This game originally came out on EIGHT CDs. It uses a lot of video clips with real people who were decent actors. The plot is just creepy. And yes you can die in this game. There are lots of freaky moments as the game slowly unfolds. I highly recommend it, although you may need a walk through from time to time and you may need to adjust for compatibility, but let me tell you, it is worth it if you love a good story and being part of it! Graphics are obviously dated, but were cutting edge on its release day. Audio can get a little quiet in some scenes so make sure that its easy for you to turn up the volume without accidentally skipping a dialogue portion. *Spoiler Alert* Pay special attention to your surroundings in the fifth chapter, you may be surprised** All in all amazing story and if you like playing a female main all the better!
I still have my original hard copy that still works. To get it to work on Win 7 I had to right click on the link in the start menu and pick properties and then adjust the compatibility settings as such: check "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2), check disable visual themes, check disable desktop composition, check run this program as an administrator and then click apply and then ok out. Next always start from the start menu link (or you can do the same thing to a shortcut on your desktop. I hope this helps some people to enjoy an awesome game! As for what I really think about it... At this time graphics are now dated, but gameplay is still very intuitive and if it might be a somewhat buried feature they point it out in the tutorial. I really like at some points where you have to choose which path you take in this game to achieve the goal of getting to the surface :D. It was clear that they put a lot of work into this game and then there are also extra maps and things of that nature too if you want to play against the computer or friends (granted you would need to download these). I know that I have spent upwards of 200 hours playing this game in my life and it just never gets old. I sincerely hope that War For The Overworld (which is the spiritual successor to this game) is everything that we could hope for. Happy gaming :)
I bought this when it was originally released and I cannot tell you how many hours I spent playing through Egypt's history (building temples, the sphinx, pyramids, etc.). I would bet that I have spent at least as long in Skyrim as I had playing this game. It's just hard enough to keep a person interested, but easy enough so that you don't get frustrated (I cannot say the same for the Caesar III game (road blocks would have been useful here). All in all Pharaoh & Cleopatra are both excellent games and the transition between the two is seamless. If you are looking for a city builder with nice hand-drawn graphics and an Egypt basis then this is the game for you. Just don't plan on doing anything else except working and playing this game for a few months.
