The next chapter in A Tale in the Desert begins today with the launch of A Tale in the Desert 5. The players of A Tale in the Desert were faced with a choice to move the game forward as they had to vote which of the two sons of the deceased Pharaoh would become the new Pharaoh. Each choice comes with benefits and consequences as the story moves ahead and that choice was left in the hands of the players.

Included in the player-invented technologies are Foraging, which allows players to hunt herbs in new ways; Aquaculture, which allows cultivation of Papyrus, and the unusually named "Molecular Balance" to aid in crop genetics. The plethora of new technologies will significantly alter important aspects of the game.