Total War: Pharaoh – Dynasties: A swan song

Creative Assembly Sofia sends Pharaoh off with an impressive update

Creative Assembly / Sega

Generally, I think fancy job titles are superficial decorations that serve no purpose whatsoever other than inflating the ego of those who already have too high an opinion of themselves – but I have to admit that being the “vice-regent of Ashur, chosen one of the gods Enlil and Ninurta, beloved of the gods Anu and Dagan, destructive weapon of the great gods, strong king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta, great king, strong king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Adad-nerari, great king, strong king, king of the universe, king of Assyria; valiant man who acts with the support of Ashur, his lord, and has no rival among the princes of the four quarters, marvellous shepherd, fearless in battle, unopposable mighty floodtide, king who subdues those insubordinate to him, he who rules all peoples, strong man who treads upon the necks of his foes, trampler of all enemies, he who smashes the forces of the rebellious, king who acts with the support of the great gods, his lords, and has conquered all lands, gained dominion over all the highlands and received their tribute, capturer of hostages, he who is victorious over all countries” is pretty cool. Can’t compete with that one, Daenerys.

The Assyrians sure were a bit full of themselves – they knew the world was a bigger place than their empire and yet called their rulers the kings of the universe. A historical mistake you can try to correct in Total War: Pharaoh – Dynasties, a massive free update for the strategy game that essentially doubles the playable map area and core cultures, giving you four royal titles to strive for instead of two, among many other additions and overhauls.

The Assyrians and Babylonians are the two cultures contending in newly-added Mesopotamia. Assyria is a rising power, destined for greatness and expansion thanks to its militaristic society, but its various factions aren’t quite united. Babylon still reels from military defeat – its campaign is one of rebuilding and reclaiming former greatness, of once more occupying its rightful place in the order of the world. With completely new sets of units, buildings, gods, and mechanics, they are one of Dynasties’ biggest additions and contribute much to making this game a true Bronze Age Total War.

Welcome to Babylon, the greatest city in the world. According to Babylonians, at least. / Creative Assembly / Sega

Mesopotamia is not the only direction in which the map expanded: The playable area reaches from the Persian Gulf over to the western shores of Greece now. Here, the heroes of Homer’s epics have once more gathered, making for a familiar scenario for Total War: Troy players. 

Pharaoh elegantly gives you a reason for recreating the Trojan War when playing as Mycenae by making Priam the supreme ruler of the region – if you want to claim the crown, you must launch a thousand ships towards the Aegean. Playing as the Trojans, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place: From the west, envious Agamemnon has his eyes on your city, and the warlike Hittites lurk in the east. Like the Mesopotamians, the peoples of the Aegean have their own units, gods, buildings, and mechanics to work with.

And no matter where you are: Don’t forget about those pesky Sea Peoples, who threaten to bring the apocalypse to humble city-states and kings of the universe alike.

Heavy infantry has lower visibility now, but their armor provides better protection in Lethality Mode. / Creative Assembly / Sega

But that’s just the major factions added in the update. The fact that Dynasties unlocked a ton of minor factions to play as is great for those seeking specific challenges or role-playing chances. Take Egypt: In the base game, we could only start as contenders for the throne. Now, everyone who finds holding the crown against pretenders more fun than competing for it can simply start the game as Pharaoh Merneptah. Or you could begin as the young king Achilles and seek ever more glory by pressing further east, giving the future Alexander the Great an even bigger ideal to follow. Or you play as one of the Canaanite city-states at the crossroads between the great powers, taking up the ultimate survival challenge. 

Personally, I’ve had a lot of fun with a random start position campaign as Odysseus, which placed me in Egypt – I could simply pretend that his odyssey led him to very distant shores, where he had to carve out a new future for himself. The point is: Pharaoh’s options are more varied and flavorful than ever before.

A universal addition everyone will love is the family tree: Rulers are no longer immortal demigods – they eventually die and must leave behind a successor to keep their realm stable. There’s even some room for political maneuvering through marriages.

Your Dynasty lies at the heart of the realm you're forging. / Creative Assembly / Sega

Perhaps more divisive – but completely optional – is the lethality mode for battles. You can toggle this system on and off at will, so I would encourage you to simply try it out for yourself, because if I’ve learned one thing from being part of the Total War community for many years, then it’s that all of us have different opinions on what makes battles fun. Lethality is pretty much a return to how battles worked in the older titles: Models have a chance to die from a single hit, but there is no HP pool for the entire unit. In practice, this means that attrition should be a more impactful factor in battles with troops like archers being able to actually kill enemy units bit by bit instead of firing volley after volley without taking down a single model, only to then kill the entire formation when its HP runs out. Since there is also always a chance that units take no damage, melee fights last longer than before and there’s a bit more distinction between different infantry types.

Political marriages are a diplomatic tool at your disposal now. / Creative Assembly / Sega

Battles definitely feel a lot more natural to me with this system toggled on, but as I said: Please test it yourself, as this is a highly subjective area of the game and you should play in the way you like best. One of the great strengths of Pharaoh has always been its deep customization options for both campaigns and battles and this continues the trend. 

Cavalry is a new, albeit unhistorical, addition to the game due to popular demand. However, the availability of these units is quite restricted, making them feel rare and like a costly investment, similar to the expensive chariots, which is a pretty good solution overall.

Cavalry (and camelry) bring a new dynamic into battles. / Creative Assembly / Sega

Historical Total War fans will be eating well with the free Dynasties Update for Total War: Pharaoh – it’s immensely broad, adds depth, and was clearly made with a lot of love for both history and games. 

Writing as someone who already liked the base game a whole lot, this massive expansion feels like a cherry on top of an already tasty cake. To quote my Total War: Pharaoh review: “If Total War: Pharaoh has proven one thing, then that Creative Assembly Sofia has earned the chance at working on something bigger next time – this kind of quality campaign deserves a grander stage.”

CA Sofia may not have been able to do everything it wanted with Pharaoh and there are some wishes that remain unfulfilled from my side as well, but I think Dynasties proves the point: The crew in Bulgaria made one hell of a Total War game and Dynasties is its swan song. Pharaoh may be done in terms of content updates and may not be perfect, but Total War fans should be very happy that the Sofia team is sticking around for Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC and future titles. Anything else would have been a major loss for the series.

Total War: Pharaoh is discounted by 33% on Steam at the moment, so it’s a good time to jump in and enjoy the Bronze Age carnage.