Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2016
Pharaonic
Developer Milkstone Studios
Pharaonic is an action role-playing game developed and published by Milkstone Studios. It was first released on April 28, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, and later for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Linux, macOS, and Nintendo Switch. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
158 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Aug 15, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
111 positive · 42 negative
95% range 65–79%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 111 | 42 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
5 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
237 of 306 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 158 · most liked firstI completed Pharaonic in 21 hours with a 'light gear + support backpack' build and I have to say that this game is great. Pros: - Nice and colorful setting and graphics. - Plays great with Steam Controller. It is very convenient to use one of the grip buttons to dodge. - Very challenging but fair combat. - Lots of different weapons, armors and shields. - Lots of different enemies. Cons: - Every time you die or restart the game ALL enemies are resurrected. It can be annoying to replay same…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I had some fun with this game, I can't recommend it as advertised. The game is pretty, but the core gameplay of combat is festering baby-♥♥♥♥ garbage. Engaging in combat is the only thing you can do in this game. Let me be clear, I don't like puzzles or platforming. I bought this game because it seemed right up my alley, but it doesn't deliver. This game failed miserably in trying to draw inspiration from Dark Souls. For a game that is all about combat, it lacks a lot of polish,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaonic is a masterpiece in how not to make a Dark Souls game. It manages to make wrong decisions at almost every step of the way while making itself just good enough to have made it worth my time to play for 7 hours and make it to bosses and areas that only 10% of players have the achievement for getting. I have played the game and experienced it, and for the first 2 areas, it was alright. It fell apart very very quickly. I quit after one particular situation that I will elaborate on in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're a big fan of Egyptian lore and gods and style buy this game for the price it quite fun Pros - -Fantastic art -Good combat -Sidescrolling large areas to explore -Death isn't a huge penalty -Interesting bosses -Plenty of story Cons - -Can be quite hard if you are under geared for a area (Just a bit personal con cause items can be hard to come by the good ones) -Healing can be a bit far making long runs quite a pain -Some enemies can have some pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ combos which require…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried it for a couple of hours. I know the guys at Milkstone Studios like to make their games hard, but this wasn't what I was looking for. As far as I saw (and I only played the whole first level), the game is highly repetitive, and you depend more on a RNG for loot than anything else. PROS: + I liked the way the camera follows you. + Difficult. + the music. + the graphics. CONS: - repetitive. All you do is walk forward and kill the enemies with your weapon or a spell, but you only have 2…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaonic is a game that has drawn many comparisons to the Dark Souls series with its action RPG features and the hacking and slashing. Honestly, I have not played one game of the Dark Souls series. I wanted to give Pharaonic, an indie game, a try because I was captivated by the art direction, the stunning environmental design, and the stunning background design. It is a side scrolling game with a steep learning curve, tough enemies, and a fantastic setting in Ancient Egypt. The story of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game makes me feels sad coz it is very similar to dark souls which is a great game that ive truly enjoyed but Pharaonic doesn't worth the time i have invested, i did complete it in 30 hours playing casually (i don't like to write a negative review for a game that i didn't complete) but seems like the game didn't get much attention during early access and still have a lot of problems. Pros: -looks beautiful -solid combat system (parry, dodge iframes, dodging towards different directions,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun and well made game! Looks great (so colourful!) and plays great and even runs on my old labtop. I have not played any of the Dark Souls games, so I cannot compare, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoy this game. Yes, combat can be quite hard. You will die. A lot. But it never feels unfair and there is always a reason why you die. And somehow, you just feel the urge to immediately redeem yourself. I am hooked. Although they label this game as an ARPG, it is very light on the RPG elements,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mesektet's scenarios are drawn pixel by pixel. It is a PHARAONIC game. 😁 (Drawing in progress) Link to the game👇 store.steampowered.com/app/3072050/... #pointandclick #pixelart #indiegame #adventuregame
unlabelledView post →Had just finished Dark Souls 3 and was coincidentally looking for an Egyptian themed game, this fit perfectly, you get to customize your character a bit and can choose between male or female, not many options but for a game like this I don't think it'd really be necessary, mobs of enemies can be a bit too challenging at times, managing your stamina is important, but boss fights have been easy to get the hang of so far. If you're having a hard time avoiding a certain trap rest assured that there…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good graphics with a really nice art style, good progression and gameplay that's argubally challenging, and nice music. Still going to play more, but mostly had my fill for now in its current state at this time. Feedback I'd like to provide: Better tutorial + that it's hard to tell when you can parry (use your shield to deflect attack) to the point where i'd say it's just luck to get a successful deflect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr6eii9n4jY There are bugs and whatnot obviously. