Developed by Triskell Interactive and published by Dotemu, Pharaoh: A New Era is a top-down, isometric city-building simulator set within ancient Egypt. The player takes control of their own house, where they are responsible for ensuring the survival and eventual thriving of their family house, going from founding a small village to constructing a mighty empire that rivals all others. But after over 20 years between the original release and this new remake, does Pharaoh: A New Era stand the test of time?
PROS:
The main difference between the original version of this game and A New Era, is the graphics, which have been completely redone with meticulous detail to both brighten up and refresh the game into a more modern feel, as well as keep the original essence that the 1999 release had. Essentially, the game’s revamped graphics do wonders to keep the game feeling a lot like it was back in the 90’s, while also giving it that modern flair. The game is vibrant and eye-catching, and the designs are inspired and draw you into this world that took place so long ago. It truly is a marvel compared to a lot of other games of the genre today.
The music and sound design also do wonders to help draw the player into the land of the Nile. The game boasts beautifully rendered, authentic music that elevates the player’s immersion while also being crisp and modern. The sounds the game make throughout gameplay also accomplish this. As the player builds their city, the sounds of crickets and cicadas are replaced with the sounds of industry and commerce: coins jangling, hammering a nail into wood, the chatter of miscellaneous passers-by. All of this culminates into an experience that helps push the game’s main idea, that this is a city that you are building, and as such this city is alive and moves at a separate region than you the player do. In a way, it is detaching in the best way, as you play as a pharaoh who is only focused on building a successful empire rather than the wills of the people.
It also helps that the game is actually fun to play as well. Regardless of what others might say about remasters of old games, there are reasons they are remastered, which is that they are worth playing even after all this time. Pharaoh: A New Era is one of those games, and the standard gameplay loops present within this game give all the more incentive to try it. The game starts with a region of the map available for the player to build upon, with a road passing through the region. The player then builds houses for people to live in, water wells for people to drink from, and buildings to process and distribute food to said people to eat from. This is seemingly simple, but the game puts a lot of emphasis on where you place your buildings. Water too far from your houses? Your citizens don’t have access to it. Build a food processing building too close to the houses? The citizens are unhappy about it. It is all about finding a balance between what you want and where to put it. This game mechanics illustrates the difficulties of city management today, let alone 5,000 years agon.
CONS:
And while this game is rather fun to play, and the art and sound design are superb, the game is still a 20-year-old game. And while this game is a rather good 20-year-old game, the age does show in its GUI and its difficulty. The game is rather difficult to grasp when picking up. The first couple of levels serve as tutorials, but the instructions often result in the player being expected to redo everything from the previous level instantly without any repeat instructions. This is further exacerbated by the complex and confusing GUI. The GUI looks to be modeled after the 1990 version instead of crafting a brand-new GUI. With a clunky GUI and a difficult learning curve, this game will deter any casual players and instead will be best played by the veterans of the game and series.
CONCLUSION:
In total, Pharaoh: A New Era is a really good remaster at a really difficult-to-understand game. The redone art and music/sound design really make the player feel as though they are transported to the plains of the Nile in Egypt while the gameplay boasts some intricate designs while being hindered by the game’s original roots. All in all, if you are a fan of city-sim games, I would highly recommend this game, as it offers more than most in the genre if what you are looking for is engaging gameplay and a lot of it.
SCORE: 7.5/10
Pharaoh: A New Era is available for $22.99 for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Matthew White
An avid gamer, Matthew is also an aspiring game developer. Because of this, Matthew knows not only what makes a game great, but also the hard work and artistry required to craft such a phenomenal experience.
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