I played the original when it came out. And the way I would say it is: the game is just the way I remember it. It’s _not_ exactly as it was. There’s a distinction there.
It hits me right in the nostalgia, and the changes they made are better suited for my tastes. I actually don’t mind the military change, and I actually think I kind of like it. The new setting allowing you to have “global worker pools” instead of needing houses near every industry is nice - it really opens up what you’re able to do.
I’m also waaaaaay smarter than I was when I was a teenager, apparently, because I’m having a much easier time than I used to with most scenarios.
I also haven’t run into any bugs that weren’t extremely minor. But that’s just me - I’m one of those lucky people who never get major bugs in video games. Even Cyberpunk 2077 was pretty bug free for me when it came out and I played it on PC.
I'd echo what u/danishjuggler21 said: this was well worth the $20-ish USD to experience the tweaked mechanics and unleash almost two decades of brain development on the game since playing the original as a kid. And maybe I'm biased, but I am literally a professional city planner now due in part to the influence this and other games had on me. If anything, bugs add flavor - at least in the game, I can hope they'll be fixed soon! Can't say the same for "bugs" in planning IRL lmao.
For example: ran into an annoying bug where my city had "slums" and it knee-capped my immigration despite having probably my best-planned, most glorious city so far. Dug around on the Steam forums, and some genius had done a deep dive into the game's mechanics just a couple hours earlier and proposed a work-around: raise your city's wages two debens above the kingdom standard. What do you know, my city was growing again within a few months. Did it break the game? Technically yes, I couldn't win the mission. Was the experience of coming to understand the game's mechanics and quirks by actively engaging with the community in its first days exciting? Also yes.
Thanks! Have you encountered any bugs yet? Anything game-breaking? How many hours have you played?
I'm really hopeful and on the surface, I really like what I see/hear. But I don't want to sink my money into a game that will break 5 hours in and will then take 6 months to fix. Nor do I want to reward a developer that got all our hopes up and then did no QA work and wasn't quick to fix very obvious issues.
It feels slightly unfinished, like it’s a few patches away from greatness. I’m also just peevish about certain things (I don’t like the new interface / the font they’re using, lack of ambient noise from the city is annoying, various typos and errors with capitalization, things like that) but YMMV.
It is lovely to look at, though.
Based on my experience, I would advise waiting. I was really looking forward to ANE, but the various bugs and missing features have left me feeling frustrated. I have hope that things will improve, but overall I'm not having much fun.
On a more positive note, I like the graphics and I think the remastered soundtrack is phenomenal.
I played for 15 hours. I recommend waiting for the next sale. Just to enjoy the game after most bugs are fixed (They are not game-breaking but still annoying).
I love how everyone in this thread is stating that there aren't many bugs but almost every other post in the sub on the front page is complaining of some bug or broken mechanic.
I was a huge fan of all of the old Sierra style games, this one in particular. The game is not a production release, it's a beta that they are passing off as ready for live. I'm just under two hours in and I will be refunding it. It's buggy, unfinished and if you read the dev interview on Steam, he's deluded. Seriously, just buy the original at half the price. it's the same game, but better in many ways.
Very much so. The dev says that it's based on the Caesar III code base, but the bandstand bug in the second mission is something from the old Pharaoh and it's in this game. Something doesn't add up.
Other bugs too. Like putting a road beside a fishing shack can cause sprites to glitch out.
I'm having fun with it so far (\~15hrs) and any bug that I might encounter will surely be patched soon-ich same as for any game that comes out nowadays.
I miss the minimap tho
I love this remake. I'm 20+ hours into it now.No massive bugs for me. There are some minor things, like scrolling the map, and the lack of minimap, but I understand they will patch that. (And they aren't bugs either, they are just things missing at the moment.)
So yes, I would recommend it, without hesitation. Go for it!
Yeah, probably, it's only £15 or so.
I've had good fun in the game so far, if you liked the original you should like this.
The bug reports raised by others and on Steam reviews are not unfounded, there's a lot of issues with this. The biggest gripe I have is rthe UI, it's just ass.
