Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is one of the older city building games in the strategy management genre and was released in 2004. Serving as part of the city building series of games that includes Caesar, Pharaoh, Zeus and and Emperor the game has a similar focus on a historical location with ancient Egypt at your fingertips. Children of the Nile was developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment with an expansion pack (Children of the Nile: Alexandria) and online free to play spin-off (Nile Online) released following the success of the strategy title.
Overall Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is a pleasant city building experience and like it cousin titles has great attention to historic detail that has helped it stand out amongst other games in the genre. At the core players take on the role of the Pharaoh as your Egyptian civilisation grows through several thousand years of history from a simple tribe to the immortal civilisation and pyramids that Egypt is well known for today.
Every single person in your city has their own story, family and household which gives the game a realistic feel compared to other city building games while providing that added sense of pride you feel when you develop an ideal Egypt for your citizens. The AI also players an important role in this realism with carefully crafted control off your citizens perfectly adding to the atmosphere.
Atmosphere aside your role as Pharaoh is one of service with your goals to meet the various wants and needs of your people while also opening up various trade routes and defending your city when necessary. The gameplay on offer in Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile always promises something new, so you’ll easily get lost in the massive game world as you set your own goals to construct that next monument, improve your citizen livelihood or build up your storage reserves to protect against drought. Your primary influence on your Egyptian nation though is not a direct one and instead based on players constructing buildings or issuing edicts that impact how your citizens live their life.
The aforementioned citizens are at the heart of these decisions with each belonging to a class of worker be it a private or government one. When buildings are constructed with your brick reserves an eligible citizen will use it as an opportunity for social advancement and transform into the new profession. With new professions comes increase demand for food which is represented by bread that comes from the peasant farmer class that tend to your grain crops. This food is then automatically distributed to your private citizens from nobility and farmers with shopkeepers, servants and entertainers also getting their hands on some in return for their trade or services.
On the other end of the spectrum your government workers of priests, scribes and soldiers similarly need food to survive which is delivered through the tax system that allows them to perform their own specific roles in your kingdom. Not only does careful management of citizen needs improve your long term goal of prestige it’s also a central optimisation challenge in Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile with happy workers offering improved efficiency and prevents protests.
Summary:
- Create the ultimate Egyptian civilisation by constructing buildings and issuing edicts for your population.
- One of the great classic city building games with players designing their city without direct control over citizens.
- Massive attention to detail with a living historical world that functions based on your influences.
- Includes an extensive campaign and map editor for varied challenges.
- Make a name for yourself as Pharaoh by keeping your population happy and building your prestige.
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Review Platform: PC
klyxi
this is also available on steam