Pharaonic

 Xbox One
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
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  1. Brash Games
    Jul 10, 2016
    80
    The whole thing is very ‘Milkstone’ – a polished, well presented indie title which looks good and plays great, even as it wears its inspirations on its sleeve.
  2. MondoXbox
    Sep 10, 2016
    75
    A nice take on a 2.5D Souls-like experience, extremely challenging even if a bit underwhelming art and story-wise.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. SuperkenGaming
    Oct 1, 2017
    6
    Pharaonic
    Side Scrolling Dark Souls
    Pharaonic is a ridiculously tough action side scrolling RPG set in Egypt where you play as your own    Pharaonic
    Side Scrolling Dark Souls
    Pharaonic is a ridiculously tough action side scrolling RPG set in Egypt where you play as your own created character…
    This game feels like dark souls and can be just as brutally punishing...
    you start with a sword, and as you play through the tutorial map you’ll get a shield…
    in combat you have a heavy and light attack and with a shield you can block and parry attacks..
    You can also dodge attacks and you have 3 water jugs to refill your health which doesn’t sound too challenging…
    but the addition of gear stats and a stamina bar make this game feel like dark souls...
    your character feels incredibly slow to challenge you... to force you to pay careful attention to your stamina bar and enemy attacks..
    there are traps for you to dodge, loot chests for new weapons and gear, shops to sell unwanted items and but new gear, and pray shrines to refill your health and water
    Pray shrines act as your checkpoint and if you die in combat.. Which you will... a lot... you’ll be sent back to these shrines to try and make it deeper into the levels…
    dying will also make you drop some of your xp…. And like souls in a dark souls game you have to go recollect in the spot you died at and if you die on your way you lose your xp for good... and this is where the ultimate frustration comes into play…
    balancing grind and confidence..
    it isn’t as simple as just constantly grinding enemies for their item drops and experience, because if you die twice you lose it all…
    though once you get a hand of things combat feels decently manageable…
    especially when later on you find your first backpack and can use magic to give you some help in fights…
    there are a variety of fighting situations in this game, like on one one, 2 on one.. Large enemies to deal with, groups of multiple enemies to deal with... some with cheap feeling ranged swords… and of courses brutal bosses
    and this is where managing your gear comes into play..
    Do you want to be protected and do tons of damage for this battle at the cost of losing stamina quickly... or will you need to do more dodging, sacrificing defense for speed, or attack power for stamina...
    it’s a tricky balancing act that makes ever boss encounter feel overcomable if you try just one more time..
    And this is where the game hooks you and it’s a great hook...
    My issues with this game are few... but they’re large issues…
    Firstly… there’s an annoying enemy locking on your character will do... they won’t automatically lock into the bosses or even the closest enemy... Its random at time...
    and because of this id waste precious magic that doesn’t regenerate on an enemy behind a barrier that popped up instead of using it on the bosses...
    This was way more frequent than it should be…
    And the game doesn’t seem to scale weapon drops with location…
    After defeating a boss I went to a new world where ordinary enemies felt like bosses because the weapon I just defeated the previous boss with no problem, was doing no damage to these new enemies..
    It just didn’t make sense...
    almost like the game wants to force grinding on your which is made a little easier thanks to fast travel points and barrier fights not having to be repeated letting you roll past enemies you don’t want to deal with…
    but forced grind is never a good thing… this difficulty spike came out of nowhere and was far too steep…
    But again as a side scrolling dark souls like game.. You know what to expect...
    prepare to die... prepare to grind...
    Prepare to lose progress when you slip up on a trap on you’re to collecting your dropped experience
    I give Pharaonic
    a 6.5/10    … Full Review »
  2. osprey
    Jan 28, 2023
    7
    This is a fun and interesting game but there are some big problems on the Xbox One. Some achievements are broken and don't appear to beThis is a fun and interesting game but there are some big problems on the Xbox One. Some achievements are broken and don't appear to be fixable with the usual console reboot. I did one quest three times and the achievement never unlocked even though the quest was listed as completed every time. It crashes quite frequently in one area and the difficulty ramps up to an absurd level but despite these complaint the game is quite addictive and still remains fun. I think most Souls fans will enjoy this game but prepare to die a lot. One more serious problem is that all of the maps are blank on the Xbox console so this makes the game even more frustrating.… Full Review »
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