Pharaoh: A New Era Critic Reviews

It’s obvious that Pharaoh: A New Era was a labor of love by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu. I am sure there wasn’t a massive demand for this title, but there are some die hard fans out there (like me) who enjoyed and appreciated this game beyond comprehension. It keeps the heart and soul of the original Pharaoh, while making just enough tweaks to improve upon a timeless classic. The nostalgia factor is high on this one, and if you liked any of the late 90s to early 2000 city-building titles, then picking up Pharaoh: A New Era is a must. My only request: please consider remastering Zeus & Poseidon!

Pharaoh: A New Era is a great remake of a classic city-building title. The first three Caesars might have established the formula for the historic side of the genre, but the first Pharaoh refined it and impressed with its pyramid and other monument building. A New Era captures that magic and brings it up to modern standards.

After becoming familiar with its systems, Pharaoh offers tremendous city building flexibility and a plethora of challenges unseen in any other city builder. A New Era has introduced numerous quality of life features found in contemporary city building titles to an already solid classic. From sandbox to successive dynasties, with new options to tune the game to your playstyle introduced, Pharaoh: A New Era beyond satisfies.

It would take a careless development team to create a terrible remake of a game, and Triskell Interactive are not one of them; they faithfully created something worth playing while integrating the feeling of playing the original

Pharaoh A New Era is the same classic game from 1999, but in a new package. If someone wants to, they can still play it the old way. It depends entirely on the player's choice so we're only gaining, not losing. The new era of historical city builders looks really exciting. If only it would bring more remakes like this one.

The straightforward rules of Pharaoh: A New Era make it great on the replay. Even apart from the campaign, you can find maps where all you are supposed to do is grow your population, your prestige, and your pyramids. And if you have the city building bug, you will love watching dusty browns and yellows explode into a cosmopolitan blast of color. To newcomers Pharaoh: A New Era easily takes its place in the modern library of deeply playable city builders.

Pharaoh: A New Era’s visuals, music, and gameplay tweaks make for a very easy-to-grasp, complex-to-master setup, and there are loads of options to soften the challenge whenever you feel like it. More than that, when you get your cities bustling with farms, markets, industry, entertainment, religion, and monuments the whole thing is a busy spectacle of beauty. Some archaic bits can make things difficult, and this isn’t my favorite city builder I’ve played, but it’s still an excellent spin on a classic.

I have always considered the original City Building series to be some of the best games in the genre, and A New Era elevates Pharoah to modern standards spectacularly well. You’ll come for the charming style and intricate building mechanics but stay for the sheer wealth of content available, allowing you to spend hours building the Egyptian city of your dreams. I hope to see remakes of the rest of the series in the future, or maybe even a brand new ancient civilization city builder.

Pharaoh: A New Era is a solid example of a great remake, letting players enjoy a classic game with a fresh coat of paint, be they newcomers or nostalgic fans of the original 1999’s title. If you are into old school city-builders, Pharaoh: A New Era will provide you with hundreds of hours of entertainment.

Pharoah is a throwback in the best possible way. Harkening back to a time when city management games were actually manageable, Pharoah will still present players with a good amount of challenge. There is a ton of game here to enjoy, and it continuously pushes the player to find unique ways to solve interesting problems. It is worth mentioning that there may be a gators hiding in the Nile right out of the gate upon release, but one can expect those to be cleaned up in short order; there is nothing here that should stop prospective players from starting their own Egyptian empires. Fun and addictive.

One of the greatest classics of management games, finally playable in good conditions in 2023. A new interface and 4K graphics to welcome in 2023 the king of Egypt with open arms.

The remake of the cult classic brings the immortal glory of the pharaohs with a slightly more modern twist and many hours of fun. You definitely won't make a mistake by buying this game.

Pharaoh: A New Era is a good example of how to make a good and respectful remake, improving where it's needed but without changing all that already worked.

Pharaoh: A New Era is a good remake. Indeed, an excellent remake, very faithful to the original title, so those who appreciated it then and wanted to replay it in a more modern guise should not hesitate to buy it. Of course, more could have been done in terms of additions and changes, but we imagine that if successful, something new will come. Meanwhile, enthusiasts and those who are looking for a long and engaging city builder have been satisfied.

It's simple, yet quite engaging, and what should have been a quick test of the first mission quickly turned into hours of screen time.

A devoted remake of a classic that is almost as enchanting as the original.

In recent years we have had a large offer of city builders and, more generally, management, each with a well-defined perspective on the genre or with elements of novelty. In this context Pharaoh: a New Era makes the years he carries on his shoulders feel more than other franchises resurrected by Dotemu. However, it remains a very solid city builder on which Triskell Interactive has intelligently got its hands on to modernize the interface and simplify some mechanisms that were a little too 90s. The amount of content has something truly remarkable (in fact, the Cleopatra expansion is included) and will delight videogame nostalgics and archaeologists.

If you're someone who likes building a city from the bottom up, being in control of every aspect of the citizens life, then Pharaoh: A New Era will definitely be up your alley, more so if you have an affinity for Ancient Egypt. With more than fifty campaign maps and the sandbox mode, this is a game that will have you playing for days, with each of the missions providing a different challenge. In the end, watching your cities expand to become a flourishing ancient metropolis is enjoyable and rather relaxing, with all your cartoon citizens scampering around the city like tiny worker ants. It can be hard work keeping them and the gods satisfied, but it is well worth it.

Pharaoh: New Era manages to preserve the essence of the game we loved years ago, but it is also notable for its shortcomings such as mini-map and army management. If the studio manages to address these shortcomings as promised, it can be a much better game. Still, that doesn't change the fact that at its core it's one of the best city-building simulations ever made.

Pharaoh is one of those dream remaster candidates for those who fondly remember ’80s and ’90s PC games, so it stands to reason that fans of the original would have high hopes for Pharaoh: A New Era. Although it doesn’t quite meet those expectations for a few reasons — both understandable and questionable — Pharaoh: A New Era is still a must-play for anyone who loves city-builders, Ancient Egypt, or just wants to try something nuanced and interesting. If you’re looking to unearth ancient gaming treasures to polish into something new, Pharaoh: A New Era is proof the gaming gods answer prayers in mysterious ways.