While Sid Meier's Civilization VII isn't coming out until February, Ara: History Untold might just satiate your strategy game craving until then.
This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series. Sid Meier’s Civilization VII impressed with its gameplay debut at Gamescom Opening Night Live, but it’s not out until next February. Thankfully, Oxide Studios and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have an excellent alternative on the way next month, one that’s been seven years in the making. That would be Ara: History Untold , which I went hands-on with for over an hour at a Gamescom -adjacent Xbox event in Los Angeles.
The goal of Ara: History Untold is to grow and expand a nation throughout history over 750 turns. The term 4X stands for “explore, expand, exploit, exterminate,” and you can expect that very gameplay loop here. Most of my demo, which started right at turn one, focused on the explore, expand, and exploit parts of 4X. Players begin by choosing a leader, all of whom are historical figures.
Whereas most 4X games have rigid tile systems with little in the way of customization, Ara: History Untold wants every growth-related decision to be well-thought-out. I had to carefully place every farm, workshop, or quarry within my borders. For example, it’s best to place a farm in an area with a resource like barley; that will make for a barley farm that yields more resources. Then, I could build a plow at my workshop and apply it to that farm to make it even more productive.
While all these systems are well-designed, I doubt that Ara: History Untold will be very approachable. Even as someone who enjoys 4X games, I had to play several turns with a developer walking me through every decision before I felt comfortable playing independently. I, and anyone else picking Ara: History Untold up, should probably spend an hour or two looking through the game’s tutorials and explanation menus before committing to 750 turns of playtime.
Ara: History Untold Gamescom Gamescom 2024 Oxide Games Summer Gaming Marathon Summer Gaming Marathon 2024 Xbox Game Studios Publishing
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