Pharaoh Rebirth+
- March 17, 2016
- Vaka Game Magazine
- 12h median play time
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Get on Steam"Pharaoh Rebirth+` is an action-packed adventure game where Dr. Jonathan Banfield, a rabbit treasure hunter, has 7 days to cleanse a curse by collecting 7 holy grails across Egypt. With quirky humor, charming characters, and intricate ruins, help Jonathan uncover secrets, defeat enemies, and lift the curse. Fight evil, explore ancient tombs, and enjoy the unique anthropomorphic cast en route to the thrilling climax."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Pharaoh Rebirth+ features charming characters and a humorous story that keeps players engaged throughout the game.
- The gameplay is solid with tight controls, allowing for fluid movement and combat, making exploration and boss fights enjoyable.
- The game has a beautiful art style and a catchy soundtrack, enhancing the overall experience.
- The game is divided into stages rather than having a fully interconnected world, which may disappoint some players looking for a traditional Metroidvania experience.
- There are frustrating sections, particularly the vehicle level, which can feel tedious and disrupt the flow of gameplay.
- The dialogue can be overly frequent and interruptive, detracting from the exploration and pacing of the game.
- story198 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the games reviewed is notably varied, with many players appreciating engaging narratives filled with humor, charm, and interesting characters, particularly in titles like "Pharaoh Rebirth" and "SteamWorld Dig 2." However, some critiques highlight issues such as excessive dialogue interruptions and predictability, which can detract from the overall experience. Overall, while many games feature enjoyable stories that enhance gameplay, others fall short due to lackluster writing or pacing problems.
“The story is well crafted, with good writing, and some neat twists I didn't see coming.”
“The story is quite entertaining, starring a spunky (albeit somewhat dimwitted) adventure archaeologist with a rabbit-form curse, a rival treasure-hunter (with his own animal curse too), engaging in a variety of exciting adventures.”
“Driving this gameplay is a cute story following the archetypal treasure hunt, made more fun by lovable characters and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor.”
“The enemies are unimaginative, the story is tired af.”
“Honestly, this game would've been better without any story and without any text boxes.”
“The story is far too mediocre to care about.”
- music144 mentions
- 69 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The music in the games reviewed is generally praised for its high energy, catchiness, and ability to enhance the gameplay experience, with many users highlighting specific tracks as memorable and enjoyable. While some reviews mention that certain soundtracks may be forgettable or not worth seeking out, the overall sentiment leans towards the music being a strong point, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere and engagement. A few critiques do exist, particularly regarding annoying or repetitive tracks in some titles, but these are outweighed by the numerous accolades for the quality and appeal of the music.
“The music is fantastic, the gameplay is smooth and fun, the story has a neat premise and twist near the end, and the sense of exploration complements the upgrades perfectly!”
“The adventure before you is vast and interesting, there are scads of powers and collectibles to hunt for, and the detailed pixel graphics and peppy music keep it feeling light.”
“This is an excellent Castlevania-inspired game with beautiful sprite work somewhat reminiscent of Metal Slug and a fittingly amazing soundtrack.”
“The only virtue this game has is the art (visuals, the music is annoying af) and it's not even all that good.”
“Music is just alright, there is nothing that I would go to YouTube for and look up the official soundtrack.”
“To make it even worse, the game by this point has provided you with a one-time revive, the animation of which takes about 5 seconds, meaning that if there's a place where you are dying particularly a lot, you will have to die, wait 5 seconds of crap animation and annoying music (oh god the awful music in this game), revive with half your HP, probably die again and then go back to the last save point.”
- gameplay134 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally well-received, featuring solid controls, intuitive mechanics, and a variety of creative moves and subweapons that keep the experience engaging. While the level design is diverse and encourages exploration, some players noted interruptions from excessive dialogue and certain mechanics, like the grappling hook, can disrupt the flow. Overall, the game combines enjoyable platforming elements with a charming aesthetic, though some glitches and design choices may detract from the experience.
“You get everything you can expect from a good 2D platformer: solid controls, gorgeous pixel art, great fighting mechanics, and even nice music, characters, and story as a bonus.”
“The gameplay is fine-tuned so that enemies pose a threat without being damage sponges, and there's a strong incentive to explore previous areas as they contain stat upgrades, collectibles, and consumables that were previously impossible to access.”
“The music is fantastic, the gameplay is smooth and fun, the story has a neat premise and twist near the end, and the sense of exploration complements the upgrades perfectly!”
“The grappling hook mechanic also feels terrible, because unless you manage to grab the hook at the exact max range, you drop like a rock and have to manually swing back and forth to get your momentum back.”
“It really just grinds the game to a halt and runs any sense of flow you might have from the gameplay.”
“Do you think annoying anime characters interrupting simplistic metroidvania-lite gameplay with inane banter every 10 steps (and I mean 10 steps pretty literally) sounds like fun?”
- graphics74 mentions
- 68 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their vibrant pixel art and charming aesthetic, with many reviewers highlighting the detailed visuals and overall artistic style as standout features. While some found the art style to be a bit divisive, the majority agree that the graphics contribute positively to the game's atmosphere and experience. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong point, complementing the gameplay and enhancing the overall enjoyment of the title.
“Nice graphics, the music is good, the action snappy and fun, and the levels are nicely designed and visually varied.”
“The control and play mechanics are very good, the graphics are beautiful hand-drawn pixels, the music is incredible... such a good game.”
