Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2016
Pharaoh + Cleopatra
Developer Impressions Games
Pharaoh is an isometric city-building game released in November 1999. It was created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Studios for Microsoft Windows. Using the same game engine and principles of Caesar III (also by Sierra Entertainment), it is the first such game in Sierra's City Building series to focus on another civilization of ancient times. Players oversee the construction and management of cities… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
167 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest Oct 5, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
93
LovedLoved
155 positive · 12 negative
95% range 88–96%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 155 | 12 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,372 of 2,588 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 167 · most liked firstGreat game BUT buy it on gog. Steam port is very unstable not unplayible but unstable. That goes for most old pc games on steam. Gog have good emulation instead of direct ports witch mean more stable experience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A "timeless" classic? A childhood game, with an epic soundtrack...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played 4 hours through Steam but I have hundreds of hours in this game as I originally bought both titles when they first came out. A great game for me to unwind and I am thrilled I found it again!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this as a kid in the 2000's and it still holds up today. It's even way better now that I can strategize and understand the goals.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is my all-time favorite game, jank and all. I keep coming back to it, and it keeps giving fun and challenges. I tried the reboot, but it wasn't for me. The classic is the classic for reasons which in my opinion the update did not adequately capture. I wish I could find a widescreen patch that would actually work, but such is life with a nearly 30 year old video game. I will keep playing and enjoying.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I honestly don't think I'll ever find a city builder I like as much as Pharaoh. I have played so many new ones but come back to this time and time again. It might be part nostalgia but it's also just an excellent game with slightly outdated graphics. There are definitely annoying things (such as when the market delivery person refuses to supply food to the shack to the left for no clear reason), but it adds to the challenge. Such good replay value as well. I may have only 135 hours on Steam,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaoh + Cleopatra isn’t just a game, it’s like stepping into ancient Egypt itself. Twenty years ago, I remember rushing through schoolwork just to get back to building my cities, managing farms, temples, and monuments under the desert sun. The game still holds up: the art feels alive, the music carries the pulse of the Nile, and the strategy is deeply satisfying. Watching your city thrive, your people happy, and your monuments rise gives a real sense of accomplishment. Even now, with the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →yes i recommend it but not on steam the game crash and bug go on gog.com to buy it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played this game off and on since its release ages ago. Its something fun to do when you're watching tv or want to game but not rage at a game for a change :D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the old impressions city builders might as well be in a different genre -- they are the absolute elite
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got this in a double giftbox with Caesar III in 1998. It's now 2024 and it still holds up perfectly and is as addictive as then. The Sierra/Impressions era was gold.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this game way back when, and I loved it, but lost the CD for it. When I found it on steam, I was happy, and played it for many dozens of hours, but set it down for a few years. Then, yesterday, I got the itch and booted it up. Turns out, none of the building animations work anymore. Reinstalling doesn't fix it. This breaks the feel of the game, you can't tell who has employees or not, who is working, what needs attention.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After playing a few hours, the game will only load to a black screen with the music playing in the background. Very sad because I loved this game when I was younger. This does not work on my computer and nothing seems to fix it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wish they made simple, enjoyable and story driven strategy game like these two!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the first game I was obsessed with. I spent hours of my summer playing it. The OG city building game as far as I'm concerned.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nostalgia galore. Played this back in my WIN98 Machine. A few glitches but playable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was my introduction to the genere of Impression Games style of city building. This was one of my favorite CD based games from the 90s. The music is fun, the visuals look amazing and it's fun to watch them construct the pyramids; laying down the foundation to pulling the stones in. I know they made a remastered version of this, but really the RM can't compare to the original. It has a subtle ascetic that makes it unique.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →26 years old and still better than some of the builders these days. - No micro transactions - No anti cheat, certainly not farming my data, software - Can be run quite literally on a Maris Piper Potato with an Intel 4 HT sticker on it - "Take goods back to the Bazaaar"
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun up to a point. Becomes extremely tiresome and boring the further you go and the more pyramids you have to build. You end up just sitting there waiting for the pyramids to build themselves, even with the 'pyramid speedup' option enabled. Also when playing longer missions, you tend to run into the 'aging population' issue which can easily end up destroying your city, forcing you to reload or start again. There are workarounds to try and solve this problem, like intentionally removing your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I used to play this game on Windows XP Professional back in the 2000s. I saw it here and, since I loved this game, I wanted to give it a shot on my Surface Pro 5 running Ubuntu. I am NOT disappointed at all, it works beautifully! Playing for more than 5 hours straight for the first time in decades says it all! Thanks Steam for making this possible, and thanks to the developers for creating such an amazing game! TOTALLY recommended, NO DOUBTS!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaoh + Cleopatra is such a blast from the past. I loved it when it first came out, and I still love it today. It’s the perfect combination of fun, strategy, and ancient Egypt, all wrapped in a healthy dose of nostalgia. The city-building mechanics remain engaging, the atmosphere is timeless, and the charm hasn’t faded one bit. If you enjoy strategy games with historical flair, this classic is still a must-play.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is something I can do at any time and it is relaxing for me. The ease of the game is helpful when I'm trying to settle my mind from the outside world.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaoh + Cleopatra, developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra in 1999, is a landmark in the city-building genre and remains one of the most atmospheric, mechanically rich, and historically grounded simulations ever made. As a spiritual successor to Caesar III, and part of the same engine lineage, Pharaoh takes the proven city-building framework and transplants it to Ancient Egypt, complete with Nile floods, monument construction, and a unique economy centered around the rhythms of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My soul is happy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice game, but I prefer the mechanics of Emperor & Zeus. Thankfully Pharaoh: A New Era has the better mechanics (especially with walkers) & looks good too. But this game was awesome back in the good old days
