Here is a graph I made to show the amount of mechanics in two games: And the complexity of this task is far more superior in the Egyptian edition then it is in the Greek edition. The center of all these management games is to keep increasing the population while fulfilling their needs. The mechanics that got kinda butchered in Zeus. While I love Zeus for its aesthetics, the main reason I love Pharaoh is the mechanics. It’s a great way to show the player the progress and the growth of their city, as every new temple, stage, school, and a noble house sends a person to the festival. There is a sense of accomplishment in watching the festival square flooded with entertainers, priests, and scribes when you know that your first festival only had a couple of priests and a juggler. The Caesar didn’t have a visual feedback for these activities, as far as know, while later games after Pharaoh changed their approach to religion. Trust me, the satisfaction payoff is huge.Īnother thing that I enjoyed while playing Pharaoh, were the festivals dedicated to the gods. That way, once the great projects are finished, you have a prosperous city at their feet for that perfect screenshot. Actually, I started the medium pyramid in the middle of the playthrough and it got finished faster than the big pyramid… So, where is the fun? Surely not in watching this snail race? I find that the pleasure is hidden in building your city around these giants. The pyramids in my screenshots were built for so long that I finished shaping my city to the form I wanted and I STILL had to speed up the game and wait for around 30 more years for construction to be done. These beasts take a tremendous time to create. So what makes Pharaoh unique? The signature of this game, the way I see it, is the monument projects. Hell, most of any builder games are based on this loop. This game also has an expansion called Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile that brought in some interesting monument projects to the game.īuild houses to get the population -> employ the population to create the food, goods, and services -> the houses get bigger (thus increasing the population) and give more tax income as they get the access to the food, goods, and servicesĪll of the games in the series are based on this loop. This is the 4th game in the series made by Impression Games and published by Sierra Entertainment. In this game, you become the administrator of various cities in ancient Egypt. Next stop on our journey through time is Pharaoh from 1999. Free WordPress doesn’t allow enlarging images separately, unfortunate Note: To see the screenshots properly you have to enlarge the whole page.

Pharaoh cleopatra game layout