“Gorgeous pixel graphics, kickass soundtrack, several interesting and useful abilities, nice characters, plot that involves real-life subjects but never takes itself too seriously, and the length and overall difficulty are just right.”
“The only virtue this game has is the art (visuals, the music is annoying) and it's not even all that good.”
“Presentation-wise, I'm not a huge fan of the art style, but it looks fine enough in general.”
“The cartoony tone and graphics might be a turn-off for some.”
- humor69 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating the charming and witty dialogue, quirky characters, and unexpected comedic moments that enhance the overall experience. However, some critiques point out that certain jokes feel forced or cringy, and the humor can sometimes detract from gameplay, particularly in frustrating sections. Overall, while the humor is generally well-received, its effectiveness varies among players.
“It's always moving, there's always something happening and the dialogue is hilarious.”
“I really love the character dialogue in between scenes, some seriously funny moments happen.”
“Funny script with plot twists and some unexpected political humor!”
- replayability10 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability through its engaging characters, story, and tight controls, with players able to revisit levels using new items to access previously unreachable areas. While it features a shorter length with eight replayable stages, this brevity prevents it from becoming tedious, and additional content such as extra stages and collectibles enhances the overall replay value.
“I absolutely love the characters, the soundtrack, the level replayability, it's all wonderful.”
“It's a bit short compared to other games in the genre with 8 replayable stages, but that helps it from overstaying its welcome (which you may start to notice when redoing levels for 100% completion).”
“There's a lot of replay value here too: collecting all the items, sub weapons, power ups, as well as two additional stages after the credits roll.”
“Great characters, dialogue, and story with tight controls and some decent replay value (new items let you access new areas in previous levels).”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Players note that grinding in the game can be quite time-consuming, requiring around 11 to 12 hours dedicated to farming for cards. While the overall experience is positive, some find certain stages, particularly a tedious "on rails" car segment, to detract from the enjoyment.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Keep in mind at least 11 or 12 hours of playtime are just spent farming for cards.”
“All around a good experience outside of one particular 'on rails' stage involving a car that's pretty tedious.”
- character development6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is highlighted by its strong storytelling and well-crafted character design, which contribute to a compelling experience. While some players prefer the more vibrant and challenging aspects of "Shantae," others appreciate the sincerity and creativity in "Pharaoh," particularly noting its unique bosses and impressive sound design. Overall, the effort put into character design and narrative depth enhances the enjoyment of the game.
“What makes it compelling and enjoyable is the effort that's gone into the character design, backdrops, and storytelling.”
“In all, I preferred Shantae: Shantae has a little more verve, more challenging platforming, better music, and richer graphical variety, but Pharaoh is well worth considering as it scores for more sincere storytelling, great character design and bosses, and the fact it doesn't have Shantae's problem of excessively blocky graphics.”
“The sound design is absolutely excellent (can we please buy the OST?), and the character design is great as well. I seriously wasn't expecting the first boss to be a high-tech helicopter.”
- optimization3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, requiring players to experiment with various settings and multiple restarts to achieve smooth performance. Many users report needing to manually enable v-sync and triple buffering to resolve these problems.
“For whatever reason, I had to manually enable V-Sync and triple buffering in NVIDIA (and enable V-Sync in game settings also) to make things run smoothly.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's stability is marred by significant issues, including the inability to restart levels or return to the title screen without resorting to self-destruction, which many players find unacceptable for a title released in 2016. Additionally, persistent glitches, such as the failure to save progress in the boss rush and the requirement to delete previous saves to change difficulty, detract from the overall experience. While the game has commendable elements like a great soundtrack and mechanics, these stability issues hinder replayability and enjoyment.
“You cannot restart a level, you cannot return to the title screen; you have to kill yourself to either reload the last save or return to the title. For a game from 2016, this is unacceptable. The boss rush does not save the records or the last item, the Sickle of Anubis. Many times, you have to repeat the boss rush and pray it saves. This glitch has not been corrected in 5 years. If you want to start a new game with a different difficulty, you have to delete the previous save even if you have 100% everything. The game is far from bad; it's actually pretty good with a great soundtrack and mechanics, but those glitches dampen the experience.”
“The inability to restart levels or return to the title screen is frustrating. You have to kill your character to reload the last save, which is unacceptable for a game released in 2016. The boss rush feature fails to save records or items, forcing players to repeat sections and hope for a save. After 5 years, these glitches remain unaddressed. Additionally, starting a new game on a different difficulty requires deleting previous saves, even if you've completed everything. While the game has its merits, these issues significantly detract from the overall experience.”
“It's disappointing that you can't restart levels or return to the title screen without killing your character. This is a major flaw for a game from 2016. The boss rush doesn't save progress, and you often have to repeat it, hoping it saves correctly. After 5 years, these glitches are still present. Also, if you want to play on a different difficulty, you must delete your previous save, which is frustrating. The game has potential, but these stability issues really hurt the experience.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is effectively enhanced by its story, which, while not particularly captivating on its own, complements the adventurous tone and setting perfectly.
“The story might not sound that interesting, but it fits the overall adventure atmosphere of the game just right.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's music effectively enhances the emotional experience, providing a wide range of feelings that elevate both cutscenes and gameplay, keeping players engaged and energized throughout.
“The music has an emotional breadth while never failing to raise intrigue in cutscenes or keep you pumped up during levels.”
