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.
| 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 | |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
Plot
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
Reception
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Jeuxvideo.com | 14/20[1] |
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
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 summer 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]