The game holds up okay in 2025. If you played it way back when it's worth it for nostalgias sake, just don't pay too much! I think the story is pretty good but the go north south east and west to collect four items gets tedious. It shows its age now but if you keep your expectations lowish it is good for a few evenings fun. It's worth looking up a companions AI mod, I used the henchman AI hak (or something similar) by TonyK back in the day, not necessary but useful, available at the neverwinter vault website still. If you get to the launcher screen and can't select "new game" try pressing the ALT key!
I was going to buy this old times sake but thought I'd try my old (old) Disc copy first (Pharaoh only) with no real hope it would run on Windows 10. Installed and played with no problems, gotta love this game, how many 20yr old pc games do that? So sorry GOG I don't need to buy this, but if you've never played this I highly recommend it. The interface and graphics hold up, the game never feels sluggish or too dated and more importantly the balance is just right. Each challenge is progressively harder, and requires careful management, and you never feel you hit a wall difficulty wise. I've completed this several times over the years on the hardest difficulty so its completely doable. I don't know what to directly compare it to but I much prefer it to the Civ Series, SIm City series and Banished. A real trooper and very playable.
