Predynastic Egypt

Predynastic Egypt
N/A
Metacritic
91
Steam
85.024
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$2.49
Release date
10 October 2016
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
91 (1 693 votes)

Do you know how did Ancient Egypt looked like before the Great Pyramids? Lead the future Egyptian citizens all the way through the historical hardships to the Unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, and you will find out!

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Predynastic Egypt system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows Vista SP2
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.0 Ghz
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: nVidia 7900 256 MB video memory or better, ATI HD2600 XT 256 MB video memory or better
  • DirectX: Version 9.0c
  • Storage: 1 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: Minimum resolution 1024х768
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reaper411b
reaper411b

really cool, fun, enlightening game with surprisingly a LOT a replay, about the redownload and play it again, much much fun =D

Jack
Jack

Great and uniform art-style. Lightweight, simple to understand, and filled with just enough historical information about predynastic Egypt to keep an interested player engaged. Not replayable, unless you want to min-max, but definitely worth the coin (especially if you get it on sale). Looking forward to trying the second game. Refreshed my memory from textbooks, a solid 8/10.

Phziy
Phziy

If you like history and enjoy games about history, especially Ancient Egypt, then this game is for you! The game mechanics are fairly easy and I personally think it's quite a relaxing game, if you're not trying to achieve everything and get 100%. I find myself returning to this game once in a while to just have a chill session. Being a person who likes history and enjoys games about history, I like this game, because I don't know a lot about Ancient Egypt, therefore I can learn a relearn some facts about this particular period.

Taras Rurik
Taras Rurik

i agree with ElPrezCBF on this games problems but it is still a enjoyable experience, i wish it offered much more in strategy and could be so much more. still i would recommend this game especially on discount.

Son of a submariner
Son of a submariner

This is a siple at first but surprisingly complacated at the end ressouce management and strategy game.
It is a one-off game for a lazy sunday afternoon. Buy it on a disount, play it for five hours, enjoy it as long as it lasts.

Voen
Voen

Its a fun, solid little Civ-lite game, with straightforward mechanics introduced gradually throughout a session. The only mechanics that are a bit obtuse are the Trials that come up, but I think those are there to encourage replay...personally I don't see myself coming back to this one for awhile, and I beat it in the time shown played so far, so take that into account I suppose. I'm happy with my purchase, regardless.

7.5 / 10

lstepanek
lstepanek

Nice turn-based strategy and planning game. Yet quite relaxing too.

MatildaForever
MatildaForever

This game is somehow eye candy, but I'm not sure that I want to recommend this game to others. Maybe if they're fans of Egypt, like me. Otherwise... The mechanics are somehow hard, the game lacks in explaining more clearly some features, like when the enemy attack, what to do, what to build, and so on.

For me was a joyful experience, although the game's AI beat me every time. Oh, and you can't set how easy the game you want to be.

Kaz
Kaz

Good game for learning history of how Egypt built up to a civilization coming from hunter-gathers. Difficult game!

Agent Hitler, FBI
Agent Hitler, FBI

Learned more about Egypt from this game then school ever taught me.

Game-play is "basic" but deep enough for a strategy fan to enjoy.

So get it if you want to learn, or like a simple turn base game.

skinner.david
skinner.david

After playing 26 hours, first try was the tutorial, next five tries did not complete, finally complete with a score of 11/33. You should take your time and read the cards carefully, you will learn about the ancient history. The game seems so very easy, but it is not. You must be very careful. This is a great game for parents to play with their children. But encourage them to take notes so that they can do better on the next try. I bought this game after Egypt: Old Kingdom so I already understood the game play. If you can do the series in order from beginning to end. Make for better continuity of the story. And yes, I waited till it was on sale, sorry I waited now, the game is a lot of fun.

yckmciaiy
yckmciaiy

Short and quite simple with questionable mechanics, but the game itself is good enough to try.
If you liked this one, you should definitely try Egypt: Old Kingdom, as this one looks like 0.1 version of it.

max.d.raith
max.d.raith

Predynastic Egypt is a fairly simple worker-placement game about guiding a population from having just settled to unifying Egypt under one king. It's turn-based, with an ultimate objective to accomplish certain goals by the end of Turn 220. During those turns, you will need to juggle managing several resources (food, production, military, culture, authority, and worker limit) to progress towards these goals as well as exploring the map. While the game has progressions of buildings and technologies, they are very linear and the strategy is mostly about which to get and in what order. Instead, most of the gameplay is about where to place your workers to accomplish your ends.

