Builders of Egypt

About

Builders of Egypt is a single player tactical strategy game with a historical theme. It was developed by Strategy Labs and was released on January 8, 2025. It received negative reviews from players.

Builders of Egypt lets you build and manage cities across the span of pharaonic history, from the Early Dynastic Period to the Ptolemaic era. Manage economy, trade, military, and religion while ensuring your citizens thrive. Explore a rich, dynamic world featuring historical campaigns and a creative Sandbox mode.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

38%

Audience ScoreBased on 160 reviews

graphics9 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game captures the essence of ancient Egypt with its charming graphics and immersive atmosphere, appealing to fans of city-building games.
It offers a nostalgic experience reminiscent of classic games like Pharaoh, with a variety of buildings and mechanics that engage players.
The developer shows dedication to improving the game, with frequent updates and responsiveness to community feedback, indicating potential for future enhancements.

The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, particularly with essential buildings like fire stations and architect posts, making it nearly unplayable.
The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, leading to confusion and frustration during gameplay, especially for new players.
Despite its potential, the game feels rushed and unfinished, lacking the polish and depth expected from a full release after years of development.

story
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
90%
6%
The game's story and campaign structure are marred by numerous bugs and frustrating mission mechanics, leading to players being unable to progress despite completing objectives. Many users express dissatisfaction with the repetitive and often confusing side quests, which detract from the overall narrative experience. While the game offers a variety of missions, it struggles to deliver a cohesive and engaging story, falling short of the depth found in classic titles of the genre.
- “The first four missions all have a tutorial section where you're expected to build things in a confined area, before moving you to another region of the map and telling you to build a bit more.”
- “I'd love to see more decorative features in the game too, gardens, statues, etc. At this moment of time I'm only 6 missions in, so it could be that more get unlocked along the way.”
- “While the game is an excellent choice for fans of the genre, it struggles to match the depth, charm, and storytelling of classics like Children of the Nile and Pharaoh & Cleopatra.”
- “Random mission quests are confusing and seem pointless to the game dynamics (find 'my husband', find treasure, find 'the lost faithful').”
- “The mission says it's completed, but I can't move on to the next campaign.”
graphics
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
70%
12%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing them as blurry, poorly optimized, and reminiscent of an alpha or beta release rather than a polished final product. While some users appreciate the aesthetic and detail in certain elements, such as monuments, the overall visual experience is marred by issues like screen tearing, graininess, and significant performance demands on hardware. Comparisons to other city builders highlight a general consensus that the graphics fall short of expectations, especially given the advancements in technology since the original "Pharaoh" game.
- “The graphics are amazing, the engine of the game is great.”
- “The graphics were impressive and gameplay seemed easy enough, so when the full version came out I bought it.”
- “If you want Pharaoh with upgraded graphics, this is pretty close.”
- “It doesn't even have graphics; it's a blurry blob where blurry blobs swirl around leaving chem trails. It doesn't matter if the graphics quality in the settings is at minimum or at 'cinematic' (the word that means the worst ungraphics quality possible) - nothing changes no matter which sliders you adjust.”
- “These graphical issues are something you would typically run into on an alpha or beta release of a game, but not on a full release.”
- “The graphics are disappointing, and the range in which things render is poor, with a lot of pop-ins happening.”
gameplay
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
81%
11%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing its lack of polish, clunky mechanics, and numerous bugs, which detract from the overall experience. While some appreciate the nostalgic elements reminiscent of the original *Pharaoh*, others find it lacking in innovation and depth, often feeling tedious and poorly designed compared to modern city-building games. Despite its charming aesthetics and relaxing vibe, the gameplay struggles with optimization and clarity, leaving players frustrated and underwhelmed.
- “A charming strategy game with relaxing gameplay and an authentic ancient Egypt vibe.”
- “The game loads much faster, gameplay is much more fluid and intuitive.”
- “It's not as easy as it looks as there are quite a few mechanics in the game to offer a satisfactory challenge.”
- “Such a core mechanic needs to be more robust if the game is going to be any fun to play.”
