Pharaoh

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 58 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 58
  3. Negative: 2 out of 58
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  1. Astrel
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    I first found Pharaoh when I was only 5 way back in 2000. Since then it has always had a place of pride on my computer, I prefer far more than Caesar or any other Impressions title. The game play is easy to learn yet complex and innovative, it requires your attention and time to play the game to its fullest extent and I always come back to it no matter how many times I have played it.
  2. Greggor
    Dec 17, 2013
    4
    Mildly enjoyable game, but pales in comparison to its successor Zeus: Master of Olympus. Pharaoh suffers from a number of glaring technical flaws that make the game unreasonable to play.

    At the top of the list is the slow access to necessary structures. In the beginning of the game, you are forced to make do with a variety of problems that do not have a solution until you gain    Mildly enjoyable game, but pales in comparison to its successor Zeus: Master of Olympus. Pharaoh suffers from a number of glaring technical flaws that make the game unreasonable to play.

    At the top of the list is the slow access to necessary structures. In the beginning of the game, you are forced to make do with a variety of problems that do not have a solution until you gain technology given in later levels. In the middle of the game, you are forced to contend with poor level design that makes building a city a chore rather than a challenging adventure. Towards the end of the game, apparently out of legitimate methods of upping the difficulty, the designers throw wave after wave of misfortune at you in an attempt to trip you up.

    A close second on the list of glaring technical flaws is the horrendous mechanic of direct worker access. In summary, patrolling units (such as firefighters and architects) have a limited effective range, which limits the possible size of a city block; yet the game FORCES you to include direct access to your city blocks from every single building that requires workers. If you don't do this, you get "WARNING: Poor Worker Access", and your businesses sporadically lose and regain workers, rendering them almost useless. The result is that you need to make a dozen smaller city blocks (all with their own goods and services) on a tiny map that can barely fit them, just to do what should have been accomplished with one or two normal-sized city blocks.

    There are a multitude of other issues that this game suffers from, and which are notably absent in Zeus: Master of Olympus. Issues such as the inability to effectively deal with crime, the lack of suitable rewards for appeasing gods and neighboring cities, and the monotonous gameplay that offers few interesting objectives these issues make the game relatively unplayable for those who have enjoyed other games of this genre. Look to Zeus: Master of Olympus, as well as other titles like Caesar 3 for an example of a Pharaoh-like done RIGHT.    … Expand
  3. Ndi
    Jun 12, 2013
    8
    I give Pharaoh an 8 instead of a 10 because it has one, huge, blaring mistake in it.

    The campaign is poor. There, I said it. It starts off with huge open spaces, plenty of room to design cities, raise economy, anything you want, but you lack tech. As it progresses and you get access to new resources and new problems, the game insists in giving you missions that make you build on a    I give Pharaoh an 8 instead of a 10 because it has one, huge, blaring mistake in it.

    The campaign is poor. There, I said it. It starts off with huge open spaces, plenty of room to design cities, raise economy, anything you want, but you lack tech.

    As it progresses and you get access to new resources and new problems, the game insists in giving you missions that make you build on a small map, broken in 5 islands, poor inundation, angry gods, military attacks and poorly behaved citizens. Oh, and, build me 2 pyramids and a mastaba and 3 other stuff that take up all the good land.

    Listen, it's a great game. I still play it. But every new mission is a step into frustration until I close it and it sits there, gathering dust, until I try it again, from the beginning and realize it annoys me.

    You have maybe 2-3 missions where you have enough land, tech and opportunities to enjoy the game, and it is seriously lacking in sandboxing.

    Too bad. Better mission design would have propelled it to a 10. But I am never forgiving it for intentionally giving me a mission where there is only ONE landing zone for a ferry. What was the point of that?    … Expand
  4. boredboredbored
    May 20, 2017
    8
    I have been playing this game since it first came out, but I have never finished it. Not for lack of trying; there are just so many missions and they take so long to complete that for whatever reason I lose my save files (hard drive failure etc). It's definitely one of my favourite city-building sims set in a time and place that I am fascinated with, but game-play-wise there are someI have been playing this game since it first came out, but I have never finished it. Not for lack of trying; there are just so many missions and they take so long to complete that for whatever reason I lose my save files (hard drive failure etc). It's definitely one of my favourite city-building sims set in a time and place that I am fascinated with, but game-play-wise there are some tweaks that could have been implemented. For example, work places send out "walkers" to recruit workers on a regular basis. If these randomly-directed walkers fail, the work place shuts down. This limits your city design and you can't build or set roadblocks up in certain layouts. The combat also lacks any tactical flexibility and it's just a matter of spamming as many troops as possible.

