Total War: Pharaoh shows 16 minutes of gameplay and reveals 4 major new features

In a first detailed gameplay video, the team also shows off the strategy map for the first time, revealing some exciting new gameplay features.

Total War: Pharaoh will be the next big historical spin-off of the tried and tested strategy series and puts all its focus on Egypt, Anatolia and the collapse of the Bronze Age. The game was announced a few weeks ago and, in addition to the scenario, also revealed the innovations that await us on the battlefields.

Quite little was known about the turn-based strategy map until now. Now, however, Creative Assembly has released 16 minutes of gameplay with the legendary leader Ramses and we were able to spy a few previously unknown features and details in this video. Here you can watch the video for yourself:

This is new in Total War: Pharaoh

In total, we were able to spot four new features that were previously unknown and that either never appeared in the series before or only in modified form. Here we list them all:

• Outposts:
  One of the biggest new features on the strategy map is outposts. These are small cities that we can build in each province in addition to the normal towns. There are four different outposts in total:
  • Military: Increases siege time and provides garrison troops.
  • Administration: Reduces wear and tear through the desert and increases legitimacy.
  • Economy: Increases resource production.
  • Religious: Generates divine favour and increases manpower.
• Labour: Generates divine favour.
  Each province has a certain amount of manpower. Labour is used to build new buildings. If there is not enough available, nothing can be built. Idle workers also lower the satisfaction, but also increase the recruitment places. So we can recruit more units per turn.
• Seasons:
  Seasons have been around in Total War for a long time, but in Pharaoh a year will not be divided into summer, winter, autumn and spring. There will be three in total, passing with every other turn. Each season offers different advantages.
  • Akhet: More food production from fisheries and faster seafaring.
  • Peret: Reduces unit recruitment costs.
  • Shemu: More food production from farms and a higher reinforcement rate.
• Title:
  As has become customary, we can level up leaders and commanders, and in Pharaoh’s case, not just by improving their talents. We can also give titles that bring certain effects and are unlocked by high talent values. The higher the character’s rank, the more titles they can hold. Up to four titles are possible.

In addition to these now newly revealed mechanics, Pharaoh also relies on an era system. This is intended to simulate the decline of the Bronze Age, in which the world falls further and further into chaos.

In truth a Troy successor?

Besides these completely new features, we were able to discover even more old familiar features. It became clear that Pharaoh actually adopts a lot of what Creative Assembly Sofia has already implemented in Troy. For example, many icons and unit cards remind us of the indirect predecessor.

Pharaoh also relies on the same economic system as Troy. So there will again be four different resources that will be important in the construction of buildings and the recruitment of units. There will again be stone, wood, gold and bronze. The now established diplomacy system from Three Kingdoms is also back. All in all, Pharaoh almost feels like a logical successor to Troy.

What do you think of all the new features and will you play Total War: Pharaoh? If yes, what fascinates you about the game? If not, what don’t you like so far? Write it down in the comments!