Fate of the Pharaoh review for Nintendo Switch, PC

Over the past year or so, Ocean Media has put out a series of resource management games that have all been basically identical. You had Country Tales, which was western-themed. There was Caveman Tales, which was the same game but with cavemen. Late last year they came out with not one, but two Kingdom Tales games, one of which had the distinction of having one of the ugliest cutscenes ever to start things off.

They?ve returned to the well yet again, this time with an Egyptian theme, though as you can tell from the fact you clicked on this review, they?ve ditched the ?xxxxx Tales? naming convention in favour of the more intriguing-sounding Fate of the Pharaoh. Sadly, this represents pretty much all the originality the developers were able to muster for this title, since in every other respect it?s identical to the other four games mentioned above.

Okay, to be fair, there is the Egyptian theme. But in practice, that means you?re just clearing asps from the road instead of rocks, and you build desert tents instead of hovels. Beyond that, it?s all the same. You still build in the spaces the game wants you to build, meet objectives that are identical to what they?ve been in the last few games, and basically do everything you could do in Country Tales, and Caveman Tales, and Kingdom Tales.

Admittedly, none of the games are awful, and that goes for Fate of the Pharaoh as well. They?re all mostly competent in what they?re trying to do, which is a cut above what this publisher usually puts out. But unless you?re really in the mood for a bland, overpriced resource management game, there?s really no reason to check this one out.

Ocean Media provided us with a Fate of the Pharaoh Switch code for review purposes.