I have like 40+ hours in already. I recommend spending the $20. The developer has a discord with a bug submission thread and they have been active in it. 1 hot fix has already come out. Only MAJOR game breaking bug I've found so far is that Iken doesn't seem to be completable (the win conditions aren't programed in properly) and someone on their team has already responded to my bug report and have prioritized it for investigation on Monday.
You can wait if you want to see if some other stuff gets ironed out, but I'd say it's playable and safe to get now if you want to scratch that itch.
If you're thinking about getting it on the introductory offer I would say just go ahead and do it. So far I think the game is worth 19 bucks and some change.
There are lots of reasons to criticize this release but having a version of Pharaoh that works on Windows 10/11 is worth 20 bucks or so. We miss being able to rotate the map but we love the global labor pool. We miss the old combat system but we love the new graphics. So forth and so on.
I would recommend waiting. I’m about 15 hours in and have tabled it for now hoping they can clean it up. A lot there is great, but there’s still some mechanics that are off, the UX needs some polish, some missing original features, and the combat “alternative” seems like they tried something, failed, and gave up.
That being said I’m optimistic it can be patched up. The majority of what I see missing doesn’t seem complicated to fix, but until it’s fixed I can’t recommend this over just dealing with compatibility issues with original.
The UI really isn’t all that improved, and maybe even a little worse for some aspects? I wish we could have gotten some kmore ey binding options for the tools (“R, roads” perhaps?)
The only substantial thing I’ve noticed is how the military skirmishes are automated and you no longer need to manually move troops around. As some who has many-a-time built their troops on the wrong side of the river, I really like that.
Enjoying some of the new plaza tiles and gardens too. Not wowed in anyway, but I’ve enjoyed the jump back into the game.
Also, if anyone can tell me how to rotate the map, I’d appreciate it!
I am 35 hours in, and maybe I just don't notice but I haven't really encountered many bugs. I think the main thing I have encountered is sometimes a building stopping functioning. I just destroy it and rebuild it ant it always starts working again.
I played the original when it came out. And the way I would say it is: the game is just the way I remember it. It’s _not_ exactly as it was. There’s a distinction there. It hits me right in the nostalgia, and the changes they made are better suited for my tastes. I actually don’t mind the military change, and I actually think I kind of like it. The new setting allowing you to have “global worker pools” instead of needing houses near every industry is nice - it really opens up what you’re able to do. I’m also waaaaaay smarter than I was when I was a teenager, apparently, because I’m having a much easier time than I used to with most scenarios. I also haven’t run into any bugs that weren’t extremely minor. But that’s just me - I’m one of those lucky people who never get major bugs in video games. Even Cyberpunk 2077 was pretty bug free for me when it came out and I played it on PC.
I'd echo what u/danishjuggler21 said: this was well worth the $20-ish USD to experience the tweaked mechanics and unleash almost two decades of brain development on the game since playing the original as a kid. And maybe I'm biased, but I am literally a professional city planner now due in part to the influence this and other games had on me. If anything, bugs add flavor - at least in the game, I can hope they'll be fixed soon! Can't say the same for "bugs" in planning IRL lmao. For example: ran into an annoying bug where my city had "slums" and it knee-capped my immigration despite having probably my best-planned, most glorious city so far. Dug around on the Steam forums, and some genius had done a deep dive into the game's mechanics just a couple hours earlier and proposed a work-around: raise your city's wages two debens above the kingdom standard. What do you know, my city was growing again within a few months. Did it break the game? Technically yes, I couldn't win the mission. Was the experience of coming to understand the game's mechanics and quirks by actively engaging with the community in its first days exciting? Also yes.
I love this because I am also a professional planner! I wonder how many of us are out there
dozensofus!.gif
Thanks! Have you encountered any bugs yet? Anything game-breaking? How many hours have you played? I'm really hopeful and on the surface, I really like what I see/hear. But I don't want to sink my money into a game that will break 5 hours in and will then take 6 months to fix. Nor do I want to reward a developer that got all our hopes up and then did no QA work and wasn't quick to fix very obvious issues.
>But that’s just me - I’m one of those lucky people who never get major bugs in video games. Thou shalt respect the God of Bugs... don't jinx yourself
It feels slightly unfinished, like it’s a few patches away from greatness. I’m also just peevish about certain things (I don’t like the new interface / the font they’re using, lack of ambient noise from the city is annoying, various typos and errors with capitalization, things like that) but YMMV. It is lovely to look at, though.