The turn limit is pretty tight, and you will likely not accomplish your objectives until the final turns (if you do at all). My experience has been that it takes about 2 hours to play through the full 220 turns. When you hit the time limit, the game allows you to keep playing (win or lose) if you like. That said, the turn limit makes a nice "opponent" for the game, and I found it difficult enough to be quite satisfying.

I would say that the game feels more like a puzzle than a typical strategy game. While there are a few options/difficulty settings to choose from at the start of the game, and while some gameplay elements are randomized with each game, there is limited replayability. The tight turn limit means there isn't that much room for different strategies - you might play a few times to work out the right strategy and then move up to a higher difficulty level to try again, but every game will play mostly similarly.

That said, I had a lot of fun playing, and I like to think that I learned a few things. It looks, plays, and sounds nice, and I definitely feel like I got my money's worth out of it.

TeaOnVenus
TeaOnVenus

Short but interesting - good builder.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Great game love the time period runs great recomend it

Maxmetpt
Maxmetpt

Eeeeeeh. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, but it didn't satisfy me at all as I finished it.

This is like a super-competent flash game more than a real strategy game. Plus it has a really cool historical component.

The problem I have with the game is that it is mostly about event rather than systems. Many of the game's challenges change important variables simply as a way of creating artificial barriers to fit historical timelines. For example, in the last stretch of the unification of Egypt, where you subdue the last tribes, they are too powerful for you. It's unreasonable for you to fight them, almost impossible with the game's balance up to that point. Once you gain the quest to unite the last tribes, though, you gain a bonus that makes them much weaker than before. So now you can go and subdue them with the same army you had before.
Most of the game's events are like this. The "routine" management and strategy aspects aren't very deep, and when a major event needs to happen (with roughly the same timeline as real history), the game changes its rules.

The strategy aspect then suffers a lot, since you can't plan very well, unless you have played the game before and know what is going to happen and when.

I have only played the game on "easy" mode (the game offers different modifiers when you start the game, and I chose the recommended settings for beginners), but not "extra easy" mode, which the game offers halfway through. There are two higher difficulties which I am sure are more challenging - but this challenge has more to do with foreknowledge than with mechanical mastery.

I often think of Europa Universalis for historical dynamics done right. In that game, many mechanics also act as barriers, but behave as systems rather than timed gates controlled by the developers. The best example was the Casus Beli. You can't start a war if you don't have a cause. This is the mechanic, and it reflects history to some extent - in geopolitics, you can't just attack everyone like a madman without expecting other countries to promptly eliminate you; there are social/moral norms applied to politics within the european states. To declare a war, then, you can use causes like "I held this province 10 years ago and I want to reclaim it", or use marriage ties. Furthermore, you can also use spies to forge claims, which may succeed, or fail and give you a reputation hit among other states.
You learn the historical dynamics by understanding what you can and cannot do, and then everyone plays by the same rules. It's a "simulation".

This game isn't a simulation. The other tribes don't have the same variables as you have. There isn't much simulation, here. What there is is a relatively fixed sequence of events between which you have some degree of control, but not much.

The whole game is kind of a min-max race. And early mistakes can have big costs later on, since the game plays like a snowball.

Other than that, the only criticism I have is that the research trees (building and research) are a bit too abstract. Even though you are following a historical sequence (like building Scorpion's or Narmer's tomb, the Temple of the Sun, discovering slavery, taxation, and so on) the way choices are presented make them too abstract. It all boils down to which number you want to increase right now. I haven't even read the name of the chosen research half of the time, all that mattered was the stats associated.
This is a problem when a game is so focused on the historical particulars as Predynastic Egypt is. Despite being historical, the information that actually matters in the players' heads become abstract and ahistorical in a self-defeating way.

That said, I can give a mild recommendation. I enjoyed my time with it. Although it has very limited replayability (unless you want to optimize a more or less fixed sequence of events), the presentation is great and it does make an attempt to present an accurate historical game, which I'd like to see more of.
Of course, it's always a balance between history and playability, but it's good that they are trying to explore the often neglected side!
It's also cheap, so it can be a good palate-cleanser between meatier games.

spots2012
spots2012

This game is odd.

I bought it because I liked Marble Age - by the same developers.

