Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile

Last updated: January 9, 2026

Overview

Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile is an expansion pack for the city-building strategy game Pharaoh, developed by BreakAway Games and published by Sierra Entertainment in 2000¹. The expansion brings players into the latter years of the Egyptian Empire, in the era of Cleopatra, with all the monuments and architecture associated with her reign². As the tagline proclaimed: “Build a Kingdom. Rule the Nile. Live Forever.”³

The game continues the Pharaoh story with missions entirely set within the New Kingdom⁴, focusing on the historical period from 1490 BC to 35 BC¹. Players immerse themselves in ancient Egypt and nurture fledgling villages into thriving metropolises, governing all aspects of the exotic Egyptian culture, from religion to trading with distant cities⁵. The expansion requires the base game Pharaoh to be present on the system and cannot be played separately⁶.

Game Info

Developer: BreakAway Games¹ Designer: Alan Venable, Charles Kibler, Chris Beatrice⁷ Publisher: Sierra Entertainment¹ Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PC¹ Release Year: 2000 Series: Pharaoh Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra

Story Summary

The expansion follows the reign of Cleopatra VII, the last Pharaoh of Egypt, whose intelligence, political acumen, and legendary allure left an indelible mark on history⁸. The narrative spans Cleopatra’s life from her rise to the throne to her tragic death⁹, covering her 20-year rule of Egypt from circa 70 B.C. to 30 B.C¹⁰. Through personal and political alliances, first with Julius Caesar and then with Mark Antony, she maintained the independent power of Egypt as long as she was able to do so¹¹.

The missions cover different historical periods including tomb building, Ramesses II’s exploits, and the fall of Egypt in the 1st century BC¹. As one character proclaims in the game’s narrative: “I am more than a woman! I am a goddess. The Egyptians say that I am the goddess Isis.”¹²

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

The game uses a two-dimensional isometric perspective¹ with 16-bit color graphics⁷. Players interact with the game using keyboard controls¹, managing various aspects of Egyptian city life including the Nile River’s annual flooding cycles¹³. The interface builds upon the established Caesar III engine, adapted for the Ancient Egyptian setting¹⁴.

Structure and Progression

Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile offers both campaign and free-build game modes¹. The expansion adds 15 new campaign missions⁶ that focus specifically on Cleopatra’s era. Players must manage the complex economics using deben as currency⁷ while appeasing five Egyptian gods⁷ through proper city planning and monument construction.

Puzzles and Mechanics

The core gameplay revolves around city-building and management mechanics typical of the era¹⁵. Building a zoo increases your city’s culture rating¹⁵, while pyramid building and floodplain management come together for a brilliant city builder experience⁷. The citizens are much more Spartan than the Romans of Caesar, meaning that, given food and protection from enemies, they are always happy and eager to please¹⁶. The game features monument building mechanics⁷ and includes various cheat codes that trigger unique events like plagues, festivals, and city destruction¹⁷.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Publication	Score	Notes
GameSpot	8.2/10	”It is a rare thing to find an expansion worthy of the original”15
Metacritic	77/100	Aggregate score18
GameFAQs	9/10	”It’s the first game in months to keep me up till 3 am”16
Strategy Plus	3.5/5	”Pharaoh is one of the strongest examples of Janus-like gameplay”19
eeggs.com	7.1/10	Community rating17
MobyGames	7.6/10	User aggregate1

Modern Assessment

The expansion has maintained strong ratings over time, with GameRankings showing an 82% aggregate score⁷. Modern reviews note that “A New Era elevates Pharaoh to modern standards spectacularly well”²⁰, while TheGamer rated the updated version 4/5 stars²⁰. The game is consistently described as “A must-have expansion for any serious monument builder”¹⁸.

Development

Origins

Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile was developed over approximately one year⁷ by BreakAway Games as an expansion to their successful Pharaoh city-building game. The expansion was designed to focus specifically on the historical figure of Cleopatra and the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt.

Production

The development team included key designers Alan Venable, Charles Kibler, and Chris Beatrice⁷, with a total of 42 developers working on the project⁷. Ed Beach served as producer, with Melissa Sawicki as QA lead⁷. The voice cast included Jeremiah Kissel in various roles and Frank Ridley as Pharaoh²¹. The musical score was composed by Henry Beckett, Jennifer Maihack, Keith Zizza, and Richard Hayman⁷.

Technical Achievements

The game was built using a custom engine⁷ based on the Caesar III framework but adapted for the Ancient Egyptian setting¹⁴. It required minimum specifications of a Pentium 133 MHz processor, 32MB RAM, and 360MB of storage space²². The game used DirectDraw 6 API²² and supported 16-bit color depth with an original resolution of 640x480²². A widescreen patch was later made available by the community²³.

Legacy

Pharaoh and its Cleopatra expansion were later bundled together as “Pharaoh Gold” in 2001⁷, and the series received a modern remake titled “Pharaoh: A New Era” in 2023⁷. The game was recognized as a finalist for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction’ at the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards and received a Gold award in Germany for selling over 100,000 units⁷. The expansion was praised for taking “Impressions’ popular Caesar III, relocates it to ancient Egypt, and adds a few welcome features”²⁴.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• GOG Dreamlist - Community wishlist
• Available as part of Pharaoh Gold bundle on various digital platforms

Download / Preservation

• Patches and widescreen fixes available through community sites²⁵
• Version 2.1 patch available for download²⁵

Series Continuity

• Previous: Pharaoh (1999)
• Next: Pharaoh: A New Era (2023)

References

Footnotes

1. MobyGames – - Developer and publisher information ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. ModDB – - Historical setting and architecture details ↩

3. GameFAQs – - Game tagline ↩

4. StrategyWiki – - Mission structure information ↩

5. GameFAQs – - Gameplay description ↩

6. Impressions Games Fandom – - System requirements ↩ ↩²

7. Wikipedia – - Designer credits ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

8. City Lights Bookstore – - Historical character description ↩

9. Amazon – - Character overview ↩

10. Bookshop.org – - Historical dates ↩

11. OCALI Koha Catalog – - Political alliances description ↩

12. FlipHTML5 – - Character dialogue ↩

13. Amazon – - Nile River management ↩

14. Web Archive - GameSpot Review – - Engine adaptation details ↩ ↩²

15. GameSpot – - Gameplay mechanics ↩ ↩² ↩³

16. GameFAQs – - Citizen behavior comparison ↩ ↩²

17. eeggs.com – - Cheat codes and easter eggs ↩ ↩²

18. Metacritic – - Aggregate score ↩ ↩²

19. Web Archive - Strategy Plus – - Review quote ↩

20. TheGamer – - Modern review quote ↩ ↩²

21. Metacritic – - Voice cast information ↩

22. PC Gaming Wiki – - System requirements ↩ ↩² ↩³

23. PC Gaming Wiki Community – - Widescreen patch availability ↩

24. GameSpot – - Game comparison quote ↩

25. GamePressure – - Community patches ↩ ↩²