We are in a strange time, in which remakes often make more noise than completely new games, it is not clear if due to a certain discontent with the present or because in this way we can recover ways of playing that the big industry would otherwise do. . ignore. There Review of Pharaoh: A New Era We can only start from the observation that sometimes looking at the past is really the only way to understand how far we have come.
From 1999 to today
After all, if you think about it, the fact that a game from 1999 is still considered one of the pinnacles of an entire genre should give everyone pause, even those who don't play the genre in question. We also remember Pharaoh with great affection and we only hide the news from you. remake At first we were excited, but like confirmed skeptics we immediately tried to understand whether these memories derived more from a prejudice caused by nostalgia than from the actual qualities of the game. As we expected, playing Pharaoh: A New Era we found ourselves doing things that I city builder / Conventional management software often no longer asks you to do anything, with dynamics that almost avoid simulating so as not to make life too difficult for the casual player, with relationships between the buildings to be built and the economic and social systems to be built. they will build almost always ignored for the same reason. It is not that valuable city builders have not appeared since the time of Pharaoh, sometimes even more complex than the Impressions title, but there is no doubt that they have often been marginalized in favor of other genres, despite having many admirers, especially on PC.
Gameplay
At first glance Pharaoh: A New Age seemed like a very good remake faithful to the original. The impression was confirmed with the passage of time. Of course, the graphics have higher resolution and are more defined. In addition, there have been some changes that we will discuss throughout the article, but in general the game is the same, except for the innovations introduced at the time and that have now been acquired by many other city builders, such as the house construction system . , in which we simply indicate construction areas on the map, and then leave the burden of building in them to the virtual settlers. In fact, we are talking about the central core of the entire gaming experience, given that other systems are developed around it that serve to direct urbanization, making some areas more or less attractive. The objective of all this is to grow the population, in order to achieve the main objectives of each of the approximately fifty missions available, which also include those of the Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile expansion.
Normally to win you have to reach a certain population quota, have certain buildings or be able to build impressive monuments such as the pyramids, which require enormous investments and a huge workforce. In any case, the starting point is basic economic activities, such as agriculture (regulated by the flooding of the Nile and the whims of Osiris, to whom it is advisable to dedicate vacations to obtain his blessings), clay mines, crafts and so on. Meanwhile, we must remember to take care of the health of the population, with doctors and pharmacies, manage their security, building police stations, and ensure that all inhabitants are strong and happy to be in our cities, building recreational activities, places to find, improving the quality of the streets and filling them with monuments, all without forgetting that each map has its own specific characteristics, which require careful planning if you do not want to find yourself unable to grow the city as much as necessary. .
Basically the part administration It has remained almost identical to the original, and the challenge level has not been reduced downwards as many feared. Thus, from the first maps, problems will begin to arise to maintain the population, then natural economic limitations will arrive that will force decisions to be made, perhaps favoring slower and more reasoned growth, where trying to accelerate it would be lethal for finances. . In any case, don't worry, because the first missions give you all the information you need to play the best you can and they introduce you little by little to the different game systems, also explaining some of the more advanced mechanics. Once the tutorial missions are finished, new elements are added mission after mission, to always keep interest high, the same ones that are eliminated in some advanced maps to increase the challenge.
Therefore, just like the original, one of the best elements of the game remains its dual nature, that is, the ability to combine city-building mechanics with puzzle that arise from the very structuring of the maps and that maintain high interest throughout the campaign. So you never have all the tools at your disposal, but you must be able to take advantage of the ones that are active to understand how to win. Never before have the restrictions imposed played the game like in this case. For example, it may happen that instead of producing food directly, you have to create something else to use as currency in the supply market, or you may be called upon to do something similar to collect the material needed to build the most important monuments. . big.
What's new in the new version?
Pharaoh: A New Era is a decidedly light game. The remake was cleverly designed, effectively leaving the graphical style unchanged, but redesigning every element to adapt to the highest resolutions modern systems can achieve, while keeping the original design intact. Then you can play on 4K with very clean graphics, although not exactly typical of a PC, since we are still talking about 2D anyway. The same was done with the animations, which remain simple but effective. That said, it's surprising how it doesn't feel like you're playing a title that conceptually dates back more than twenty years, a sign not only that the original was excellent, but also that fewer steps forward have been made since then. than would have been the case.
In all this, expect a very challenging title and long-lived, since, when launched, the missions become tours de force that last more than two hours. So you can easily exceed a hundred hours of gameplay with the main campaign alone, also by virtue of the fact that not all missions can be completed successfully on the first try.
Considering also that scenarios can be played and that there is a sandbox mode, let's just say that fans will get their money's worth for a long time. Unfortunately, the remake is so faithful that some defects also persist, such as a certain lack of useful information to achieve certain objectives, which remain quite obscure (nothing insurmountable, however). It must also be said that the developers have not done much to try to surpass the original, moving away from it as little as possible. It's probably good for those looking for nothing else and for new players, but for those who know Pharaoh inside out, more could have been done. Also noteworthy is the presence of error which in some cases could block progression. We haven't had any major ones (just some broken animations), but we looked around and found that they are quite common. Nothing that can't be solved with a few patches.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, epic games store, GoG Price 22,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.0 Readers (14) 7.4 your votePharaoh: A New Era is a good remake. In fact, it is an excellent remake, very faithful to the original title, so anyone who appreciated it then and wants to play it again in a more modern version should not hesitate to buy it. Sure, more could have been done in terms of additions and changes, but we imagine that if it's successful, something new will come. Meanwhile, enthusiasts and those looking for a long and attractive city builder have been satisfied.
PRO
- Very faithful to the original.
- Always new game systems
- Long and attractive
AGAINST
- Something more could have been done in terms of innovation
- Some information is unclear
- For now it has too many errors.