Where Marble Age is a fantastic, difficult, balancing strategy game, this one is more of just a grind. involving manually reallocating single workers.

The rules are unclear on the second half.

I got the game for $3 on the Steam sale, so whatevs, certainly at that price don't hesitate to buy the game.

cptnapalm
cptnapalm

The end conditions are not actually the end conditions. Having done every single thing on the TODO list, I then still failed because... I don't know actually. There were no indications that there was anything else I was supposed to do. This is ridiculous.

1041803
1041803

My momentary situation is a sad one, my notebook can barely run any games. :( So I began my quest to find games that it can run and that I can enjoy. This has to be one of the most enjoyable games! If you're a bit of a nerd and maybe a fan euro style boardgames with lots of strategic worker placement: this is your game! I also enjoy the look of it, which also reminds me of euro style board games.
I came because of my desparation and stayed because of the fun! Wheeeee! :)

Tbags4love
Tbags4love

I love this game. And if you suck like me, it has quite a bit of 'replayability' in order to win...and I still have fun doing so

Zef6
Zef6

I always like to play games that also teaches me something about a specific field of knowledge. This game is not so expensive( I think I got both "Egypt" games during a sale), so at first I thought it would be somewhat low in quality, but actually not at all once I played it. The game is pretty well made when compared to its price. There is some nice old egyptian ost, the gameplay mechanic is easy, but also offers some challenges that a player must beware, prepare and overcome them.

moitnt2695
moitnt2695

this game could be improved on the base of Birthright and Gorgon , it is awesome game i love it but need more action adventure like the one i said befor

camille
camille

The program appears to have two streams; one is to be educational but bombards the player with historical information, some interesting and loads of facts which not really relevant. The other is the game-play which is dull and linear with little choice or else, you never make it. The whole thing is poorly balanced. This is only partially a game.

Tyranathesaurus
Tyranathesaurus

A nice little management game with educational elements. While it is nice, its sequel has everything shown here plus more.

Mi
Mi

Good for the $3 I paid for it. If I wasn't so terminally bored, I won't have felt the need to replay it. It is a simple resource management game. Quite linear.

oneone
oneone

Though it does not really have replay-value, it is charming and full of interesting Egyptian history.

Code-11
Code-11

More of a puzzle game than a strategy one, it was nonetheless fun. Well polished. Not a huge amount of content, would have liked maybe multiple scenarios.

lovinglife139
lovinglife139

***WARNING: This is a mixed review.***

Predynastic Egypt is touted as a strategy/simulation/city-builder on its store page, which are all tags I frequently buy. I also adore ancient Egypt and support most games that feature even a single level inspired by the time period (I'm looking at you, Serious Sam!). It's a no brainer that I would buy this game, then. As obvious as it seems that I would love this, the game fell short in many ways.

First: the game is $9.99. I doubt I bought it for that price, but since I go by the $1.00 per hour rule of gameplay (minimum), I would wait for a severe sale on this. (60% or more off.) My 3.6 hour gameplay includes two playthroughs of the game. Yes, two playthroughs of the entire game. See, Predynastic Egypt doesn't feature scenarios, a lengthy campaign, or even creative freedom of any sense. It is, in its entirety, one linear level in which you lead your ancient Egyptians from a tiny tribe to a city with whole armies. Everything works well enough and I experienced no glitches. The aesthetic of the game is attractive, if simplified; workers and armies show up like hieroglyphs on a "card" in their location rather than 3D models. It is reminiscent of a grand strategy map with no real-time battles; battles are fought as a numbers game on a separate window that pops up when applicable. That isn't to say this part of the game is bad, just...simple. Everything about this game screams simple and surface-level.

Thus, I would have been likely to recommend this game if it weren't for the caveat of the stringent rules it puts in place for you. Not only does the game offer just one "level," it severely limits what you can do, when you can do it, and what order you need to do it in. I have a severe aversion to a lack of freedom in any game; time limits and other such strings deplete my enjoyment greatly, and this game has that and more. For example, it basically wants you to unite Egypt in 200 turns. That may sound easy for such a simplified game, and once you've gone through a playthrough you might think you know the game well enough to have a shot at it. That's how I felt. But even though I knew how things worked, because of the linearity of everything from the research trees to the mandatory challenges, I found it hard to get a better score or unite within the 200 turns because I had no freedom of strategy. I love strategy games because you can try so many strategies, learn from your mistakes, and win using smart tactics (or even better, find new strategies by trial-and-error before replicating them in other games to see if they work). Here, you can't try anything new. Because if you do "insert action here", then you'll fail this mandatory challenge, which will lead to resource depletion as a negative consequence, which will undermine your future actions. Additionally, even if you try to hit the objectives, failing just one can lead to subsequent failings because the challenge was a prerequisite. Believe it or not, I ended up doing worse in my second playthrough because I was trying new strategies and getting punished for it, whereas during my first playthrough I followed things by the letter and got a better score.