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is highly polished even in its second day in Early Access. The studio has printed its personality once again in a development, paying attention to the finest details and bugs. By the way, the only bug that I encountered so fast was in the settings menu, but restarting the game solved everything without problems. It runs fast even on a mid range PC at highest quality settings. From the game point of view, the action when fighting is really focused. The 2D movement allows you to easly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's an attempt at 2D dark souls, and does it terribly. As if being a Dark Souls clone excuses you from the worst checkpoint placement. Before Souls games would be laughed at for ♥♥♥♥ this poor. I don't want to have to traverse the same load of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just for another attempt at a boss. And why the ♥♥♥♥ should I? Hope you like repeating the same sections. There's often no place to dodge to in the cramped forced combat sections. Controls are pretty poor, the game locks you into combos…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to enjoy this game so much. but no. Cons: 1. No sense of progress. Even at end-game you will still be cursing at the screen. When you get a weapon that's twice as good, your new enemies will be four times more powerful. And that's how it goes, for the whole game. Within the many hours I've played, never have I felt like I was thriving, only barely just surviving. You get beat down. Soon I realize it was less stressful IRL than this game lol. I thought people played game for enjoyment…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The content is great and I certainly appreciate the efforts of a small dev team to make this game.Sadly, the gameplay is repetitive, frustrating, and tedious. A game should be fun. You should be enjoying yourself when you play a game. But I wasn't enjoying myself when I played this. It just felt like a laborious chore and for that reason I couldn't finish it and therefore do not recommend it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good Graphics Good Music Awesome Combat Nice Story Lots of equipment Not too Easy What's not to like about it?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharonic, a visually delicious dedicated combat based Egyptian themed Hack and Slash and in my opinion a very underrated game in the Souls Like genre. Control Responsiveness is perfect. Combat is based on stamina and frankly if you don't know how to manage your stamina in Pharonic then yes you will criticize control responsiveness as no combat action may occur without stamina and yes you will get beaten to a pulp. The interface has a stamina bar which must be monitored constantly in order…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short version: Pharaonic is dark souls but in 2D and set in ancient Egypt. Long version: Pharaonic is a 2D action adventue darksoulsian game set in ancient Egypt. But because it is in 2D, the game focuses more on the combat mechanic and finding creative ways to make the levels sprawling and fun to explore. and unlike darksouls, the game does not rely on cheap enemy placments to manufacture diffeculty, just a bit of inbalance here and there and the diffeculty is well taken care of... also…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Harder and more rewarding than dark souls 3, a little jewel that every dark souls fan should have in his library. Good luck with this game, made me swearing more than ds, and that's why a love it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Extremely polished and fun game. The combat is fairer than most Souls-like games but also challenging and fulfilling. Good quality-cost relationship, very replayable. For me, the money best spent this year. There are many combinations of weapons, armors and magic powers to try and this makes the title very replayable. You can make your own combat style by changing weapon length, weight or speed or armor lightness and the game seems to allow you to try a lot of builds without blocking your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaonic is a game bogged down by repetitive gameplay and lack of meaningful progression. From the very beginning, the combat shows little evolution, and players will quickly notice that the same types of enemies are constantly being reused. The enemies are mostly humanoid warriors wielding various weapons, and even the bosses are essentially larger versions of regular foes with bigger weapons. This makes the game feel monotonous, and the leveling system is rendered pointless as enemies level…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know why I have this game in my game library.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If it weren't for the super colourful graphics I'd say I was playing a 2.5D Demon's Souls with the same jumps in difficulty, the gameplay mechanics, the limited healing and what not. 10/10 would smack around humanoïd crocodiles and frogs with a scorpion claw again
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you’re as big a fan of Ancient Egypt as what I am and you’re a fan of difficult action games that take inspiration from the Dark Souls series then you’re going to adore Milkstone Studios’ first Steam game since 2014. In 2014 the studio published Ziggurat, Little Racers STREET and White Noise Online onto Steam. The first two received warm feedback from Steam gamers with Ziggurat – so good that it deservedly received a proper retail edition on consoles and PC – proving to be one of the best…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an excellent 2.5D adventure game. Don't let the fact that it came out of nowhere fool you, this is one good game. It plays exactly like a 2D Dark Souls. The combat is phenomenal; deep and complex, no two encounters are the same. There are a variety of moves and combos that you can execute and everything takes timing. This is no button masher. Of all the things this game has (and it has a lot) what I love the most is the RPG elements. You have a deep equipment setup and you can mix and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A 2.5D Combat RPG https://youtu.be/AMmuKLWAASw + Very challenging yet fun, almost "Dark Souls-like" in various ways. You must learn enemy attack patterns, and be quick to evade, dodge, block, or parry attacks as you can die very easily. The game mainly focuses on 1v1 combat where every encounter can be deadly, and button mashing is discouraged. + Visually the game looks absolutely fantastic. I loved the style, great use of lighting, shadows, and various effects. + The leves are detailed and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My first published (commercial) game work: Pharaonic (Milkstone, 2016). The game was a couple of months from shipping and the job was some NPC dialog and item description for that Souls flavor. Still got to do research and establish the "when" (early New Kingdom Egypt, the Sea Peoples "invasion").
