REVIEW – With the genre enjoying a renaissance and Civilization VII peeking around the corner, can a 4X game really offer anything new? Made in partnership with Oxide Games and Xbox Game Studios, Ara: History Untold has taken on a lot – let’s see what it can deliver!

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was as excited to hear the announcement of Ara: History Untold as a dachshund when hearing the leash ringing before the walk. Oxide Games have already proven with Ashes of the Singularity that they can present games on a grand scale in a truly atmospheric and spectacular way – and what could be on a grander scale than a 4X, or “Civilization clone”?! This group of turn-based, civilisation-building-world-conquering strategy games has received some notable titles in recent years: just think of Humankind, Age of Wonders 4 or even Millennia. None of them were perfect, but they set the bar high enough that any newcomer to the genre would have to work hard for recognition. And we haven’t even mentioned that Civilization VII, coming next February, promises to be quite revolutionary… So the question is: what new can this Xbox Game Studios-published game – available on PC Game Pass on launch day – offer?

You Ara so beautiful!

Let’s start with perhaps the game’s most striking asset: Oxide’s ‘Nitrous Engine’ and the beautiful and vibrant world it brings to life. Unlike games with more stylised visuals, such as Huamnkind or Millennium, the vast world of Ara: History Untold is in full, freely zoomable 3D. Not only is the built environment animated, but everyone down to the last passerby, even the fauna and flora. Once you reach a certain level of development and the first modern cities are built, it’s easy to feel like you’ve stepped into a Sim City game.

At times, it’s enough to get lost in the way the people of your empire live their lives, coming and going, building your ‘wonders’ (your Prestige-point buildings). I’m not saying that a 4X game has never been this beautiful and atmospheric, but it’s safe to say that Oxide Games’ game excels in this area. There are, of course, some minor flaws: the way the roads are rendered is sometimes scandalously unrealistic. It would also have been nice if the different cultures had been more distinct in terms of the built environment, because at the moment, anyone who chooses a civilisation for that reason will be disappointed. The (relatively) high system requirements and the lack of optimisation are also not conducive to a good gaming experience: the more you explore the map, the higher the framerate drop you should expect…

The Singularity Empire

Don’t expect anything revolutionary about the main gameplay features: you’ll be led through three principal Acts, each spanning 4-4 Ages, to create Earth’s single super-civilisation. Between the Ages, we have the usual line-up, except perhaps the last one, called the Singularity Age, which is a bit different from the final, sci-fi eras of the usual Civ games. As you accumulate ‘Prestige’ points – which can be earned through economic, diplomatic and military success – you progress through the Acts. However, it’s important to remember that they operate on a ranking system: if you have too low a prestige, your civilisation fades into history… Fortunately, this option can be turned off as a player, but it’s sometimes surprising to see thriving civilisations turn into ruined ghost towns just because they didn’t move quickly enough from one Age to the next.

At the start of the campaign, you can choose from a wide range of leaders and civilisations, from Julius Caesar and Joan of Arc to George Washington and perhaps lesser-known historical figures such as Georgian Queen Tamar I and Shaka Zulu. Their presentations (and the way they have changed through the ages) are pleasing, but in truth, they differ almost exclusively in their passive bonuses. The same is true of religions and forms of government. Cultures and states are very similar: there is hardly any special option or special unit that can be obtained by choosing the right leader. Thus, the majority of players will presumably select a leader/civilisation not for sympathy or narrative reasons, but in the light of which of their passive attributes best suits their playstyle.

Productivity index

Although the game has a relatively rudimentary diplomatic system, and yes, you can go to war, by far, the most elaborate part is the economic management system. From the outset, you can browse drop-down menus of who, what and where to produce; then sell, use up or develop the finished products. And this system only gets more complex as the game progresses, as we move from the ‘wheat-field-mill-bakery’ chain to, say, car or video game console (!) production.

The problem starts when you have control over several developed cities, but you still have to set everything up and arrange everything individually. Ara: History Untold doesn’t really live up to its own scale, and it’s in one of the most important areas that this is most noticeable. After a while, the economic micro-management becomes so tedious that one tends to leave it all behind and just focus on the most critical areas and burn the turns rapidly. In its defence, the game lets you do all that, at least on the first two difficulty levels. After a while, your empire becomes “quasi-self-sufficient”,; but it would have been nice if the developers had included some mechanics to help with this and make the otherwise really deep and thoughtful economic systems more transparent and manageable.

Fighting in the land of lag

Our diplomatic options are largely exhausted by what the Total War games of 10+ years ago could do, but we can manage the affairs of the declaration-of-war-peace-alliance in the most sophisticated menus, watching beautifully animated characters. And when it comes to war… well, we won’t have much say in that. Battles are spectator-only, so it’s all about building your army and developing the right technologies to win. Based on what we saw in the trailer, we should see huge, smooth battles, but somehow, neither the scale nor the experience came through for me, thanks to the fact that this is the least graphically optimised part of the game. I encountered harsh lag even in relatively low-volume battles, especially after the introduction of firearms. Hopefully, the developers will fix all of this in a patch or two, but it’s safe to say that the battle simulation is not worth getting Ara: History Untold for.

Was this history worth telling?

Before answering the above question, it’s worth briefly noting that the sounds and music are pleasant, but neither is particularly memorable—certainly not on a par with Christopher Tin’s Civilization and Old World soundtracks. The UI is clearly the game’s weakest area. Its clunkiness and lack of sophistication detract from the gaming experience and contribute significantly to making economy management not as fun as it could be.

All in all, Ara: History Untold is a fun strategy game with a deep and complex economic system that fans of the genre will find highly addictive at first. It is also recommended for beginners, although you may want to leave the tutorial menu on and watch a few “beginners guide” videos before playing, because Ara will punish you if you don’t know how to play. The game bleeds out in the long run when the far-from-optimal UI and the increasingly tedious economy management slowly turn the fun into frustration and boredom, which can only be compensated in some ways by the sophisticated graphics and design. Even so, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game; it’s just sad that it wasn’t able to realize all the potential it could have had…

-ROD-

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Developer: Oxide Games

Style: TBS/Grand strategy

Release date: 24 September 2024