Total War: PHARAOH - First Look 

Core gameplay mechanic: keeping the royal lineage pure

23:42 Being able to move my units backwards, while facing forward?! YES! I never thought I'd see this in a TW title at this point, but I'm SO glad it'll be a reality now. Kudos for that!

Wow lots of great stuff here! Loved the doom setting of Atilla and it will be cool to see that combined with the pillars of civilization mechanic for more player agency. Also super stoked to see the battle stances and dynamic weather effects, long time wishlists of the community!

Seems heavily inspired by the mechanics of Attila’s DLC The Last Roman. Still, I think they should have been more ambitious and include Assyria, which also survived the collapse

As someone who really enjoyed Total War Attila, I really like the overarching theme of trying to survive the apocalypse. Looking forward to this.

I appreciate the battle mechanic changes, particularly reintroduction of more matched combat animations.

New elements that I would love to see in the next historical total war especially Medieval 3: 1. Being able to set fire to nature elements and buildings, trees etc 2. Units walking backward while facing forward 3. Weather affecting the units The 3 above are present in this game. 4. Multiple queued commands like and drawing yourself the path to follow (like in Attila with "shift" key)

I really think that allowing players to strive for more things than world domination is a really fun addition to the total war series. More intrigue, positions and events. Making the world feel alive and including in a sense rather than stone cold slugfests that some titles feels like. Playing as a smaller state/vassal contributing to a ruler and your kingdom then slowly growing your influence and reputation in the realm would be really cool. A bit more into the Crusader kings kinda feel would give more replayability.

I hope at some point you will also be able to play the Mittani and Mycenaean kingdom, or at least the city state of Babylon, facing the Elamites. You can't talk about the bronze age collapse without the middle East, especially since its place in international trade was vital for the other powers !

30:09 Gotta point out for players who haven’t played the older titles (namely Rome 1), wall sapping is not new to the Total War series. It was present in Rome 1 and removed afterwards. Additionally, it was in fact a dynamic feature you could use in battles, not just something you select when attacking a settlement from the campaign map.

At first I was disappointed since most of us wanted a Medieval III or Empire II or Rome III, but this is a period that isn`t that much popular in mainstream so why not, I`m excited for this, hopefully they improve upon the mechanics both in battles and campaign properly and extensively. What I can expect for sure from CA and won`t disappoint is art and sound and the trailer sounds amazing. Good luck on your release and best of wishes, I will wait for reviews to see how is the launch but I don`t see why I wont fit a place in my budget for this game .

I've been waiting for Medieval III: Total War for 17 years.

Bronze age collapse, sea peoples and the Levant pretty stoked about that.Great time period great idea looking forward to see the factions fleshed out and hopefully a good selection

One thing i'd love to see in Total War games is a realistic physics engine. It'd be so cool charging cavalry into infantry and break through the lines as opposed to them just suddenly stopping.

As a huge fan of the Bronze Age, and having studied the period extensively, I was worried when this was first announced that it was going to end up being a "truth behind the myth" approach like Total War: Troy (which was admittedly much better than I thought it would be, but still had some issues). Egyptian history is infinitely better documented than that of the Myceneans and Luwians (the most likely candidates for Troy's ethnic and linguistic affiliation), so while it should theoretically be easier to create a historically accurate game based on it, I was worried that we may end up with a Rome: Total War situation full of anachronisms and units and buildings tailored more to interesting gameplay than accuracy. After watching this, however, I have some hope. Suppiluliuma actually looked the way I'd imagine a Hittite ruler (while I'm nowhere near an expert on the Hittites and Anatolian cultures, I liked the conical crown and the horns on it, which were a symbol of divinity in Mesopotamia and I assume this was one of the many Sumero-Akkadian influences on the region). The units looked great. While chariots were fairly strong and utilized heavily by the Egyptians and Hittites, the fact that they can get stuck in mud and sand is huge, because they were of extremely limited use on ground that wasn't solid and flat. I'm glad that the Sea Peoples, Nubians, and Libyans will be included, and the shots of the Sea Peoples in the trailer looked great (their armor looked similar to that of some of the units in Troy, which is great given that most of them were probably from Greece and the Aegean, and I believe I saw a horned Sherden/Nuragic helmet in the opening cinematic at the end). Given that peoples from the areas surrounding Egypt are going to be in the game, I'd be surprised if the Anatolians, Phrygians, Mushki, and maybe even some early Greek colonists didn't appear, and since Canaan will be in the game it could also theoretically include nomadic Aramean tribes. I don't want to get my hopes up too much only to be horribly disappointed, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

