In a couple of weeks, Creative Assembly will be whisking players way to the Bronze Age withTotal War: Pharaoh. This game will once again put history in the spotlight after the franchise dabbled in the fantasy landscape withTotal War: Warhammer 3, so historical fans may want to keep their eye on it. Not only will it be bringing the series to a brand-new setting, but the studio also has countless new features in store forTotal War: Pharaohplayers to enjoy.
While the battles are going to have new mechanics, many of the new features seem to be centered around the campaign. Campaigns have always been a major part of theTotal Warfranchise as it is where the historical period is put on full display, andTotal War: Pharaohis no different. While players will have to wait and see if it delivers, Game Rant was recently able to get another look at this popular mode in a recent exclusive hands-on preview. Over the course of 50 turns, we were able to get a better understanding of what one of the campaign’s many factions has to offer, and it was a wild ride.
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Unlike the lastTotal War: Pharaohcampaign hands-on preview, this one put us in control of the powerful Suppiluliuma. This new faction meant a whole new area of the world to explore, new neighbors to conquer, new enemies to kill, and a few new mechanics to play with. While one would think the game would start off calmer sinceit is separated from the Pharaoh, Suppiluliuma is apparently one of the harder factions to play, and that became apparent extremely fast.
From the very beginning of our playthrough, we were at war. It was not with one of our many neighbors, but with some annoying Kaska raiders instead. After selecting our first Royal Decree and building a couple of buildings with our starting funds, we went out to beat those raiders from our land. Our leader charged a small group of them led by Kuwadar sitting just outside our capital city, anda classicTotal Warbattle ensued.
Total Warfans will definitely know what to expect when it comes to the battles, butthe new weather effectsreally help shake the formula up. The Battle of Hattusa began with a simple weather report that told us the battlefield was going to be foggy. This fog would limit the visibility of our troops, but it was nothing to worry about. Eventually, though, the weather was going to change into a storm, which would impact troops more considerably. Reload time, accuracy, and the range of our troops would drop by around 20%, but luckily we did not have any ranged troops as Suppiluliuma does not have many useful ones.
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This weather feature is one of the big highlights ofTotal War: Pharaoh, with each battle having its own weather that players must prepare for. There are also a few other additions including unit weight, but only the most veteran of players will likely notice that. All of this really helps make the battles a bit more interesting, even though they were still fascinating before.Total War: Warhammer 3playersmay miss some of the more magical elements of the game, but they did not have a place inTotal War: Pharaoh.
After we decimated the enemy forces, we got to work actually figuring out what our goal was. First, we had to wipe the remaining Kaska Invaders out of our land. Then, we had to set our sights on our neighbors so that we could expand and prepare for whatever comes next. But before we could do any of that, we needed to actually ensure that our territory was well protected and built up. So, we began to interact with the new outposts feature as well as the settlement building feature, whichTotal Warveterans should be familiar with.
We also had to level up our leader Suppiluliuma after his battle, so weopened up his leader page. That screen shows all of his stats, his abilities, his bodyguards, the titles we can equip for him, and his three upgradable competencies. First, we gave him the Quick in Recovery title. This made it so that he would spend two fewer turns injured, and he would get an extra 25 xp per turn. Then, we threw a skill point into his Improved Fortitude competency which gave him +4% to army replenishment, which would prove vital for what we wanted to do next.
After we ensured we had an army and resources coming in, we decided to go to war against the first neighbor we saw; Sapinuwa led by Taka. We sent our army to his city of Arinna as it was the only city we did not own in the Hattusa Province. After a quick battle, we claimed it as our own and wereable to call the entire province ours. This allowed us to select a province commandment, which provided various useful resource bonuses. We ended up choosing to host a luxury bazaar, which gave us +20% gold but -10% food within the province.
Once we claimed the Hattusa Province, we continued to push further into Sapinuwa lands.We recruited a new general, gave him an army, and sent him towards the city of Zippalanda. At the same time, we sent Suppiluliuma to the city of Sapinuwa in hopes that we could split the NPC’s forces. After another quick battle, Sapinuwa was ours, and our armies converged on Zippalanda for one final fight. Taka tried to hold us back, but his final city fell shortly after.