unlabelledView post →Im fan of dark souls series but difficulty in this game was brought by hordes of enemies and combat was repeatitive.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good game , interesting , and finally an action game on anciant egypt !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game never evolves past what you learn in the tutorial, which is a shame as the setting is pretty nice. You sadly face the same types of enemies repeatedly with some reskin variations which just gets dull quite fast.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Had a good time with this game. It's a side scroller Dark Souls game with an Egyptian theme. The main draw is the combat, which is slow but deliberate as you balance your stamina between attacking, dodging, blocking, parrying and recovery. The only tricky part is sometimes getting hit during a dodge due to not quite figuring out the iframes. The game can throw a bunch of enemies at you and have some checkpoints that you must clear all enemies to proceed but the tougher ones are usually…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this game; I really did. It had a lot of promise, but it just felt bad to play, at least for me. It wasn't very fluid and, honestly, thought it felt rather clunky and unresponsive. It's not a bad game, but also not something I would tell other people to buy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Might not look like it, but it's a surprisingly satisfying Dark Souls variation! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0l3wvQUHFw&feature=youtu.be
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is really well done. The level design could use some tweaking but its also still early access. The combat is tight and responsive once you get used to the timing. Its closer to Dark Souls 2 speed than Dark Souls but is not quite that slow. So far I have been playing light and agile and it works out well. While the story seems a little thin, I also know that this is early and that the story will be more fleshed out at release. If you enjoy melee combat that is Souls Like, you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty fun side-scrolling game. The combat is pretty decent, except for some reason I can't get the "block" to work :/ I don't know if I'm dumb or my game is weird.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Polished and fun to play. Is a 2.5D side scrolling beat-em-up with RPG elements. If you're looking for a game with an arcade feel, that does a few things and does them well, this is a game for you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Im recommending this because the game itself is enjoyable, visually polished, and solid. However, as a warning to anyone like me who hates ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hitboxes. This game has REALLY ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hitboxes, most noticeably where it matters the most (as in, the enemies that do a ton of damage and youre MEANT to dodge, still hit you even when youre behind them and their swing is In FRONT of them)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a fan of side-scrollers and this one is no different + looks okay + runs well - poor control scheme - combat is 50/50 sometimes you can't block and other times it's too slow to block - no knockback on enemies when interrupting hits, but they can interrupt you, okay. Not my cup of tea.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The combat in this game is a tedious slog and A LOT of the same enemies over and over where you swing twice and back up to wait for your stamina as well as the respawning enemies of Dark Souls. If you want a proper 2D soulslike do yourself a favor and pick up Salt and Sanctuary, or Hollow Knight instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lovely game from the guys behind Ziggurat that is absolutely worth picking up. As other reviews and the store page have noted it plays like a sidescrolling 2.5D Souls game. Pharaonic also reminds me of Apotheon, a sidescrolling action game with a little Souls influence as well. The Egyptian artstyle is lovely and there are a wide variety of locations to enjoy - it's not all just sand and pyramids here. The combat has weight to it and rewards forethought and knowledge of enemy attack patterns as…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →4.5/10 2d light souls if you will and by that i mean you can actually see ♥♥♥♥ cause its played during the day in the sunlight + looks nice + fun at first - gameplay loop, there it is - grind fest to level up - combat never evolves past range of weapon, swing speed, and a sad magic cast
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I haven't played too many Souslikes, but this one is by far my favorite. It was so addicting I played it three times in a row and got every achievement! It's not a flawless game though, which I detail down below in my quick guide to gittin' gud at it. First, you're gonna wanna pick which four of the game's eight skills you want to focus on, because you can't max them all out in one playthrough. You get 22 skill-ups (two of which are missable), and each skill can be leveled five times. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first the game was fun, but the boredom started early on. It,s extremely repetetive gameplay could not make me play it for more than a day. if you don,t like backtracking, you best get packing. Although the boss fights where fun, iv,e seen better ones. The loot was good,but i would not call this game a hoot. All in all , `tis not for all. Quite repetetive and boring, you might end up with a headache the next morning.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disappointing, despite nice scenery of the ancient Egypt, clumsy combat system + virtually no chances to avoid combat leading to too many deaths is very bad, but! what is even worse? That you spawn at certain locations only and you literally have to hack through the very same enemies repetitevely again! 99% of my playtime was that...sigh:(((
