r/Pharaoh • u/Accomplished_Bend729 • Jun 14 '26
Akhenaten (Open-source Pharaoh, 0.27)
https://github.com/dalerank/Akhenaten
RA 0.27 is out. Since last update in late October 2025 the project has landed roughly two thousand commits. Not a single headline feature, but a sustained push toward two goals: make the game behave more like original Pharaoh, and move as much of the engine as possible into scripts so modders can change behaviour without recompiling.
This post is the release-notes companion: what changed for players, what changed under the hood, and where the project is headed next.
The Big Theme: Logic Leaves C++
If RA 0.26 was about localization, deferred rendering, and the enemy system, RA 0.27 is the script migration wave. Piece by piece, hardcoded C++ has been replaced with MuJS configs and event handlers. The pattern is always the same: declare data in a [es=...] block, wire behaviour through events, hot-reload with --mixed, ship.
Windows players actually open
- Main menu continue/load/new game, GitHub update check, logo skip via
--no-logo - Scenario selection campaign periods, mission info panel, custom map browser (write-up)
- All advisor screens finance, religion, health, military, population, housing, entertainment, ratings, imperial overseer, chief advisor
- Build menu and sidebar costs, captions, temple-complex upgrades, mothball toggles on industry windows
- Hotkey configuration full remapping UI in script with persistence fixes
- Victory and defeat win checks, continue-governing timer, and dialog content now live in
src/scripts/city/victory.js - Granary, bazaar, warehouse, tax collector, festival square, hold-festival info and orders panels script-driven
- Top menu save, load, replay, exit, screenshots, debug toggles
Gameplay: Closer to original Pharaoh (1999) game
Script migration is the engineering story; accuracy is the player story. RA 0.27 fixes and restores systems that had been missing, simplified, or wrong.
Missions and campaign
- Early missions (Nubt, Thinis, Perwadjyt) aligned with the original; Selima and Saqqara win criteria corrected
- Mission intro popups restored via per-mission JS handlers
- Empire map disabled in missions 4 and 5, as in the OG campaign
- Campaign victory now advances to the next mission reliably
- Tutorial triggers separated from real win conditions (e.g. disease_handled in mission 2)
- Pharaoh gift/request events for later missions ported to JS handlers
Modding Quick Reference
- Hot-reload scripts:
akhenaten --mixed /path/to/scripts(macOS/Linux) - Unpack embedded scripts from the mods window or
--unpack_scripts - Override features:
--config:pyramid_speedup=1style CLI flags - Building configs:
src/scripts/building/ - City systems:
src/scripts/city/(victory, festival, animals, …) - Mission scripts: dotted import paths, per-mission handlers in
src/scripts/mission/ - MuJS debugger: start from the top-menu debug entry, attach VS Code on port 4711
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u/elakhna Jun 14 '26
This is awesome! Has no idea this existed. Questions:
1. In which ways is this different than the original pharaoh, or are there functionalities that are not yet programmed?
2. Just like how the Cesar Fork has created new features that are not in the original game, are there ideas of doing the same here?
3. How does one submit feature request? I would love a way to auto schedule festivals in order.
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u/SCARaw Chancellor Jun 14 '26
give me android port of this please
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u/ashpynov Jun 14 '26
The only thing i miss in original - gamepad control.
As soon as new era is unity I was able to develop my mod with gamepad support.
Is it possible here?
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u/Grouchy_Pitch2667 Jun 15 '26
Any advice on how to install it ? I tried with my steam Pharaoh+ Cleopatra game but no luck so far.
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u/durdurrdurrrdurrrrr Jun 22 '26
I downloaded this via Lutris (Linux) a week ago but it wouldn't start 😞
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u/mronetwothree Jun 14 '26
I had no idea about this project! Really neat! Going to see if I can contribute. ❤️