Here’s Ara: History Untold, Xbox’s new Civ-like game whose release window was revealed during the Xbox Developer Direct 2024!

During yesterday’s Xbox Developer Direct, we got a second look at the publisher’s upcoming grand strategy game, Ara: History Untold. Now we also know that the game will arrive this year…

As the developers previously wrote on the game’s Steam page: “Build a nation and lead your people throughout history to the pinnacles of human achievement as you explore new lands, develop arts and culture, conduct diplomacy, and go head-to-head with your rivals to prove you are the greatest ruler ever known. It’s Your World Now.”

According to the creators, Ara: History Untold “raises the genre of large-scale historical strategy games to new heights” using familiar and new game mechanics. However, we have now heard for the first time what exactly this entails. (Watch the “Behind the Scenes” video below!)

In what area can Ara: History Untold innovate?

During the preview, the developers also revealed some important new details. For example, that they “want to question preconceptions about the genre”. For one thing, they’ve immersed themselves in their simultaneous round system, which aims to eliminate downtime between rounds. The latter occurs in other turn-based strategy games.

They also showed us a bit of their “living world”, procedurally generated to reflect player decisions.

Also, the prestige system is what will prove players’ “leadership worth”, allowing them to increase their score through several different paths.

Some changes made based on player feedback were also introduced. Among other things, their beasts have become a little less aggressive. The developers revealed that their Insider program will continue after the release. Feedback from early players continues to be taken into account.

When can we expect the release?

As stated during the Developer Direct, the game is expected to be released in the fall of 2024. Ara: History Untold first debuted at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2022 as a grand strategy game from developer Oxide Games, which consists of several former members of Civilization studio Firaxis. It’s distinct from Xbox’s other history-focused strategy games. For example, from Age of Empires, as it is more of a real-time strategy game, while Ara is turn-based.

Ashes of the Singularity was previously developed by Oxide Games, which was itself an RTS and similarly used the studio’s proprietary Nitrous Engine. Ashes of the Singularity received generally pretty good reviews when it came out in 2016. Many called it a challenging, engaging and “brain strategy exercise”.

Unfortunately, there is still not much information available about Ara, but as soon as we know more, we will report back with the details!

Source: Steam, Pure Xbox, YouTube