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mechanics are tight and entertaining. Death is frequent and fair. I felt a great sense of accomplishment once completing certain sections after much trial and learning. The Egyptian setting and graphics are suiting. Easy to jump in to. No major bads.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pharaonic is good. Plain and simple. What is it? Some people say it reminds them of Dark Souls. I dont know. I haven't played Dark Souls because I heard the PC port was terrible, and I dont do consoles. So I won't be making any Dark Souls comparisons. What it does remind me of is Bushido Blade or the swordfighting of Prince of Persia. A *real* swordfight. 3-4 hits and you're toast. Long story short. Its set in Ancient Egypt, but the story desn't follow history - its its own thing, You pick…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →2d Dark Soul like game set in Egypt with a dash of Greek mythology put in for good measure, sign me up. The game is tough, but for the motivated it gives rewarding gameplay. After finishing the game I hardily recommend it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great Game. Really enjoyed it, extremely challenging. Prepare to die many many many times.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros - Beautiful art style - Tight and responsive controls - Brutal combat that never feels unfair - Lots of fun gear that changes the appearance of your character - Nice change of pace with the Egyptian setting - Story is fairly minimal but intriguing when you pick up the little bits of lore and unravel details about your past. - Different weapons behave differently, and there are both light and heavy tiers of weapons and armor to play with. Cons - Can get a bit repetitive as you run back…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm.... on the fence about this one, honestly, but I'll just barely give it a thumbs up, mostly because I don't want Steam's recommendation AI to think I don't like games like these. I've got a lot of little complaints about the game, but I'll boil everything down to a couple pros and cons. Biggest pros: 1. It's an *Egyptian* Soulslike game. Very rare and neat. 2. The combat is player skill-focused and feels pretty fair. 3. The gameplay feels nice when in 1v1. 4. The "estus flask" mechanic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome, difficult 2.5d sidescroller. + The whole 2.5d concept is very nice. + Great combat. + Great variety in level design. + Map system. + Fantastic boss battles. + Rewarding side areas. Ussually they have a very hard combat section and a chest with great treasure. - Some maps don't have every area painted on them. - There's a glitch which makes backpacks look like being in use all the time, but in fact their actual use is still same, so because of glitch I can't know when the backpack…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very surprisingly fun game. have had a blast with it, no tech issues, well made. highly recommended
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game just spoofed up into my inventory lol. but it was a trash game and wasnt for me lmao.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's just not very fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good: Nice graphics and sound Bad: Checkpoints suck. Combat is meh. Ugly: Not fun. Not fun at all.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a surprisingly great Dark Souls-lite game with a really nice art style. In the videos it looks like a simple sidescroller/beat-em-up, but the environments are quite varied with many alternate routes to explore and traps to avoid. For a lower budget game the level of polish is very high with colorful artwork, a lot of content and clean UI. Also the mythic Egyptian setting feels really fresh, allowing for interesting new armor, weapons and character designs besides the standard tired…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Una joyita que no me esperaba. Toma un poco de Karateka y Dark Souls pero le mete temática egipcia. Se enfoca en el combate más que nada y atravesar los mapas laberintosos que el juego presenta. Muy entretenido.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is not bad but it is NOT like dark souls in it's combat system. I find it wrong to say it is like dark souls when the only comperassion is parry, strong attack and light attack. That's it... With that being said this game is still good!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →2.5 d darksouls . very fun game highly recommended
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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