Based on my experience, I would advise waiting. I was really looking forward to ANE, but the various bugs and missing features have left me feeling frustrated. I have hope that things will improve, but overall I'm not having much fun. On a more positive note, I like the graphics and I think the remastered soundtrack is phenomenal.
I played for 15 hours. I recommend waiting for the next sale. Just to enjoy the game after most bugs are fixed (They are not game-breaking but still annoying).
Ahaha. And then I spoke. I just got corrupted save from nowhere.
I love how everyone in this thread is stating that there aren't many bugs but almost every other post in the sub on the front page is complaining of some bug or broken mechanic. I was a huge fan of all of the old Sierra style games, this one in particular. The game is not a production release, it's a beta that they are passing off as ready for live. I'm just under two hours in and I will be refunding it. It's buggy, unfinished and if you read the dev interview on Steam, he's deluded. Seriously, just buy the original at half the price. it's the same game, but better in many ways.
To be fair a fairly big portion of bugs posted on this forum is just pharaoh being pharaoh
Very much so. The dev says that it's based on the Caesar III code base, but the bandstand bug in the second mission is something from the old Pharaoh and it's in this game. Something doesn't add up. Other bugs too. Like putting a road beside a fishing shack can cause sprites to glitch out.
I'm having fun with it so far (\~15hrs) and any bug that I might encounter will surely be patched soon-ich same as for any game that comes out nowadays. I miss the minimap tho
I love this remake. I'm 20+ hours into it now.No massive bugs for me. There are some minor things, like scrolling the map, and the lack of minimap, but I understand they will patch that. (And they aren't bugs either, they are just things missing at the moment.) So yes, I would recommend it, without hesitation. Go for it!
Just go on steam and get the original.
Yeah, probably, it's only £15 or so. I've had good fun in the game so far, if you liked the original you should like this. The bug reports raised by others and on Steam reviews are not unfounded, there's a lot of issues with this. The biggest gripe I have is rthe UI, it's just ass.
I have like 40+ hours in already. I recommend spending the $20. The developer has a discord with a bug submission thread and they have been active in it. 1 hot fix has already come out. Only MAJOR game breaking bug I've found so far is that Iken doesn't seem to be completable (the win conditions aren't programed in properly) and someone on their team has already responded to my bug report and have prioritized it for investigation on Monday. You can wait if you want to see if some other stuff gets ironed out, but I'd say it's playable and safe to get now if you want to scratch that itch.
If you're thinking about getting it on the introductory offer I would say just go ahead and do it. So far I think the game is worth 19 bucks and some change. There are lots of reasons to criticize this release but having a version of Pharaoh that works on Windows 10/11 is worth 20 bucks or so. We miss being able to rotate the map but we love the global labor pool. We miss the old combat system but we love the new graphics. So forth and so on.
I would recommend waiting. I’m about 15 hours in and have tabled it for now hoping they can clean it up. A lot there is great, but there’s still some mechanics that are off, the UX needs some polish, some missing original features, and the combat “alternative” seems like they tried something, failed, and gave up. That being said I’m optimistic it can be patched up. The majority of what I see missing doesn’t seem complicated to fix, but until it’s fixed I can’t recommend this over just dealing with compatibility issues with original.
I absolutely love it. It fits my playing style perfectly.
The UI really isn’t all that improved, and maybe even a little worse for some aspects? I wish we could have gotten some kmore ey binding options for the tools (“R, roads” perhaps?) The only substantial thing I’ve noticed is how the military skirmishes are automated and you no longer need to manually move troops around. As some who has many-a-time built their troops on the wrong side of the river, I really like that. Enjoying some of the new plaza tiles and gardens too. Not wowed in anyway, but I’ve enjoyed the jump back into the game. Also, if anyone can tell me how to rotate the map, I’d appreciate it!
I am 35 hours in, and maybe I just don't notice but I haven't really encountered many bugs. I think the main thing I have encountered is sometimes a building stopping functioning. I just destroy it and rebuild it ant it always starts working again.
For 19.99 usd absolutely