Total War: Pharaoh

Total War: Pharaoh is an turn-based strategy real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly Sofia and published by Sega. Part of the Total War series, Pharaoh is set in the New Kingdom of Egypt and its surrounding areas before the Late Bronze Age collapse. The game was released for Windows PC on October 11, 2023. Feral Interactive will publish the game's macOS version.

Gameplay
Total War: Pharaoh is a turn-based strategy real-time tactics video game. In the game, the player can choose from eight leaders, representing the game's three factions: Ancient Egypt (Seti II, Amenmesse, Twosret, and Ramesses III), the Canaanites of the Levant (Bay and Irsu), and the fragmented Hittite Empire under Šuppiluliuma II and Kurunta in Anatolia. New to the series is unit stance. Units in the game can now advance, hold (or forming a shield wall or a spear wall), and fall back. When unit falls back, they will retreat and slowly cede ground while maintaining formation and facing forward. Units armour will also degrade, causing them to become progressively more vulnerable during confrontations. As with Troy, environments and armour will affect unit movement. For instance, heavier unit will become exhausted faster, and become bogged down in mud. Natural disasters will impact the terrain. For instance, a thunderstorm may create more mud and create harsh conditions for heavy units, while a sandstorm will drastically reduce visibility, rendering archers useless. Fire will also spread across the battlefield, destroying buildings and killing units caught in it. As the players progress in the game, they will be able to recruit units that are more adept to Egypt's harsh weather and terrain conditions. Siege battles also underwent changes. Each settlement now has three capture points, with each bringing a unique boost to the army that controls it. For instance, one capture point may boost an army's morale, while another may boost their stamina.

The Sea Peoples serve as Pharaoh's endgame threat, while spawning in "waves" every two ingame years, for instance the scripted "Weshesh wave" in 1200 BCE and "Shekelesh wave" in 1198 BC. The number of Sea Peoples armies spawned with each wave can be customized through Pharaoh's campaign customization menu, and these armies increase in size, number, and quality as society enters a state of collapse. In addition to periodic Sea Peoples invasions, players regularly contend with Libu raiding parties in western Egypt and Phrygian and Kaska invasions in western and northern Anatolia.

Players can opt to pursue two "royal legacies": the Pharaoh of Egypt or the Hittite "Great King". Merneptah starts the game as Pharaoh, but, before or after his pre-scripted death in 1202 BC, rival factions can initiate a civil war to seize control of the throne. Likewise, while Suppiluliuma starts the game as Great King of the Hittites, he can be challenged in a civil war by any rival faction.

Development
The game was developed by Creative Assembly Sofia, which had previously worked on Total War Saga: Troy. Described as a fully-fledged historical Total War game, the team stripped away the more fantastical elements founded in games such as Total War: Warhammer and Total War: Three Kingdoms for an experience that is more grounded in reality. Creative director Maya Georgieva added that as opposed to Troy, the game is a "fully historical title", one that is not "diluted or looking for multiple representations". The pace of battle was significantly slower when compared to Troy, with director Todor Nikolov adding that the team wanted players to make "fewer" but more "impactful" decisions, and that combat now requires less micromanagement from players.