In this sense, Predynastic Egypt feels more like an hour and a half long tutorial for a game you never get to play. I enjoyed most of my time with the game, because it runs well, is aesthetically attractive, and can be relaxing for a simulation/strategy game. But it quickly turns frustrating and hopeless, because you know that no matter what you do, your experience will remain the same. There is no reason to replay it when the timing and objectives never change. If the developer ever released an update where it adds other scenarios, maps, or a freedom-to-build mode, I would be far less harsh on the game. Until then, I have to say I don't recommend this game. Casual players will only get an hour or two out of it, while seasoned veterans of strategy-sims like me will probably get only double that because they will refuse to believe there isn't something they can do to change their experience in subsequent playthroughs. I do not hate this game; I just find it extraordinarily unremarkable, and there are far better games deserving of a player's time.

a.r.c.trooper
a.r.c.trooper

A very fun way to learn about this period in ancient Egypt! I'm working on a PhD in ancient history, and I would quite strongly recommend these games for budding Egyptologists and amateurs alike.

Chezzy
Chezzy

Cool game and filled with interesting challenges

Monk
Monk

Game is good. not great, but good. Interesting idea of the game in general, gameplay is deeper as it might look. The problem is that game is very short and little bit easy...

Anonymous
Anonymous

A nice guided tour through pre-dynastic Egyptian history. Very Edu-taining.

dickeyj2316
dickeyj2316

I've always enjoyed strategy/Civilization-like games and can generally do well in terms of gameplay, goals, and victory conditions. I've played this game at least twice and have no idea what kind of strategy might be effective. I've never gotten particularly close to completing all the victory conditions, and I have no idea why not. I looked at a game guide, and it appears that you need to memorize a set pattern of choices and then follow the script to achieve victory. That does not hold much appeal for me. Additionally, the language of this game feels awkward in English.

Catadrina
Catadrina

Lovely intro game into turn-based strategy.

davemeuleman
davemeuleman

Cool historical game. I really like the artwork!

TiaB
TiaB

It's a great strategy, turn-based game, especially if you like ancient history.

pinkGrendel
pinkGrendel

Really strong "digital" worker placement game. Got it on special, could not honestly criticise it at the price point. Great game; thank you!

Oberyn Martell
Oberyn Martell

This game is more like puzzle than strategy but it was fun and the single game was short enough (around 5 hours).

toolofoppression
toolofoppression

This is a fun little game that can teach a lot about ancient Egypt specifically and the process of state formation. I see many of these reviews are dinging it for low replay value -- while this is certainly true for adults, I think this is an excellent game for children.

xylose
xylose

Fun little bite-sized taste of a 4X game, without any of the worry of a poor AI opponent. Cheap and cheerful, was good fun!

Rolepole
Rolepole

This is about as basic a Civ game as you could imagine. But as I did complete it without getting bored, it scrapes a thumbs up. I am not convinced it has much educational value, just as civ doesn't really teach you why the rule of law was important, or what the temple of Artemis was. You just look at the advantages of each development and don't spare much thought for the logic, if there is any.

Don't be put off by the complaints that it is difficult. It does require thought but it's easier than the mainstream civ games.

raptorman04
raptorman04

Fun little game with intresting history.

Boogafreak
Boogafreak

A very good immersive historic turn-based game sequencing events of 5000BC to 3000BC in Egypt.
If you're into turn-based games that include some history, you will not regret it.
Think like an egyptian :)
Only negative - It doesn't have endless replayability like 4x games, but still has a lot of replayability.

It does make you appreciate how some little things in life changed history..
Thank you donkeys for carrying our stuff :) And Kudos to the inventor of the plow.

Late advise to early egyptians : Think a little less about tombs and gods!!

Addliss
Addliss

This game is quick to finish and you found the game is easy.
However, the real challenge arises from mastering efficient resource allocation - which happens when you replay the game.

