Total War: Pharaoh got off to a bit of a rocky start, mostly by no fault of its own. It released at a time when community sentiment around Creative Assembly was at perhaps an all-time low, with discontent about the quality and pricing of Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC, the debacle surrounding the cancellation of Hyenas, CA's most expensive game ever, and at least for me, the lingering, soul-deep resentment over the abandonment of Total War: Three Kingdoms.
But Pharaoh itself was actually pretty great, to be honest. And with the crowning Dynasties update, it has really become the full-featured and comprehensive Total War: The Bronze Age game I've been daydreaming about since A Total War Saga: Troy.