13:27 sounds similar to the mechanic in Shogun 2 total war fall of the samurai where you could either be Pro-Imperial, Pro-Shogun or an independent republic which was a mechanic I absolutely loved.

Soooo, it's a spiritual successor of the survival type campaign of Atilla huh? interesting. Also, the map is amazing btw and they finally fixed the battles ffs thank God. I now have a bright outlook for the future of Total War. Especially that new "stances" mechanics.

I like they used the Late Bronze Age collapse as the background. It brought an apocalypse vide into the game. Love to see what end game crisis they are brewing.

The Canaanites may be nihilists, but the Egyptians are Nile-ists! 😉

I really appreciate historical accuracies of Total War titles. I think it is fun to be able to play the game and learn some history at the same time.

Can't believe Tomb Kings got their own campaign

I really like all the campaign and battle mechanics here. I'm sure it'll make the game a lot more fun. The stances especially seem like they'll have a lot of uses

Why they keep doing UI that looks that is a mobile game?

I really like the Troy+Attila vibe. The historic era and the survival aspect of the campaign is what i am mostly looking forward to!

CA, it's been nearly a decade and a half since Empire, when can we see a sequel to that one game.

Matched combat, the weather, armor changes. Ok, fair do's. More innovation from Sophia than the UK studio did in 10 years.

I am very certain this will be a good standalone game. You picked a nice setting with the Bronze Age, and it is a good moment in time to release it and to ensure we get to play this throughout and even a few years from now. Personally I am very looking forward to the customization options, the Gods, the courts system, and the dynamic weather.

This brings hope in CA and Historical Total war back. The presentation is very good and im looking forward to the release.

This is exactly the communication people wanted from CA. Keep it Up that was great. Also showing how the music is Made was beautiful, so many Talented People Just doing their thing. Cant wait to see more.

Total War should never stop being about history. This is why I love this franchise, its very educational. I never really knew much about the Illiad, but when Troy released I read multiple books and now love the period. The same goes for this game, I can't wait to learn and get immersed in this period of history. I will love whatever historical title they bring out for this this reason.

All we wanted was empire 2/Med3

There better be a Dung beetle monstrous cavalry unit or i'm rioting

I can’t wait to build a pyramid so tall that even Nagash will blush

Glad to see them going back to historical, but I really think they need a new setting for the next big total war game. Medieval 3 or A new Empire would be great and would bring CA a lot of money. I really hope they’re working on something else while keeping this a side project

One of my favourite things about Attila as a Total War game was 'survive' rather than 'conquer', with a dark, gritty feel. The game EXPECTED you to lose. This looks pretty cool if it is along the same lines as Attila. Not an over-saturated, steamroll conquest game, but a dark, hard survival RTS. Really excited for this, and for the chance to learn more about Egyptian history!

