City building games were immensely popular at the turn of the millennium. Genre greats included Anno, The Settlers, Sim City, Rome-based Caesar, and Pharaoh, which built Egyptian settlements. The latter can be played again from February 15th in a contemporary form of a remake.
As a pharaoh, it is up to the player to plan a viable settlement. After attracting the first settlers, their needs must be met, which requires managing increasingly complex production chains. Fighting fire and crime is also an essential factor for the functioning of the settlement and the satisfaction of the population. The gods also want to be satisfied: calmed by temples and gifts, they grant bonuses, but if they are dissatisfied, plagues and misfortunes threaten.
In addition to the free game, Pharaoh includes a campaign in the six epochs of ancient Egypt with 53 missions, which also include the tasks of the expansion Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, which must be mastered. Whether players solve tasks peacefully or with military force is up to them: Missions are offered in both variants, which procedure the player wants to use must be determined in advance.
Contemporary changes without requirements
The remake, as usual, greatly improves the graphics of the 1999 classic while retaining the 2D isometric perspective. In addition, the soundtrack was re-recorded and revised. Adjustments to the interface are just as important. Changes designed to make it easier to use include faster access to buildings, the ability to copy buildings, and automatic assignment of workers when their residences are near production sites. The developers want to submit the originally announced map editor.
Since no 3D graphics have to be calculated, the system requirements remain extremely low. On the Steam product page, only Windows 7, an Intel Core i5 and four gigabytes of RAM are mentioned as the minimum requirements. The graphics card only has to support OpenGL 3.0, but a specific chip is not mentioned. Basically, even the integrated graphics unit of a processor will be sufficient.