Pharaoh (video game)

The game features two modes of play – campaign and free-build. In campaign mode, players focus on establishing cities during different periods of Ancient Egypt, initially working on nomad settlements, before being entrusted with building up trade centres, grand cities and monuments for various Ancient Egyptian leaders. As campaign mode progresses, players earn promotions until they become the Pharaoh themselves. Players operate in five periods of Ancient Egyptian history (six with the inclusion of Cleopatra), with the first period acting as a basic tutorial. In later periods, players get a choice between two missions, usually peaceful and military alternatives, but only one of the two needs to be completed to move on in the campaign.

In free-build mode, players are given a choice of around a dozen standalone scenarios. Some do not have win conditions, allowing open-ended "sandbox" city-building, whereas others present goals to attain. A map editor is provided with the game to facilitate the creation of user-designed scenarios for this mode.

The Pharaoh interface

Pharaoh simulates many aspects of Egyptian life and city management. While many of the elements of the game, from housing to industry, are borrowed from Caesar III, the game distinguishes itself with differences and new features.[5] For example, after housing plots are designated, immigrants can move into them and build their residences. Housing will automatically be improved, including in appearance, when demands for goods, services and desirable surroundings are fulfilled.[5] While Population, Prosperity and Culture are retained in the game, Favor is renamed as "Kingdom" and maintains the same function in that the score is based upon the ruling Pharaoh's view on a player's performance (this later becomes the wider countries' view once the player becomes Pharaoh themselves). Peace is replaced with a new goal, "Monument", which focuses on a player's efforts to establish the monuments needed within their city; players will usually be given the knowledge of the monuments they need to build during a briefing of their next mission.

In terms of farming, floodplain farms are a new feature built near the Nile River.[5] A further addition is the use of Irrigation Ditches to increase the fertility of farmland. Fishers operate in boats, usually situated in the Nile. Hunting is a new feature in Pharaoh; animals to be hunted are present on the game map. A wide variety of raw materials and manufactured goods are available in Pharaoh. Materials include clay, which is manufactured into pottery; reeds, which are manufactured into papyrus;[6] and various types of stone.[7] Both raw materials and goods can be traded with other cities in exchange for currency. On some city maps, the raw materials necessary to produce certain goods are unavailable, so importing sometimes expensive materials is necessary. Exports are often necessary to produce money for city finances.[5]

Much like the Senate building of Caesar III, the palace operates as the main treasury of the city. While architects operate out of their own building like Caesar III, fire and crime prevention are done by two separate buildings and walkers – firehouses and fire marshals, and police stations and constables. Players may also build Courthouses. Another new feature to the series, monuments from Ancient Egyptian history can be built on a variety of missions. Such projects require various worker facilities and building materials[6] and, unlike most other buildings, take time to be built.[7]

The game has five gods to appease, who each focus on a different aspect of the city – Ra (the kingdom), Bast (the home), Osiris (agriculture), Ptah (industry) and Seth (warfare). Each city is given one or several of the gods to worship: one is the patron god of the city, while the others are local deities. Players can construct shrines, temples or temple complexes to appease the gods. Like in Caesar III, the gods bestow gifts when they are appeased and disasters when they are angered, depending on their focus; for example, Osiris can improve the flooding of the Nile and increase crop yields, but can also decrease the quality of the Nile's annual flooding.[6]

Fighting Egypt's enemies is a secondary element of the game.[5] Pharaoh features three different unit types: infantry, archers and chariot riders. A player's city can be attacked by enemy forces, usually multiple times over the course of a mission. Troops can also be sent to help fellow Egyptian armies in battles outside the city. A new feature to Pharaoh is naval combat. Players have access to two types of ships – transports, which ferry ground troops across water, and warships, which fight enemy ships that arrive in the region.[8]

The game also leaves out certain aspects from Caesar III, such as large bridges and inability to traverse large bodies of water other than by ferry.[5][7]

Pharaoh garnered mainly positive reviews, with an average rating of 82.45% on GameRankings.[9] Daniel Erickson reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Pyramid building and floodplain management come together for a brilliant city builder."[11]

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Pharaoh as a finalist for "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction" for the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, which ultimately was given to Final Fantasy VIII. [13]

In the German market, Pharaoh debuted at #4 on Media Control's computer game sales charts in the second half of November 1999.[14] It had spent six weeks in the top rankings by the end of the year, with a fifth-place finish in December.[15] The following year, Pharaoh continued at #5 in January and secured sixth for February.[16] In April 2000, the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) presented the game with a "Gold" award,[17] indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[18] It remained in Media Control's top 10 by August 2000,[19] and in the top 20 through November. By that time, Pharaoh had held in the firm's top 30 for 13 months.[20]

Pharaoh became a worldwide hit. According to MeriStation, its combined global sales with Caesar III surpassed 1 million units by July 2000.[21]

The next game in City Building series, Zeus: Master of Olympus, was released in 2000. The game features a number of changes, including being set in Ancient Greece as well as changes to certain gameplay mechanics; however, it is considered to be in most aspects very similar to Pharaoh.[23][24][25] In 2004, another game in the series was set in Ancient Egypt: Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile.

A remake titled Pharaoh: A New Era was announced in August 2020 by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu. Early development planned new code for modern computer systems and an updated user interface, and to include the campaign modes from both Pharaoh and the Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile expansion.[26][27] The remake was released on February 15, 2023.[4]

Nebuchadnezzar (2021)[28][29][30] and Builders of Egypt (TBA)[31][32][33] have been compared to Pharaoh as being similar in gameplay and setting.