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Sega has announced the next game in Creative Assembly’s expansive Total War series, Total War: Pharaoh. The announcement comes alongside a teaser trailer and some details about the upcoming title.
Total War: Pharaoh brings the strategy back to history and presents the earliest time period yet depicted by the property. Set during the “cataclysmic” collapse of the bronze age, it places your faction in a race for the throne of Egypt. There are eight faction leaders scattered across Egypt, Canaan, and the Hittite empire.
One of the new features of the series is weather effects that shift during the battle, including sandstorms and rain. Fire will also spread, allowing you to flush enemies out of forests or set villages ablaze. The campaign will also be fully customizable, allowing you to randomize faction starting points or toy with the weather systems.
I’m not sure it’s even possible to pry me from Total War: Warhammer 3, but those who love the more historical Total War games should appreciate Total War: Pharaoh. I’ll be honest when I say that I don’t know much about ancient Egypt, and Total War: Shogun 2 was an excellent jumping-off point to learn more about Japanese history. The weather systems sound fantastic, and I look forward to seeing how it affects battles.
Thankfully, it looks like the cooperative campaign mode will return. I put well over 200 hours into Total War: Shogun 2, and a lot of that is due to playing with a friend. Those were swell times.
Total War: Pharaoh is targeting a release of October 2023 on PC. Deluxe and Dynasty editions have been announced, which include some of the upcoming DLC. If you pre-order now you’ll get to take part in an early access weekend.