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Egypt II: The Heliopolis Prophecy

Egypt II: The Heliopolis Prophecy
Developer(s)Cryo Interactive
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Yann Masson
Franck Letiec
Grégory Joseph
Yann Troadec
Producer(s)Jean-Martial Lefranc
Philippe Ulrich
Programmer(s)Grégory Joseph
Artist(s)Franck Letiec
Writer(s)Yann Masson
Composer(s)Farid Russlan
Platform(s)Windows
PlayStation
Mac OS X
Release
  • EU: September 27, 2000[1]
  • NA: 2000
  • EU: May 2001 (PS1)
  • WW: April 2012 (Mac)
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Egypt 2: The Heliopolis Prophecy (French: Égypte II: La Prophétie d'Héliopolis) is an adventure video game developed and published by Cryo Interactive for the PC and PlayStation in 2000. It was released for Mac OS X in May 2012.[2] Egypt 2 follows Egypt 1156 B.C. and is followed by Egypt III.

Gameplay

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Plot

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The game is set in 1360 BC, and Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, has been struck by a plague. The player's father has also been infected. From a first-person perspective, the player must find a cure and save the father and the rest of Heliopolis.

Development

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Reception

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According to Cryo Interactive's marketing manager Mattieu Saint-Dennis, Egypt 2 sold 180,000 units in Europe alone by December 2000. Of this number, France accounted for 50,000 copies.[3] The game and its predecessor, Egypt 1156 B.C., achieved combined global sales above 700,000 units by February 2004.[4]

Sequel

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Main article: Egypt III

Following the 2002 bankruptcy and liquidation of Cryo Interactive,[5][6] many of its key assets were purchased by DreamCatcher Interactive to form that company's new European branch. Two development teams, including that of the Egypt series, were among these acquisitions.[7] DreamCatcher Europe was established in Paris in January 2003,[8] and the publisher subsequently announced a sequel to Egypt II in April, under the names The Egyptian Prophecy (North America) and Egypt III: The Fate of Ramses (Europe).[9] It was one of several announcements by the company in preparation for the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).[10] Like the publisher's concurrent project Atlantis Evolution, Egypt III was developed internally by DreamCatcher Europe.[11][12]

In the summer of 2003, DreamCatcher Europe shuttered the game development divisions it had carried over from Cryo.[13] As a result, Egypt III "seemed destined for cancellation", Adventure Gamers' Johann Walter later noted. A group of those laid off proceeded to found the developer Kheops Studio, led by Benoît Hozjan.[14] The new company opened in September.[15] Since most of the team had already been involved in Egypt III before its development was interrupted, Kheops sought and received a contract from DreamCatcher to complete the game independently.[16] Jeux Video reported in January 2004 that Egypt III had "quietly resumed development" and was nearing completion.[17] The game was released in North America on March 29, 2004.[18]

As Cryo had done for Egypt II,[19] Kheops worked with archeologist Jean-Claude Golvin to increase historical accuracy.[20] Egypt III was targeted primarily at casual gamers.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Pilou. "Tests; Egypte 2: La Prophétie d'Héliopolis". Jeuxvideo.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2004. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  2. ^ Egypt The Heliopolis Prophecy Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine release information at MacGameStore
  3. ^ Silva, Beatriz Vieira da (October 2001). "Interviews". Culturtainment - a New Interactive Entertainment Genre (PDF) (MSc). Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. pp. A 20–A 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 17, 2018.
  4. ^ Walden, Fabian (February 24, 2004). "Egypt 3 - Erscheint im April". Gameswelt. Archived from the original on May 23, 2015.
  5. ^ Fahey, Rob (July 23, 2002). "Update: Cryo Living on Borrowed Time". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on February 16, 2003.
  6. ^ Bouteiller, Jérôme (October 3, 2002). "L'éditeur de jeux Cryo en liquidation judiciaire". Clubic (in French). Archived from the original on July 5, 2019.
  7. ^ Bronstring, Marek (March 7, 2003). "The Adventure Company Europe". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on October 23, 2005. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  8. ^ "DreamCatcher Interactive Enters European Market" (PDF) (Press release). Toronto: DreamCatcher Interactive. January 30, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2003.
  9. ^ Calvert, Justin (April 30, 2003). "Egyptian Prophecy announced". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 16, 2004.
  10. ^ Calvert, Justin (April 30, 2003). "The Adventure Company E3 lineup". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 12, 2004.
  11. ^ "The Adventure Company to Showcase Exciting Line-up at the Electronic Entertainment Expo" (Press release). Toronto: The Adventure Company. May 2003. Archived from the original on March 25, 2006.
  12. ^ Sulic, Ivan (April 30, 2003). "Many New Adventures". IGN. Archived from the original on November 29, 2004.
  13. ^ Fallen Angel (August 9, 2005). "Benoit Hozjan for Kheops Studio". Adventure Advocate. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  14. ^ Walter, Johann (November 14, 2006). "Kheops Studio - Benoît Hozjan". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019.
  15. ^ "[afjv] Kheops Studio" (in French). Agence française pour le jeu vidéo. June 12, 2007. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007.
  16. ^ Hoopy (August 24, 2006). "[Kheops Studio] Interview de Benoît Hozjan, co-fondateur et directeur". JeuxVideoPC (in French). Archived from the original on December 6, 2007.
  17. ^ Staff (January 23, 2004). "Egypte 3 fait dans le surnaturel". Jeux Video (in French). Archived from the original on August 3, 2004.
  18. ^ Calvert, Justin (March 29, 2004). "The Egyptian Prophecy ships". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 4, 2004.
  19. ^ "Interviews". Cryo Interactive. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002.
  20. ^ Staff (March 23, 2004). "Interview Egypt III: The Egyptian Prophecy - The Fate of Ramses". PC Pointer. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004.
  21. ^ Manos, Dimitris (March 2004). "Previews; Egypt III: The Fate of Ramses". The Inventory. No. 13. Just Adventure. pp. 2, 3. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
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