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pharaoh and Minecraft are the first games i played on pc. a friend of mine had it on disc.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the most difficult game of the old city-building genre. This game will test your city-management skills to the limit. In the later missions, you'll be asked to build a giant pyramid while fending off enemy armies while having to manage an economy that requires you to import most of the raw materials in a land that is 3/4 desert, therefore barely any space to get water from. I hate the fact that when cities make food requests, they want a specific type of food. Even if in middle of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been playing this game since it came out along with Caesar and Pharaoh. I have gone years and years between bouts of playing obviously. I still have my saved games and my goal is to finish the whole game one day. Im in my 40s now and started when I was 20. LOL. So it is taking me a while between uni and career and kits and grandkids. Ill get there one day. Awesome game though.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →60 hours into the game a major bug causes the game to be almost unplayable. In the mission Kebet, the city is divided by a river and the only way to get across is by ferry. However, troops cannot cross the river, and enemies will attack both sides of the river, sometime at the same time. This renders the game almost unplayable at worst, or at best, not enjoyable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Classic city-building fun. You start the game at 9PM, play two hours, it's 6AM. You'll do it again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a great trip back to the past if you played any of the Impressions city build games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been playing this game for over 2 decades and I still keep coming back to it. Never finished it, maybe someday, but I cant stay away for long.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaoh is a classic city-building game that still feels rewarding today. Managing resources, pleasing the gods, and building massive monuments is deeply satisfying. The pace is slow and the interface is dated, but the depth and charm more than make up for it. A must-play for fans of classic strategy games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sick historical city builder/management game, if you are interested in the egyptian civilization and you also like having to manage ressources generation,population needs,planning and making your city beautiful than I would highly recommend this game. + there is the Caesar games also made by Impression that is set in ancient rome.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Harder difficulties are fun. a bit of a challenge once you get partially through the campaign.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I GOT HOOKED YALL THIS NEW GAME IZZZ RADDDD
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I used to play this game all the time in my childhood, it was so so hard, but I loved every second of it. The furthest I ever got was the second Sinai Expedition. Warts and all, I still love this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The OG and the best. Been playing it for 25 years.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The OG. Amazing game. Do not buy the new one, buy this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I began playing this when I weas a teenager, back before Pharaoh had the Cleopatra expansion pack. Games like this, Civilization, and Age of Empires had a knack for fully immersing me. I've never beaten the expansion pack portion of this, but it's a goal for me this year. I just really feel like committing the time required to do it finally. There's just so much to love. In particular, the music, the voice acting, the little blurbs of historical facts and situations regarding trade routes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i loved this game back on windows XP, but it doesn't run so well on my windows 10 machine now. it struggles with resolution and fullscreen vs. windowed mode, for me. aside from this, it's a satisfying strategy game to progress in!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun game to play, challenging and yet relaxing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved going back and playing this game again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Had big problems playing this on windows 11, game ran ridiculously fast (even at 10% ingame speed) and crashed every couple of minutes
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a very nice game,relaxing but at the same time can be engaging.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been playing this game for at least 20 years, today I plan on installing it and playing again, this game is a timeless gem. If the developers are still around please remaster it, if not then can someone pick it up remaster and/or make a sequel.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is simple to learn but complex to play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been kicked out of my home through no fault of my own
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've loved this game for years. The strategy makes you think. I know it's older but I love the nostalgia of playing this game from when I was youngers
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Keeps introducing new stuff through the missions. A few awkward moments here and there, but limits nurture creativity. Enjoying the smalltalk with the city dwellers, and ohhh of course those transforming and merging houses are so satisfying. A comfy summer game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game on my Lenovo go....but just stopped working...gutted
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →old game but i like playing it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →absolute classic in my mind and gives me ALL the nostalgia
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I LOVE this game! For the simple fact that I played it when it was first released 1999 and I loved it even back then. It's exactly the same in every way and I truly enjoy that fact. It was one of my first civilization game and that nostalgic feeling is strong with this one. It runs great and I hope it stays as is. One of my favorite games ever.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Does not hold up as well as other strategy games from the era. Not worth trying unless you have nostalgia for it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Holy nostalgia. GOTY
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my absolute favorite games ever. Infinite replayability.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was my childhood
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pyramid go brrrr
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The same as I remember when I first loaded it up after coming back from the store with the big box and an actual manual. Good simple RTS. Some parts of the campaign could be better and the same glitches exist. Wouln'd change anything. Good way to lose a couple hours.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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