With some practice, you can enhance the efficiency of your resource allocation.
At the same time, there is RNG events disrupting your plan and needs to modify the plan to achieve higher final score.

In a nutshell, this can be a decent choice if,
a) the price is right(at least 70% on sale),
b) you like relatively simplified logic of tech tree,
c) you are willing to end the game multiple times

marekmrtn
marekmrtn

I have sunk 23,454,654.69 hours into this game and I can finally say I have not like it. 10/10 would recommend IOFBONVooubfvoBUIhfoiBGBOIREGHIaobhiooo

badbones777
badbones777

This is a fantastic game.

The basic idea is to play through 220 turns during which you have to build up the food, production, military and cultural strength of a nascent Ancient Egypt as it begins the process of unifying as a single Kingdom. As well as managing and building up your settlement, you have to react to various events which can further sap your resources, and you ideally need to plan ahead and build up a decent stockpile of resources, while at the same time spending enough to upgrade and grow your settlement and ensuring you are doing enough research and development to work up the basic tech tree (it's split - *very* broadly- into 3 branches that help you with boosting food and production, improving governance and political control over the developing culture, and religious and cultural philosophies.

How it actually plays is very much in the vein of a worker placement Euro Boardgame, and doing so allows you to either extract resources from the zone or otherwise interact with it - draw food production form fields, industry production from quarries, scout unexplored terrain, trade with or attack other tribes etc).

I have only had one play through so far ( I failed, but didn't do too badly) using the "historical" start options (you can choose from a variety of options that can make the game easier or harder but give you bonus score at the end). It took me around 3 hours to play the 220 turns which I think is pretty good for the first time I've played it but I am big boardgamer so that might have helped. I also think familiarity with the game might help and it definitely bears replayability I think.

Overall I am delighted with this - I got it on sale and was expecting something maybe akin to Pharoah (a game I absolutely love) from the citybuilding line (Caesar, Zeus, Emperor) so to get essentially a solo Euro Boardgame with an Ancient Egyptian theme is a very pleasant surprise. I look forward to playing this more, and getting the sequel which moves the timeline forward.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants something a bit different and certainly to anyone who likes boardgames, particularly that certain type of solo boardgames that are (at heart) efficiency simulators against a time limit.
The graphics, while somewhat tilted towards the functional end of the spectrum, are still very pretty and evocative of the theme and do exactly what they need to do while still being interesting and nice to look at. The sound is probably the weakest area - which is not to say it is bad by any means, it's just don't go expecting a sweeping orchestral score. But then again it arguably doesn't need it, and the clang of swords that accompany the battle outcome screen and the sawing of would and hammering that accompanies a built facility do their job more than adequately. Combat is essentially a numbers game, with certain buffs and choices manipulating the base numbers by a certain percentage or occasionally raw number (a blessing of a god might reduce enemy numbers by 10 percent for example, or a one time boost from a trade might give you x amount of extra soldiers). It's very simple - don't go expecting total war battles or anythig like that. But again, it doesn't need to be and the way it works is very suitable for the board game-esque theme - it's not about simulating battles or being a general, it's literally did you efficiently plan ahead to have enough soldiers to get through the battles you need to.

So overall - I recommend this game. I *heavily* recommend this game if:
You like boardgames (esp. solo boardgames)
You like planning and maximising efficiency and worker placement.
You can overlook a game that doesn't have triple A polish and bells and whistles in favour of satisfying core mechanics

I would *not* recommend this(or at least suggest you look into it further) if:
You hate boardgames
You don't like turnbased gamed
The theme does nothing for you
You need deep and strategic combat
You don't like it being possible for you to mismanage a game to the point it is impossible (or near as dammit) to pull back from the state you've gotten yourself into.

More games like this I say

Knutticus
Knutticus

Like the Artwork. Game play is mixed. Mechanics are fairly simple in that you've a limited number of workers and several different tasks to employ them on. So you end up shuffling workers around, and saving up for the next thing that's stopping you progressing because you have to do that.
And just when you get into the swing of that you are attacked by the mushroom people or whatever who don't look that powerful but beat you in an auto resolved combat. Now you can rebuild after that or you can uninstall the game and request a refund.
Even on Sale I wouldn't bother.

ozarka741
ozarka741

Played through once just now, and it was a fun 5 hours of gameplay. Don't think I'm going to play through again (not that replayable), but well worth the $5 or so I spent on it. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10, probably worth about $15 to me.

