HomeNewsTotal War: Pharaoh
Total War: Pharaoh’s enormous free Dynasties update gets a July release date and trailerIt’s the “final content addition”, says game director
It’s the “final content addition”, says game director
Image credit:Sega
Image credit:Sega
Total War: PHARAOH - Dynasties OverviewWatch on YouTube
Total War: PHARAOH - Dynasties Overview
The triumphalism here is perhaps a bit overcompensatory. The release of Legacies follows a complicated half-year for Creative Assembly, who have had to reckon withSega’s cost-cuttingon the one hand, and the long-standing grievances of the Total War community on the other.
In December, Creative Assembly’s vice president Roger Collumapologised to playersfor “mistakes” ranging from the company’s patchy communication through the overpricing of Total War DLC to the prevalence of bugs in recent Total War games. Collum also detailed some more tangible corrective measures. With regard to Pharoah specifically, Creative Assembly dropped the price, issued partial refunds and announced that the game’s first major DLC would be free.
All the above notwithstanding, Legacies certainly looks robust. I haven’t played the base game (my last historical Twarham was Three Kingdoms), so will refrain from presuming to decipherthe full expansion notes, but here are the topline features:
4 new major factions
25 new minor factions
150+ new and reworked units including cavalry
168 new settlements Expanded Campaign map (1.8x bigger)
New battle mechanics e.g. Lethality
New DYNASTIES family tree system
Fixes for Legacy bugs
OK, I’ll try to flesh it out alittlemore: as you’d expect, the Dynasties system is about breeding your rulers so as to ensure a solid line of succession in the event that somebody dies of old age or acute knife poisoning. Lethality, meanwhile, makes combat more realistic, with a chance of blows instantly killing targets regardless of armour, a choice of arcing, longer-ranged or flatter and more powerful missile trajectories for archers, and a more complex approach to unit visibility. You can read morehere.
