Immersive games set in Ancient Egypt

[thesecret1]

Any game set in Ancient Egypt that do the setting justice, ideally from the Old Kingdom period? No disney-like bullshit, but actual history where you can practically feel yourself hauling stone to the pyramids. All I found was Egypt: Old Kingdom, which is pretty great from a historical perspective, but game-wise it's a rather short experience and very abstract by the virtue of its genre.

Asscreed need not apply.

 

[Whipping Post]

There's Total War: Pharaoh and the old Impressions city builder 'Pharaoh'.

 

[pOcHa]

serious sam

 

[luj1]

Powerslave (Exhumed)

 

[Fargus]

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

 

[v1c70r14]

the old Impressions city builder 'Pharaoh'.

That's sadly about as good as it gets. Other than Pharaoh (with the Cleopatra expansion of course) I'd recommend the old Kheops adventure games, The Egyptian Prophecy (Egypte III: Le Destin de Ramsès in French) and Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb. The first two games in the Egypt series by Cryo are also decent.

 

[thesecret1]

the old Impressions city builder 'Pharaoh'.

That's sadly about as good as it gets. Other than Pharaoh (with the Cleopatra expansion of course) I'd recommend the old Kheops adventure games, The Egyptian Prophecy (Egypte III: Le Destin de Ramsès in French) and Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb. The first two games in the Egypt series by Cryo are also decent.

I was hoping for something closer to an imsim than adventure games or city builders. Shame there ain't more than this

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Egyptian Prophecy mentioned above has people saying it's accurate, but might have some technical problems on modern system

 

[Fargus]

Pretty much all games about ancient Egypt are city builders or point&click\adventure lol

Of course there is always Assassins Slop: We Wuz Kangs if you change your mind

 

[Popot]

Children of the Nile is another city builder that has a more simulationist approach compared to the games mentioned here, though it is a bit easy and might require unoffical patches.

 

[Kabas]

On a more serious note there is plenty of games with egyptian stuff but i can't recall any games with a full focus on the theme other than what was already mentioned.
Age of Mythology can be mentioned too, i guess?

 

[thesecret1]

I guess Egypt: Old Kingdom is as good as it gets when it comes to historicity. A shame. Thousands of years of history and barely any games to represent them

 

[agris]

Not what you’re asking for, but a fun and overlooked Myst-like with an Egyptian world as one of the five you explore

https://af.gog.com/en/game/timelapse?as=1649904300

 

[Lacrymas]

There's barely any historically accurate titles from the Bronze Age up to the Classical Age in general.

 

[v1c70r14]

I was hoping for something closer to an imsim than adventure games or city builders. Shame there ain't more than this

As Lacrymas posted above, it's rare enough to see any game going for historical realism or authenticity alone. Imsims are also incredibly rare, the few that do exist for the most part either go for a science fiction setting or a fantasy one. Dark Messiah, Arx Fatalis, Thief, Ultima Underworld... They're all using the fantastical to create the dynamic simulations they use and to manipulate things. Like all the powers in Dishonored, slowing or stopping time, summoning rats, possessing people, these are things that work because of the imsim nature of the game. Putting a mine on a bottle and then using telekinesis to throw it at an enemy for an improvised grenade.

In an historically accurate ancient Egyptian setting these things would be much less pronounced. But then it's not like we're getting any RPGs with that setting either, something which would make more sense to me in terms of genre.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

If I recall correctly, there were a number of adventure games on PC or PS1 that were made about different ancient civilizations, where you progressed screen to screen like Myst or something.

Egypt 1156 B.C. – Tomb of the Pharaoh

Egypt 2: The Heliopolis Prophecy ​

 

[thesecret1]

I was hoping for something closer to an imsim than adventure games or city builders. Shame there ain't more than this

As Lacrymas posted above, it's rare enough to see any game going for historical realism or authenticity alone. Imsims are also incredibly rare, the few that do exist for the most part either go for a science fiction setting or a fantasy one. Dark Messiah, Arx Fatalis, Thief, Ultima Underworld... They're all using the fantastical to create the dynamic simulations they use and to manipulate things. Like all the powers in Dishonored, slowing or stopping time, summoning rats, possessing people, these are things that work because of the imsim nature of the game. Putting a mine on a bottle and then using telekinesis to throw it at an enemy for an improvised grenade.

In an historically accurate ancient Egyptian setting these things would be much less pronounced. But then it's not like we're getting any RPGs with that setting either, something which would make more sense to me in terms of genre.

The period could be plenty immersive in the same way KCD was. Battle bandits and raiders from the desert, handle intrigue of uppity nomarchs, handle the enormous logistics of building the pyramids while seeing them rise before your eyes, brick by brick, or deal with the societal collapse of the intermediary period, all the while appeasing the gods every step of the way. Lots of potential for fun, in a setting most people have only rudimentary knowledge of.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

The Egyptian part of Expeditions: Rome if the Ptolemaic period counts.

Visual design is pretty good,


(And writing is ok for the most part.)

 

[v1c70r14]

The period could be plenty immersive in the same way KCD was.

I never played KCD but I think you need to distinguish between immersive games and imsims following Deus Ex, System Shock 2 and the like. KCD is by my reckoning less of a toybox. I don't disagree that it would be a great setting for a lot of genres, action games, something like Mount & Blade, RPGs... You name it.

I think one of the reasons it's so underused is that the setting clashes with modern Western sentiments and sensibilities, and if Zio of Tel-Aviv-ville's rating in this thread is to go by jews are still very butthurt about the (false) story about them being enslaved by Egyptians. Interest in that setting is something you'd see more among Greeks and Italians since it's a part of their heritage, and some exotic interest from Anglo and French egyptologists, the pre-war Germans were also very cultured, not so much interest from the people that finance the video game industry. The religiosity in the ancient days is also hard to comprehend if portrayed true to history for modern people that know nothing but atheistic (or secular) culture and society, makes it hard to relate to. So if you get anything Egyptian it's almost always pop culture mash, easily digestible for anyone and far removed from reality.

 

[itsme]

Just read a history novel or better yet a history book written by egyptologist. You cant get more egyptical than that.

 

[Maxie]

Ankh series of point & clicks