It seemed pretty well balanced, and it was a good looking game. It changes things up giving you fun challenges and the feeling of the dynamics of your kingdom changing as it expands. Just overall a pretty fun game.

That said before you play realize that the win conditions are as follows: by turn 220, you need 5k food, to build an EXPENSIVE building (like 700 a turn for I think it was 10 turns), to conquer most of Egypt, and most of all you need to research something worth 45000! I'm a little salty because by the time the Unification of Egypt challenge appeared it was too late. Admittedly, I THINK that they told me what was required in the beginning, and they help out some through periodic random boons.

I also would have liked an automanage mode for distributing your workers between the areas because when you get up to 50 or so it's either a pain to micromanage or you give up on maximizing efficiency.

Last gripe is that while I got the impression that they really knew their stuff when it came to ancient Egypt, you don't really get to see much micro detail (how their technology worked, what life was like, etc). It's more macro details like gods, kings, ideas, etc. But some of those portraits were cool (Seth and Horus especially).

But don't let any of that hold you back. The end goals are doable, managing workers in the end isn't too bad, and you do get a pretty good look at Egyptian culture. So if you like Egypt, the Bronze Age, or this type of game in general then go ahead and get it.

Hydra
Hydra

While one might be tempted to compare this to the classic city builder Pharaoh, don't. That's not what this is.
Predynastic Egypt is a fast paced addictive board game that is more focused on completing a list of challenges as fast and as efficiently as possible. There are city builder elements, but it's better to think of this as a virtual board game than as a typical city builder.

It does what it does, and it does it very very well. I think the only compliant is that once you've mastered it, there's nothing that brings you back. Good luck getting gold rank on everything on hard, though.
9/10

Hemmels
Hemmels

A nice little management game, heavily story driven where you are punished for going off-route. You'll fail most events if you don't commit whole-ly to the mission, but it's captivating for a few play throughs.

TrUwu
TrUwu

it crashes from time to time if you press the settings, 11/10

Ta Mère
Ta Mère

nice game simple but not that simple for player who would like to invest time in it, deep but not to deep to scare new player to try it , its a perfect balance that make you play it again and make you love what a great game should be. it s not made for you to spend all your money and it s not a game half made like the big Publisher made these days . and if you like it the studio and devloper have other game like that go and try it.

audreykinney1904
audreykinney1904

An incredibly fun game. I was obsessed for days and could not stop playing. Weeks later, I still go back and play it again. Never gets old.

albatch
albatch

4.5/5

A very decent Civilization-like game with nice design and interesting historical details.

I finished the game twice with easy settings, it lasts 3-4 hours at a calm pace. The gameplay keeps you focused, you don't get bored until the third playthrough, but from then the mechanics feel repetitive.

I really liked the informational details about the development of Ancient Egypt, I learned some new moments from the history of Egyptian tribes. It is really felt that professional historians were involved in the creation. Also, I was pleased to see some arts showing what the ancient tribes looked like, according to the modern science.

I recommend it to everyone interested in the history of Egypt, the game is worth a try.

Interested to try out the next game in the series!

Parilean
Parilean

An okay game. There are only few interesting choices to make - you just kind of shuffle your workers around and try to meet the goals of the game. Low replayability. If you're interested, get it while it's on sale.

Player1
Player1

My first impression of the game: Predynastic Egypt from Clarus Victoria was that it is a typical mobile game city building game. Here you have a house, a farmer. Next step, a metropolis of millions. Not really. You play with cards on a board game-like terrain. The setting is the upper and lower part of the Nile Delta in the ancient pre-Egyptian stage. You have to complete various quests, build temples and keep the economy going. The historical context is kept realistic and, like Age of Empires 1, there are always little texts with real references to the story. It is a pretty good and balanced turn-based strategy game. The purchase was worth it and for the fact that I only wanted to test it "briefly", I played a four-hour round. Good entertainment for a fair price. I could really imagine the game as a board game, should the developers read this entry. The artwork and game design should transfer very well.

Vantablack Pharaoh
Vantablack Pharaoh

Do you like history? Do you like Egypt? Do you like strategy crossed with board game mechanics? Then you need to play this.