As a lifelong fan of the Total War series, and the founding editor and chief writer of the "Historica" wiki - with much of its content drawn from my own Total War playthroughs - I'm so excited about so many things, and I'd like to share them with fans both new and old!: (1) Is anyone else as excited as I am about the return of "years" as turns? I noticed "1205 BC" in the lower right corner of the campaign screen and I am so elated to be able to look at my character's records and see the historical timeline that I've created! It will be interesting to see how many turns per year, and if the game's end date will by 1175 BC, by which time the Sea Peoples invasion was defeated; as many of the pharaohs in the game reigned for only a few years, I'm anticipating long years, Napoleon (or FotS)-style! Besides, it will make writing alternate histories a lot easier now that we have a year to reference, whereas Troy was more about guesswork within the range of 1204-1184 BC. (2) It's super cool to see the intricacies of Egyptian politics at this time, as climbing through the ranks of Egyptian government CK2-style seems much more cool than merely conquering the rival Egyptian factions to become Pharaoh. Though I didn't catch it in the first look, I'm thinking that Setnakhte - Ramesses' father and the deposer of Tausret - may be able to become pharaoh with the player, as Ramesses, supporting his father's reign! (3) I'm glad to hear that desert nomadic factions (maybe hordes) play a major role in the game as well, as the Sea Peoples were not the only destroyers of civilizations. Perhaps we may see the Kaskians invading Hatti, or - even cooler - the Israelite tribes become a factor in Canaan! I'm definitely hoping to see civilizations such as the Moabites, Amorites, Ammonites, Midianites, Edomites, and other Old Testament peoples appear in the flesh, to give names, faces, and agency to these Levantine nations, even if they're only there to be crushed by their more powerful Canaanite or Egyptian neighbors! (4) I'm super psyched about the greater diversity in unit appearances. Sometimes in TW3K unit facial models appeared to be similar, but I'm already liking what I've seen of the diversity in (at least) Egyptian models, reflecting both the age and ethnic diversity of the Egyptian army. It's cool to see veterans and youths fighting on the same battlefield; Troy's "Young Spears" appeared to all be at least in their 30s, but I'm seeing great diversity in this game's ranks. (5) Finally, I'm really excited about the filling in of the blanks in many character's backstories, by giving them motivations, traits, and even regions to rule. That's the best thing about Total War - bringing to life characters who, on Wikipedia, tend to be pictureless articles without many known facts. I hope you all enjoyed this and are as excited as I am for October!

This is actually Total war Troy - Reskin. And it will cost us another 60 euro.

I had a comment earlier talking about some stuff you talk about in this, that makes me REALLY happy. I'm proud of how far you guys have come ❤

One thing you guys should change give the units banners like in Rome 2 instead of a circle,diamond or pentagon for a unit that needs to be changed ASAP

Hope to see Minoans, Mycenaeans amd Babylonians

23:47 Go backwards whilst facing forwards is something I always wanted to do, now we can do a Cannae properly.

Why are there still no banners and regiment officers/musicians?

As an Ancient Egypt fanatic, I'm really looking forward to being able to immerse myself in this world. I also hope that we'll see more factions going forward, like the Kushites or Assyrians, maybe even the Mycenaeans.

BLESS YOU CA. I wake up, I get coffee, I sit down....45 MINUTE PREVIEW OF PHARAOH?! You made my morning.

This to me looks like Atilla with the dark apocalyptic atmosphere and Three Kingdoms, with the more compact and dense world.

The forests of Lebanon played a huge part in the timber economy of that time; hope to see that represented!

23:48 I was really hoping for that, matching animations are awesome, even if they bugged out or make the battles slower. I rather have that than random "heart attacks" 29:49 Gods, finally!

Good, I'm at least happy to see that matched combat will be making a return. Now the battles will at least be interesting to watch like shogun 2.

Sire why are you building so many costal defences we face no threat from the sea! Oh, oh you'll see!

I've been a big fan of the Total War series for many years. Not every game has been a gem, but I've spent thousands of hours with their games and introduced my son to them as well. I look forward to this one as CA has a solid track record and I love this period in history.

Surprise, surprise. All the “new features” have been in older games and are just being reintroduced. Sapping, siege ladders and fire were all in Rome Total War in 2004.

First look: 45 minutes! I want vídeos like this on my medieval 3

I’m in! I know I’m not part of the noisiest online cry for another empire or medieval, but Bronze Age collapse is what I’ve always wanted. Troy nailed the campaign, now just hoping they do the battles right!

Ultimately what matters the most is how re-playable it is in campaign and PvP battles, but this has me hopeful and gives great flavor.

Super interesting, almost feels like it has some build your own character and rpg elements as well as the standard formula.

