Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties has quietly become one of the best historical Total War games ever

GamesStrategyTotal War: PharaohTotal War: Pharaoh Dynasties has quietly become one of the best historical Total War games everWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Sega)

Man�s got some spears pointed at him.

(Image credit: Sega)

Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties update

The scope of this update is hard to undersell. In addition to stapling the entire Aegean from Troy onto Pharaoh’s already considerable map of Egypt, the Levant, and Central Anatolia, Dynasties also extends to the East with a brand new Mesopotamia region along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In terms of sheer dimensions, this is now the largest map for a historical Total War game ever, almost doubling the area and faction count of base game Pharaoh.

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It seems clear to me that Creative Assembly Sofia has taken the bulk of what was probably supposed to be multiple paid DLCs (including the earlier High Tide update that let you play as the marauding Sea Peoples) and added it to the base game. Perhaps at some point, the plan was to release Troy, Pharaoh, and a third game focusing on Mesopotamia individually, before combining them into a megacampaign similar to Total War: Warhammer’s Immortal Empires map. What Dynasties managed to pull off, amazingly, seems to be almost all of that.

(Image credit: Sega)

Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties update

It’s not that there aren’t some rough edges here and there. For example, dynamic aging and royal family trees only apply to male characters. The lovely Helen of Troy is forever enshrined as a 2D drawing, even in her old age. There are some hints here and there of cut content, suggesting that perhaps Troy’s Amazon factions were at one point meant to be included. Not every culture group has their own unique cutscene for a Civil War starting like the Egyptians and Hittites do. I’ve also found the AI to be a bit inconsistent in dealing with some of the new mechanics. In particular, they seem to be somewhat confused about what to do with the nomadic outposts Sea Peoples factions can now build in razed territories.

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But ultimately, I’ll take huge and messy most of the time over scaled-back and polished when it comes to my Total War grand campaigns. Zooming out and realizing that I’ve spent 150 turns entirely within the boundaries of Mesopotamia hammers home that Dynasties stands alongside the likes of Rome 2 and Attila in scale and ambition—even surpassing them in some ways. Troy and the base game of Pharaoh felt more like standalone expansions, with a focus on a specific conflict. Dynasties feels like it should properly be called Total War: The Bronze Age. It’s an enormous main series grand campaign, with a dizzying diversity of units and cultures to play with.

Now, one of my initial criticisms of Pharaoh was that I worried we may actually have too many campaign mechanics at this point. And Dynasties doesn’t help that, layering even more on top such as a succession and royal marriage system. But I also found that, the more hours I put into it, the more I appreciate having more to think about on any given turn than my next conquest. Having great leaders pass on and give way to a new generation helps things feel fresh, as the children and grandchildren of Ramesses and Achilles have to live up to their mythical ancestors' legacies.

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Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties update

The variety between campaigns is also enormous. Maybe even more so than Three Kingdoms, though the focus is more on the running of the state than interpersonal relationships between characters. With 14 major leaders across six culture groups that each have a full array of individualized mechanics and flavor, I’m already planning not just my next campaign, but my next two or three.

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The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

All I beheld