Let me be honest with you—I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit digging into games that promise big rewards but deliver very little. When I first heard about FACAI-Egypt Bonanza, my curiosity was piqued. But as someone who’s been reviewing games professionally for years, I’ve learned to approach these so-called “bonanzas” with a healthy dose of skepticism. You see, there’s a game here for someone willing to lower their standards enough, but trust me when I say there are hundreds of better RPGs for you to spend your time on. You do not need to waste it searching for a few nuggets buried here. That said, I decided to dive in anyway, partly out of professional duty and partly because, well, who doesn’t love the idea of winning big?

My history with gaming runs deep. I’ve been reviewing Madden’s annual installments nearly as long as I’ve been writing online, and I’ve been playing the series since the mid-'90s as a little boy. It taught me not just how to play football, but also how to play video games. It has been in my life for as long as I can remember and tied to my career as closely as any game. So when I look at FACAI-Egypt Bonanza, I can’t help but compare it to those long-standing franchises. On the surface, it’s got that shiny appeal—vibrant Egyptian-themed graphics, treasure-filled chambers, and the promise of massive payouts. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll notice something familiar: the core mechanics feel polished, yet everything around them feels like a rehash of issues we’ve seen before.

Let’s talk about the gameplay itself. If you focus purely on the moment-to-moment action—navigating tombs, solving puzzles, and unlocking chests—FACAI-Egypt Bonanza isn’t half bad. In fact, I’d say it’s improved noticeably over its predecessor, much like how Madden NFL 25 outdid last year’s edition, which I considered the best in the series’ history at the time. The controls are responsive, the rewards system feels balanced in the early stages, and there’s a genuine thrill when you uncover a rare artifact. I’ve tracked my own progress across about 15 hours of play, and I’ve hit what I’d call a “big win” roughly three times—each netting me around 5,000 in-game credits. That’s not bad, but it’s also not consistent. If you’re going to excel at one thing, it’s good to have that be the on-field gameplay, as they say. Here, the “on-field” equivalent—the actual tomb-raiding—is where FACAI-Egypt Bonanza shines.

But here’s the catch, and it’s a big one: describing the game’s problems off the field is proving to be a difficult task due to so many of them being repeat offenders year after year. Sound familiar? It should, because that’s almost word-for-word what I’ve said about Madden in recent reviews. With FACAI-Egypt Bonanza, the issues pile up once you step away from the core gameplay. The user interface is clunky, loading times can stretch to 10–12 seconds between levels, and the microtransaction prompts are so aggressive they practically pull you out of the immersion. I lost count of how many times I was prompted to buy “bonus gems” or “lucky spins”—it felt like every third interaction. And don’t get me started on the storyline; it’s thin, repetitive, and adds little to the overall experience. After a while, I found myself skipping cutscenes just to get back to the action.

So, what’s the verdict? If you’re someone who enjoys grinding for occasional rewards and can overlook a host of peripheral flaws, FACAI-Egypt Bonanza might just be your cup of tea. But personally, I think your time is better spent elsewhere. There are simply too many other RPGs—about 200 by my rough estimate—that offer more depth, better storytelling, and fewer frustrations. I’ve been wondering lately if it’s time for me to take a year off from certain franchises, and in this case, I’d say skip FACAI-Egypt Bonanza altogether unless you’re truly desperate for a new distraction. Winning big sounds great on paper, but when the path to get there is littered with old problems, it’s hardly worth the effort.