A true historical Total War is all I wished for. Consider me hyped.

Sofia is better than the UK studio but man, its sad seeing a troy reskin with minor tweaks at a price like this and absolutely disgusting dlc practices. Still, they better make a big campaign with Greece for owners of Troy like immortal empires.

A Total War: Egypt is such an interesting and great concept it kinda scares me that they do it now, they already abandoned Attila, Troy and Thrones of Britannia, I don't have a lot of hope with this one

All forces had varying access to bronze btw (not an egyptologist just hyperfixated upon the Kemet) so, can you add a dynamic armor upgrade where you can upgrade your late game northern, say, migrated egyptian units but clad in kemeticised (decorated as per egyptian, or Kemetic, art style, like you are already doing amazingly) armor, or even have oighter variant for desert regions, to display a version of bronze age "modernization?"

23:39 this should have been part of TW since at least Shogun 2

As an egyptian i'm very exciting ❤🇪🇬🔥

Anyone else feel like CA has clearly just *given up* on making any significant generational improvements to graphical fidelity in the Total War series? I really can't see any noteworthy improvement in this game's graphics over Rome 2, which is turning *a decade old* this year. For anyone old enough to remember how mind-blowing and revolutionary the original Rome Total War was back in 2004 with its introduction of live real-time battles with several thousand fully 3D-rendered soldiers all running around on the field of play (especially considering the very limited hardware of the time), when the most ambitious thing to have come before it were isometric RTS games with a unit limit of around 200 per player - the extent to which they seem to be just phoning it in these days (particularly with their historical entries in the series, which you'd think being more realistic in subject matter, scope, and tone, would offer the perfect opportunity to push the envelope of straightforward graphical fidelity and technical achievement) is supremely disappointing granted both how exponentially the headroom of our end user graphics hardware has grown in the past 5 years and how AAA game budgets even in this niche genre have ballooned up to the 30-50 million dollar range. It seems like the entire games industry has been stuck in a lurch for quite some time now. We used to discuss and look forward to big new games coming out every 1-2 years across a variety of platforms and genres that would totally transform what we thought was possible and show us new heights of gripping immersion, both technically/graphically and in terms inventive and elegant gameplay systems, and often both at the same time. We once asked "but can it run Crysis?" and "when Half-Life 3?" But now we buy cutting-edge $1500 graphics cards just to offset the stunningly poor performance optimization of every new major game to come out that barely manages to look as good a Crysis did 15+ years ago, with advances in graphics, realism, and technical achievement seeming to have stalled intractably many years ago right alongside anything new or inventive coming out in the gameplay space other than from a few rare examples from indie devs lucky enough to capture lightning in a bottle like Battlestate Games, and a couple of virtuoso development houses like Naughty Dog, From Software, Rockstar, or Kojima Productions, who get all their work snapped up as console-exclusives and only release a full game every 4-5 years, while we load up our 10,000th match of CounterStrike: Global Offensive or unexcitedly re-purchase the latest annual addition of Call of Duty with a 10% bump to texture resolutions just because we know our friends will automatically do so and we don't want to get left behind by our friends list, all between tune-ins to televangelist sermons from Todd Howard to get overhyped for the next low-fi choose-your-own-adventure novel from Bethesda Softworks that they'll release half-finished and coast on re-releases of for the next 6+ years. I'm not somebody who thinks that making a great, memorable game is 100% predicated on mild-blowing graphics, but CA has also been recycling the same paint-by-numbers gameplay formula with only very minor surface variations for over 14 years now going all the way back to 2009 with Empire Total War, which in many respects is sadly still the most deep and elaborate gameplay experience the series has ever presented for players, surpassed only in some respects by the Warhammer trilogy of games, which also present the series' last concerted leap forward in graphical fidelity with the release of Warhammer 1 all the way back in 2016. With Warhammer 2 and 3 only barely serving as any kind of exception, every new Total War game since Shogun 2 in 2011 has had the same boringly hyper-simplified building trees and tech trees offering the same borderline-pointless single-digit specializations and bonuses presenting the player with astonishingly little room for creativity and emergent gameplay, to the point where any player who remotely knows what they're doing will witness near-identical gameplay loops until they inevitably run into the point where a game-breaking bug or logical design flaw saps whatever residue of fun remained in their campaign for them, or where the AI of the remaining CPU factions breaks down causing them to start behaving nonsensically and/or cheating the player into submission in the mid-to-late game, because even with the simplicity of a one-row Rubik's cube, veteran dev teams of over 100 people, and a 3-4 year development cycle, and no direct competition in their niche, they still can't seem to manage to be able to build a car that can finish it's own race. I mean, could it be any more sad that still in 2023 the "big new thing" intended to set PHARAOH apart is the same old "it's the apocalypse, the scary barbarians are coming, and we're going to just make them insta-spawn full stack armies one after another right outside your FoW until you get tired of playing," now being rehashed a *third* time after Barbarian Invasion and Atilla? If even after having had the benefit of a whole 14 years of reflection and contemplation since the release of Empire they are still so categorically devoid of ambition, inspiration, or creativity as to even attempt to build out a deeper, more open-ended experience for the player (or even one *as deep* as their 14-year old game) within their general TBS/RTS engine that they're now touting features like "armies can finally walk backwards while facing the enemy," "soldiers will march slower in the mud," and "fire hurts people" as revolutionary innovations, maybe putting in the work to refresh the genre through the pursuit of "next gen graphics" that will finally make good use of our shiny new RTX 3090's and 4090's would actually be a worthwhile focus for them...