After finishing Zaka off, we were given the option to select a legacy. Legacies give players various bonuses depending upon which one they select, and they cannot be changed. We could choose to either follow the legacy of Muwatalli the Benevolent or Tudhaliya the Overseer.Muwatelli was all about vassalizing the worldand gaining tokens of gratitude from them while Tudhaliya would have us grant princehood to our generals and give them all sorts of new powers. While that could be fun, we ended up going with Muwatelli because he seemed nicer, and we would never turn down gifts.
This choice unlocked a new screen that displayed our vassals, their gratitude levels, and the tokens we could ask from them. Because of this screen, we quickly realized that we had actually started with Tuwana as our vassal. Either we missed a notice, orTotal War: Pharaohdid not tell us clearlythat we were actually in charge of someone, but it was a pleasant surprise. With this new knowledge and legacy, we chose to expand a bit more peacefully going forward.
We began tostrike more deals with our neighborsin hopes that we could win them over to our side. We gave them food, stone, bronze, gold, and literally anything we could get our hands on. While we could rampage across the world taking over everyone we saw, gaining vassals seemed like a friendlier and easier way to get victory points. We already had 22 after capturing two regions, we just needed 33 more for a minor victory.
Throughout all of this, we were also interacting with the Royal Court system. Unlike Ramesses, Suppiluliuma starts as the Great King, so there is really nowhere to go but down. This made the Royal Court system a bit less appealing as it felt like it was pretty easy to stay on top. There were very few plots against us, the people under us seemed to like us a lot, and we really did not have much to do. At one point, we appointed one of our generals to the Lawgiver seat, but he was quickly disposed. Maybeit gets harder asTotal War: Pharaohprogresses.
Another thing that kept cropping up throughout our playthrough was this event known as Shemsu Hor. This event occurs every so often and marks the convening of the royal court. It is also when players unlock various features and when plots are revealed. Along with that, Suppiluliuma has a special ability tied to it that increases the workforce in every province. If it is activated before Shemsu Hor, then it willgreatly increase army replenishment rate, but the workforce ability will be unavailable until the next Shemsu Hor.
After countless wars and deals, we had five vassals, control over six regions with cities in three more, had two Cult Centres, were still the Great King, and had made some progress on the Royal Decree tree. We now had 39 victory points, which meant we were only 21 away from a minor victory. However, we also had no food and had notventured out into Egypt much. Some of our regions also wanted to rebel, which we were actively trying to fix. On top of that, we also did not use the local deities to their full extent, but we did discover the vast majority of them.
At the end of 50 turns, we seemed to be in a fairly good spot. Even with our food troubles, everything else was going in our favor. When we are able to jump back in, we should be ready to conquer even more of our neighbors. We still have a lot of factions waiting to be united under the Hittite Empire banner, so hopefully we can accomplish that onceTotal War: Pharaohofficially launches. But whatever happens next, at least it is already going a lot better than Game Rant’s last preview.
Total War: Pharaoh
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In Total War: PHARAOH immerse yourself in ancient Egypt at the zenith of its power and experience the dramatic events that threaten its destruction. With dynamic real-time battles and incredible turn-based empire management, will you rise to become Egypt’s last great Pharaoh, or a conquering Great King of the Hittites? Or will you take command of the Sea Peoples’ bloodthirsty hordes and drive the Bronze Age Collapse?With the Bronze Age Collapse looming and the dark sails of the Sea Peoples filling the horizon the people of Egypt cry out for a new leader. Many desire the power of the throne, but the path to becoming Pharaoh is a perilous one. Unearth a breathtakingly vibrant recreation of the Bronze Age Collapse as you battle societal disarray, face natural disasters and fight to protect your people against waves of invaders.Enemy armies aren’t the only challenges to overcome on the battlefield. Lead your soldiers through sudden and dramatic shifts in weather, such as torrential rain and sandstorms, and witness the tides of battle turn as it directly impacts the surrounding terrain. Beware the threat of fire too, as battles can become engulfed in flames, striking and spreading across the battlefield as it burns forests and damages the foundations of enemy settlements.
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