Upcoming strategy game Total War: Pharaoh has had to push its launch on the Epic Games Store to “early 2024”, with Creative Assembly stating that it is as “disappointed” as the fans are.
This is in order to introduce “additional social functions” to the game, and the team will require a more flexible time frame to fulfil those features.
Fans had realised that their pre-orders through the Epic Games Store for Total War: Pharaoh had been refunded, signalling that some sort of update from Creative Assembly was on the way.
“We apologise to all our fans whose plans are affected by this news. Know that we’re disappointed too, and that we otherwise look forward to welcoming you into Ancient Egypt early next year,” continued the post to Total War‘s official X account.
The game’s launch on Steam and Mac is unaffected and Total War: Pharaoh will arrive on October 11. Ahead of this, though, there is an exclusive early access period for those who pre-purchased the game on Steam.
Between September 29 and October 2, players will be able to get to grips with two factions – Ramesses (Egyptian) and Irsu (Canaanite). Also available will be the Khufu and Akhenaten Egyptian Ancient Legacies and the Tudhaliya and Muwatali Hittite Ancient Legacies.
All battle mechanics will be on offer as well as custom battles and a maximum of 60 turns that are replayable multiple times. Despite that, online multiplayer is not included.
While Total War: Warhammer draws from a myriad of inspirations from folklore and religions all over the world for its fantasy setting, the historical Total War titles do not have that luxury.
“What we’re going for is historical authenticity first of all, which means we’re not trying to accurately represent the events of the time period as they happen,” explained director Todor Nikolov in an interview with NME.
Additionally, Total War: Pharaoh will be affected by weather and changing weather in a battle as well as terrain that responds to rain for reactive combat challenges. “We’re trying to battle what can be perceived as poor unit variety by using different features, so that the overall variety of choice is there,” he surmised.
In other gaming news, Starbreeze has responded to the reports of massive Payday 3 server issues that prevented players from jumping into the game on its launch weekend.