    Despite these complaints it's still a really fun game that I play from time to time. Maybe one day I'll clock it.    … Expand
  5. tomflanders
    Mar 31, 2018
    7
    Graphics and gameplay were great. It was like an early version of AOE. Really good for a free game that came with PCs. When you got quite far in to the game though, it was too difficult / unsustainable.
  6. 4lch3m1st
    Aug 9, 2011
    10
    One of the earliest Civilization-esqe games requiring one to build an extensive Egyptian city along the Nile river complete with fields, granaries, and monuments to say the least. I know I've built a few cities over the course of a few years, a timeless game.
  7. Mikeee
    Feb 9, 2012
    10
    great game. I play it for hours and I can not stop.
    I enjoy every minute of it. Timeless game.
    Has previously played with the demo, but it was worth to try the full version.
  8. wololooo
    Mar 9, 2012
    9
    An incredible achievement from Impressions. It's a simple game to get the hang of, but there's so much in game content that you'll spend dozens of hours mastering its many features. I've played this game since my childhood and still have a great deal of fun developing huge cities - it's aged beautifully and trumps most modern games in the genre.
  9. iddqd4
    Jan 23, 2018
    9
    Обычные градостроительные симуляторы меня не привлекали, а вот с уклоном в древнюю историю, очень нравились.
  10. Equimanthorn
    May 27, 2012
    10
    I still love to play this game, in some cases more than any recent game of this type. No on-line only BS, no CTD and released without a plethora of patches.
    I bought this the same year it came out and have yet to tire of planning and watching my city grow.
    If you have never played this I highly recommend you find this and get the Cleopatra expansion.
  11. gracjanski
    Jan 5, 2019
    9
    I remember playing Pharaoh,Zeus and Caesar III when I was young, so I wanted to discover them again to see, if they were really good. The most players prefer Pharaoh,so I played it.

    Technically the game is bad: ugly graphics, the sound is annoying. Then Fraps cant do any screenshots, Media Player Classic cant open the blink videos. But I fixed these problems with Hypersnap and VLC.    I remember playing Pharaoh,Zeus and Caesar III when I was young, so I wanted to discover them again to see, if they were really good. The most players prefer Pharaoh,so I played it.

    Technically the game is bad: ugly graphics, the sound is annoying. Then Fraps cant do any screenshots, Media Player Classic cant open the blink videos. But I fixed these problems with Hypersnap and VLC.

    But:
    The campaign is interesting: You lead your dynasty in Egypt and build up the empire and learn about the history if this empire. In the campaign there are a lot of missions that gets more and more complicated. And the atmosphere is great, also because the manual is well written. This game motivated me to search for a good documentary about the ancient Egypt.

    The gameplay is very good. It is not only,that you must build some product chains and fulfil the needs of your citizens (like in Anno), but also keep in mind the tax rate, wages, unemployment, gods and so on. This is fun.    … Expand
  12. dyspeptic
    Sep 23, 2015
    8
    Pharaoh is my favorite city builder, including more recent popular titles like Anno 2070. I actually discovered GOG.com specifically because I was trying to find a copy to play and their website was the only place I could find one.

    The thing that sets this game apart from other city-builders and makes it worth playing is the monuments. In other city builders (notably sandbox modes) you    Pharaoh is my favorite city builder, including more recent popular titles like Anno 2070. I actually discovered GOG.com specifically because I was trying to find a copy to play and their website was the only place I could find one.

    The thing that sets this game apart from other city-builders and makes it worth playing is the monuments. In other city builders (notably sandbox modes) you build a sustainable city and then wait... for nothing to happen. You built it well, so the result is that the game is effectively over, never requiring anything more from you. Pharaoh is different because the objective of a sustainable city is often complemented by the need to build some specific monument that will last 4,000 years which I find the most satisfying part. When both are done, you win and move on.

    That said, this game would have gotten a higher rating from me in the early 2000's when I played it first. It can never get a 10 from me because there are some SERIOUS warts you will have to get over if you are going to enjoy this otherwise great title:
    1) It's ugly. The graphics weren't cutting edge in 1999 and they haven't aged well either.
    2) The AI is stupid--and I mean REALLY stupid. Your city relies on "walkers" to distribute goods and services from buildings (a departure from the nearly-strategy-free AOE buildings most builders use), and they have an annoying tendency to get "lost", turning 180 degrees repeatedly at a complex intersection. This can only be partially mitigated by smart road building, as some required entertainment structures require bizarre road shapes.
    3) An offshoot of #2 is that the military combat portion of this game is terrible. It would have been much more fun without combat at all, and I avoid military whenever given an option in the campaign. Note though that the campaign repeatedly forces you to participate in the military aspect which lessens the fun.
    4) The campaign is good (IMO it is supposed to be hard to build a city in the desert while appeasing a despot), but the campaign is really all there is. As someone who prefers specific objectives and the ability to "win" a city builder I actually like this. However, as someone else noted, the lack of sandbox mode will put off some.

    I don't know if I would have given this game a chance if I didn't already know that I loved it from my childhood. But if you are willing to try a builder which uses a completely different mechanic from the popular crowd (walkers vs AOE buildings) and emphasizes monuments this one is worthwhile.    … Expand
  13. Milansan777
    Feb 15, 2023
    8
    So overall really great and refreshing if youve been playing the original for years like i have. They have some UI issues to wrinkle out, but overall a great remake. As lo gas the devs keep on listening and improving the game the future is bright.
  14. apokalipto
    Aug 22, 2023
    9
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  15. dr-kenobi
    Sep 7, 2022
    8
    Одна з найкращих містобудівних стратегій свого часу. Скільки годин геймплею там проведено було