Predynastic Egypt is a strategy Tabletop-Game-like History simulator created by people who know what they're doing. The game covers the entire history of Ancient Egypt from its early beginnings to the First Pharaohs with a serious dedication to both challenge and historical accuracy, which greatly please this Ancient Egyptian History nerd. I got it solely for that reason, and soon discovered a challenging but fun and replayable game. And I do mean challenging, this game will take you multiple tries and several hours to beat the first time, on easy mode. That's not even counting optimizations for finishing the game faster, going for achievements, and learning what best makes the game tick. You really can't waste time either, unless you're going for certain achievements just focus on winning the game first and trying out strategy later. There's also a bit of a luck component to it, so be aware of that - but changing the difficulty can certainly help out in that department. Protip, I wouldn't try setting everything to hard for certain achievements unless you've played several times already, just do them one at a time.

I didn't really have that many issues with this game - no glitches even, it's remarkably well polished for what it is. The one issue may be that it's just a bit too difficult for some players, even on the easy mode. I thrive on hard and hardcore games myself, and this one was challenging even to me. I don't doubt it would have most speedrunners pulling their hair out in frustration too. But once you figure out what the game wants you to do in what order, it's not terribly difficult. That brings up a new issue though - the game slightly railroads you if you want to succeed. You don't have to trade with everyone... but you probably should. You don't have to prioritize certain things... unless you want to win. Congrats, you won, now do it all again in the same order but do it better this time. That's a bit of the nature of the beast, however; the point of the game is to min-max to the extreme until you have it all down pat. One final nitpick is that there are some grammatical errors in the game especially pertaining to god names, possibly because the creators aren't native English speakers - you'll see stuff like "The Horus" or "The Seth" despite the fact that neither of these gods would have been referred to like that and gods like Wepwawet are named properly. Also, might bug the history junkies here to see Set written as Seth, but these are nitpicks.

I highly recommend this game to strategy buffs, Egyptian history geeks, and competitive-minded people, but due to the challenge I'm not certain it's for everyone. I think you'll know if this style of game appeals to you or not based on a few play-throughs. I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did, but I really had fun with it and have sunk more hours into this than into Valheim or any of the more recent games in my collection, proof positive that simplicity is honestly the best policy sometimes. I can't wait until I get bored with this game or get all the cheevos so I can play Egypt: Old Kingdom!

Officer of Lies
Officer of Lies

Great sequel to marble age, really enjoying all the new features and graphics they have added. The in game graphics really do look a lot like Epgyption pictographs which is cool as well.

Benjamin
Benjamin

Obviously I bought this because I dreamed of being Indiana Jones as a kid, an archeologist specializing in Egyptology.

This game is really fun and reminds me a bit of civilization in a more simplified form. I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

I did find a lot of english typo's but nothing that blocks the game or makes it unplayable. Did not encounter any bug.

mombot
mombot

Deify a bird, fight tribes, smoke reeds

Chris
Chris

What a delightful little game. Lovely artwork and interesting background information on ancient Egypt. Intuitive game-play that is explained reasonably well (not quite perfectly: I had to Google for a few things). Very varied and thematic difficulty settings provide some replayability. Fully turn-based, with manual saves. A full play-through took me about 3–4 hours, though I like to take my time and read everything. I bought this on sale for £1.74 (roughly US$2.50). Firm recommend if you like gentle turn-based strategy games with plenty of learning opportunities.

AcidHermit
AcidHermit

Even though this game looks simple, in reality it's a well thought strategy/managerial game with very good in-depth features. Very recommended if you are looking for a decent and chill game to play.

buræquete
buræquete

Really interesting mechanics, though gets really awkward and annoying at times. Really easy to exploit and become a god quick. Lovely sounds and artwork

jasmic013
jasmic013

Predynastic Egypt is fun. It has an interesting and appealing indie style. The gameplay is solid. I encountered no bugs. The way the game progresses is very linear which dims replayability. I played it twice and enjoyed both playthroughs, but that's enough for now. Recommended for anyone who likes ancient Egyptian history, likes egypt, casual nation-building (if you can call it that) and has

Rasinon
Rasinon

I cannot recommend this game. It is overly simplistic, not particularly fun, and the only “challenge” comes in the form of a resource race against the clock. If you must get it, wait for a sale.