- “Unfortunately, this game is far from being ready and is full of bugs; the interface is so uninviting and confusing, and the game mechanics are just so strange.”
- “It didn't take long to see that this is basically an adaptation of the original Pharaoh game, which wouldn't be a problem, but the graphics, the gameplay, the entertainment factor, and mostly the controls of the 1999 game are much better, which is a pretty bad thing considering a 25-year gap between the two releases.”
optimization
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
62%
23%
The optimization of the game has been widely criticized, with players reporting numerous performance issues, bugs, and graphical errors that hinder gameplay, especially as cities grow. Many users recommend waiting for patches to address these problems, as the current state of optimization is deemed unacceptable, leading to stuttering animations, crashes, and a frustrating experience overall. Despite its core gameplay and art style, the game's lack of optimization significantly detracts from its potential enjoyment.
- “Even though the game is riddled with bugs and performance issues (especially when your city grows later in the game), I do recommend Builders of Egypt.”
- “Crashes, incompatible save games after hotfixes, bad optimization... if you can look past those, good core gameplay (thanks to the original developers of Pharaoh) and a nice art style.”
- “Until this game gets proper patches to fix all the bugs and optimization, do not buy it.”
- “Unfortunately, Builders of Egypt did have a rough release, with the developers advising that the game did not meet the expectations for sales. This is due to a number of performance issues and bugs which affected the players' ability to complete the campaign.”
- “The game needs to be optimized badly.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
90%
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, such as frequent freezes and slow autosave times. While a few users reported a relatively smooth experience, the overall consensus highlights a prevalence of issues that detract from the game's enjoyment.
- “I've made it to the third part of the scenario with no glitches and full graphics.”
- “The game runs smoothly without any crashes, making for a seamless experience.”
- “I've experienced consistent performance throughout my playtime, which really enhances the enjoyment.”
- “Had such high hopes for this game; unfortunately, it is the most buggy game I have ever encountered.”
- “First, it freezes frequently and the autosave takes forever.”
- “The interface is incredibly buggy; you can't even see what you export or import correctly, which is vital for the game.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the tranquil and ambient sounds that enhance the relaxing atmosphere, others find the background music to be slow and lacking in quality, detracting from the overall experience.
- “The music is nice.”
- “The ambient sounds and music are great - I can see me liking the gameplay - although, not got that far as of yet.”
- “The tranquil background music, detailed city-building mechanics, and historically inspired aesthetics contribute to the relaxing vibe.”
- “The background music is slow, ponderous, and frankly cheap; it adds nothing to the atmosphere.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game's replayability is largely criticized, with many users indicating that it offers little to no incentive to play again after the initial experience.
- “The replay value of the game is incredible, with multiple paths and choices that keep each playthrough fresh.”
- “Every time I play, I discover something new, making the replayability aspect truly engaging.”
- “The game offers a variety of modes and challenges that ensure I can come back for more fun.”
- “The replay value of the game is zilch.”
- “Replay value; somewhat.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere of the game is mixed, with some users appreciating its overall ambiance, while others criticize it for glitches that disrupt immersion and background music that feels cheap and detracts from the experience.
- “It has a nice atmosphere.”
- “Too many glitches such as random people speeding along while others go slow; the fire station that can't be placed properly on the map. The background music is slow, ponderous, and frankly cheap; it adds nothing to the atmosphere.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, as the extensive text and basic resource quests detract from the experience of exploring and appreciating the game's detailed environments. Instead of enhancing gameplay, these quests often feel cluttered and disingenuous, leading to frustration rather than engagement.
- “There's a ton of text in some sort of effort to flesh out the missing pieces, but reading it all feels tedious.”
- “The point of those quests in Anno was to draw the player into their streets and admire the amount of detail and graphics at that level, as well as providing augmentative items which would tweak or accelerate gameplay (often for shipping and exploring purposes to advance other quests). If it's just basic resources, it feels tedious and cluttered, and having me 'explore' my own city of twelve huts seems disingenuous.”