Saga in its presentation and gameplay. Pharaoh also incorporates some aspects from other entries in the series, like Total War: Attila, and Three Kingdoms. Pharaoh’s campaign is less scripted than some of the more recent entries in the franchise, but it still leans on some long-running conceits of the grand strategy/4X genre. You spend the early stages on the turn-based campaign map expanding your economy and empire before the eruption of a civil war forces you to compete
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