El Guapo
El Guapo

It's a pretty nice game. Might be a bit challenging if you go straight to the highest difficulty on your first playthrough but it's still fun.

nexusrunner
nexusrunner

too many punishement in easy mode, never able to win gold status reward, kept getting bronze, i got silver once, it was just a fluke victory, tried replay from save file, got bronze instead of silver as i was trying to discover what trigger better victory. Devs need to tone a bit for easy mode to allow beginners to learn and how to process. too much punishments kinda destroyed motivation.

Nyarl Q Thotep
Nyarl Q Thotep

Fun little game that well reflects current scholarship so far as I've seen. I'd like this on a tablet come to think of it.

ivardj
ivardj

their earlier games are more fun and free

Mich-666
Mich-666

Probably the best Clarus Victoria so far. I really like its historical aspect as you explore the early beginnings of Egypt through set of events and tales, coupled with interesting background information on how people lived and developed back then. The game is not really replayble outside of achievement hunting and everything is pretty linear but the resource management is still enjoyable and constant challenges makes you wanna push that 'one more turn' button over and over again in curiosity.

If there is one flaw it's the difficulty settings which are better left untouched as otherwise it makes the game impossible and not fun (even on historical settings). But outside of that it's really nice trip back to the era where the civilization was born.

InquisitorXarius
InquisitorXarius

Good small-scale strategy game love the great amount of accuracy.

ItsALatinPun
ItsALatinPun

Long and interesting enough to play through, short enough to play multiple times until you get it right

The Great Kutalik
The Great Kutalik

I love the granularity of detail about this period and the gradual uncovering of layers.

pmp544
pmp544

Would like more depth and replay-ability, but very solid strategy game.

Nkuri37
Nkuri37

As a history nerd I love this game. Pre-dynastic Egypt is so undercovered compared to the middle and late dynasties so getting to make it yourself is an immersive way to learn. However starting a civilisation is hard and I have failed a good few times in this. Yet I was always ready to jump back in and try again. The art does a good job of trying to recreate the world as they drew it. The gameplay is another case of easy to learn, hard to master. Overall I recommend this game for nerds!

CviklaMajky
CviklaMajky

Same as it successor (old kingdom) much history-oriented. Enjoyable playtime, nice artistic style.
Funny achievement hunting.
7.5/10

Overcome
Overcome

This game is a lot of fun, beautiful soundtrack and great empire mechanics. I really loved it and enjoyed, its as simple as that. I hope the devs take their successes based on both their egypt games and builds something much more ambitious. Great historical game

Plyspeter
Plyspeter

This is a game I enjoy coming back to now and again, you can play though it quite quickly and see if you can survive until the end. Though each playthough only have a limited amount of randomness, so there is only a few surprises each time you play it.

Papa Thrash
Papa Thrash

We’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty

Stalwart94
Stalwart94

Not as informative. No depth, no strategy. Its almost as if kids are the target audience. The knowledge that can gained here isn't something an elementary school kid wouldn't already know.

Houdini
Houdini

Stylist, comfy, art direction is great, semi casual turn based resource management game, if you expected Pharaoh (big fan) then that's on you, cuz this aint that. 7/10 game, above average but not great.

Sabreman
Sabreman

It is very much a worker-placement puzzle game, figuring out the optimal path to success -- unless you're playing easier setups which grant more leeway on how to proceed. Harder setups are HEAVILY dependent on RNG, including in random hidden setups which you won't discover until later in the game. So there isn't much point in trying for a 'gold' victory on harder setups, but aside from extra help rewards in progressing the game all it gives you is an end-screen rating. So I recommend playing on 'medium', or at worst 'historical' setup (which is challenging enough by itself) if not easy setups.

A pleasant colorful worker-placement strategy game otherwise, almost a boardgame design. The sequel (which starts elsewhere on the overmap about halfway through this game) has some upgraded mechanics. Both are worthy.

ibiswav
ibiswav

I have completed a few runs and each time it gets even more fun! this game keeps me hooked for hours and I recommend it. I love ancient Egyptian history. The art, music and animations are gorgeous.

guitarpyck
guitarpyck

Fun and informational, anyone who has an interest in ancient Egypt will LOVE this game!

Mufit Menk
Mufit Menk

It is the perfect game for those who have a passion for Egyptian history. Overall, the layout of the game is historical correct from my point of view. I was straight away was amazed by the amount of detail and effort that has been put into the game itself...rating this 90/100.

Alek- Đubre đevrek
Alek- Đubre đevrek

Nice, sweet, old chrome flash game tho def not worth the 10$ wait for sale..