Make medieval 3 already, it's been 17 years

Looks cool so far! Please don't release it until it's done!

oh my god, how many decades has it been, we finally have the ability to move backwards while facing forwards, i know this sounds sarcastic but this is biiiig

Being completely honest, I’m worried for this game.

The Pyramids use to be white because they had a white limestone coating until the 6th century. Hope this gets fixed before release

Very happy to finally seeing some development of battle mechanics - stances and maneuvering has been needed for a while.

An empire 2 all the way to 1900 would be life changing.

Glad to see the return of historical titles!

A 45 minute video from creative assembly? That's never been done before and im so thankful for this video, all the best for total war pharoah

I think the bearded dude knows exactly what is talking about : He well knows how it feels trying to survive within a previously glorious environment which is now falling apart.

So far it seems like Sofia is building off of Troy and already I see a ton of potential. I can't wait to see where you go with Pharaoh!

I really hate the UI direction with the building cards. Attila had this perfect. I could actually see what I was building not some stylised random wall. Also I love the historically authentic comment followed by many hundred chariots that will no doubt not be archer damage focused. They really need to put more of a focus on saying how its not historically accurate but attempts to be historically thematic.

Can we add natural resources back to the overworld map to interact with? It creates an economic incentive to have armies stationed outside of your cities, creates more interaction for "raiding" mechanics rather than just moving into a territory and clicking a "raid" button. TW team is A+ on battle animations and unique mechanics, lets spice up the overworld, especially for this time period where natural resources haven't been extracted out of existence.

I think this is what made Shogun 2 so damn good. The fact that every single death in a unit was some sort of 1 on 1 combat animation.

Core gameplay mechanic: Iltam zumra rašubti ilatim Litta id belet išsi rabit igigi

Ready to play as the Pharaoh! (flashback Western Roman Empire campaign in Attila)

THANK GOD that we are finally done with Warhammer... I never bought those games since I want my Total War games to be about history, not fantasy.

None of these features will matter if unit collision is not implemented properly like the pre-warscape games. As long as men can phase through each other and slide around then real tactics will be impossible, units will simply engage in single combat in the middle of a large battle, not caring about who is to their right and their left, positioning will not matter when you can just sprint a formation through another formation to hard-counter the enemy and charge cycle. The old combat system of one hit kills with skill saves and proper formation physics was the heart and soul of total war, without that there is no total war.

1. Well, the Bronze Age... And only three cultures, not a lot. Where did Mycenaean Greece, Arzawa, Assyria, Mittani, Babylonia, Elam and Troy go? 2. Sea Peoples was mentioned, no fleet again?) 3. Thanks for making the "new" unit vs unit combat animations. But it was already in Shogun 2 (2011!) Summing up - game is not interested me at this moment🤔 P.s. Add pls assyrian siege towers👀

Pre-buy DLCs and don’t forget to pay extra to see blood! 😂

I like how Sofia (best team) guys just methodically and calmly explain why they did what they did, while the PR managers from the main office (the developers of the acclaimed and groundbreaking Hyenas™) just crack stupid jokes, ask stupid questions and fake excitement all the way through.

The wait for Medieval 3 continues...

The breadcrumb trail is already kind of there, but I hope an updated version of the TROY map and factions (their historical version, of course.) will be able to be added to this game in the same vein as Mortal Empires.

First, when i heard its about Egypt I was like ooo that's suck, bronze age is so limited in variety soldiers, the only thing that can save it are mechanics. I watch this and I'm hyped for these mechanics. Excellent campaign with nice intrigue and politics and the battle stance ooo man. That's something that was missing in total war so far. The possibility to still fight the enemy and move back opened so many doors for news tactics that were normal in a historic battle. And the rest stuff also looks promising. Now I cant wait for the release.

You have to fight to the death with the guy with the weird beard or the woman in ancient Egypt. I would think twice about it.

These guys are literally taking gameplay elements from Manor Lords and putting them in game. Good.

I had no clue how fascinating this time period is. I'm hyped.

I hope this game is more like a survival mode. Historically it was so and to face hardships from all possible corners would be great

Glad to see a return to the Historical titles. As much fun as Warhammer is, i long for the return e History.

Rameses III's campaign sounds great. A young, ambitious noble seeking to overthrow the old dynasty and lead the empire into a new age.

Can we please get Empire total war 2 please. That's what we really need!

This sounds very promising, especially weather, fire etc effects on the battlefield! Really cool!

I was ready to be super disappointed.. but I'm happy with the direction the game is steering in. Historical focused combat, no pocket ladders, Attila mechanics slowly returning (fire etc.). Now please de-saturate your textures and make cities look cool again.

The siege option of Sapping was already present before, longer the siege lasted the more holes in walls there could be.

Im so hyped for this game, everything looks so exciting, cant wait to see more vids about it!

What a beautiful game!

The Tomb Kings, known as the Priest Kings in their former lives, are the undying rulers of Nehekhara, an ancient Human civilisation that formed a great and powerful empire some two thousand five hundred years before the birth of Sigmar Heldenhammer and the founding of the Empire. Out of all the unliving creatures that would claim dominion and royalty over the dead, only the Tomb Kings could truly claim such masterful and undisputed sovereignty. For they had once ruled a mighty and far-flung empire during a time when the rest of Mankind were little more than savage barbarians. Long ago, during an ancient and forgotten age, Nehekhara stood as a shining beacon of civilisation and Human achievement; a golden age when its cities shone with a majestic splendour, its buildings crafted from magnificent marble and limestone, its armies capable of conquering entire kingdoms. In this long-lost age, Nehekhara's mighty rulers reigned as living gods amongst men. But this great realm was destroyed millennia ago through acts of great treachery and powerful sorcery. The living of Nehekhara perished long ago in a single, mournful night, and in their absence, the dead stirred from their graves and claimed the land anew. Even as their ancient civilisation now lies buried beneath the sand, its once verdant plains turned to searing desert and their mighty and glorious empire fractured and in ruin, the Tomb Kings have once more awoken from their deep sleep. Rising from their decrepit sarcophagi, the mummified rulers of Nehekhara awoke with eyes of burning balefire, their thirst for power, conquest and vengeance just as strong in death as in life. They have returned to reclaim that which is rightfully theirs, their legions innumerable, rising up from the scorching sand brandishing weapons of polished bronze and priceless gold. Ancient, emotionless and spiteful to all those that have slighted them, woe betide those foolish enough to stand before their silent onslaught.

I am so excited for the fire mechanics!