The history of the world is difficult to convey in an easily understandable form. Ara: History Untold tries to do just that. It wants to join the crowd of impressive turn-based strategy games like Humankind, Old World and Civilization, and the big question is whether it can do that. Because we are no longer lacking in competent historical strategy games in this genre and that is why I am very happy to see this title trying to do some new things. It starts off well, with beautiful coastlines and a living world where you can see animals moving through areas of the map, and the world looks really impressive. It reminds me of how Civilization V tried to create a more realistic world.
The main difference between Ara and others of its genre is the way the world looks. There are no squares or hexagons, instead the parts of the world are shaped around nature. They can be rivers, lakes or mountains and they can look different and be different sizes, which is much more natural and attractive than hexagons. It’s hard to underestimate how different the game looks because of this. Each zone can also be divided into smaller zones where buildings are constructed, provided you own the zone. It’s a bit reminiscent of the districts in Civilization VI, as these buildings allow you to produce different goods such as tools, units and food.
The creation of custom tools, food and much more is what sets the title apart. With their help, you can create bonuses in production chains and exchange goods with alien powers. This is more reminiscent of Anno and The Settlers than anything else. Using tools or food to increase production internally brings benefits, but there are also advantages if you decide to sell the goods, so it becomes a balancing act between the amount you produce and what you do with the products. Each build also costs resources of a different type, which brings a completely different mindset to competing titles.
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In Ara: History Untold, you also have to make sure your residents are happy. The concept is called quality of life in the game and is divided into different categories. You need food, happiness, motivation and research to succeed. If you meet the requirements, you get bonuses and in turn the residents become happier, so they are also more productive, allowing you to get things done faster. One of the most important elements of the title is building a civilization for the people and not just for yourself. Your kingdom could be destroyed and face great difficulties if you fail. Ensuring the well-being of your citizens is just as important as building an army and conducting diplomacy with other nations in the game world.
Researching technologies, conducting diplomacy, and trading are similar to other things in the genre. It’s reassuring that much of the core experience feels familiar, but at the same time it introduces some unique elements, as even less important functions like assembling formations before sending your troops into battle are a little different to Civilization VI. I think this is a positive, as you can group different types of soldiers into smaller armies depending on the era and bonuses. The game needs to stand out from the crowd without becoming a clone of something that came before it, so despite the similarities in gameplay, there are interesting elements that give it character. One example of this is the decisions you have to make in various text-based events.
The most interesting thing for me were the dilemmas. These can affect relationships with neighbors or cost you resources. The way it works is that a short story is read out and you have to make a choice. I appreciate how clearly each choice shows what you can gain and lose. It’s fluid and the interface makes it easy for you no matter what you do. I also found the encyclopedia to complement the information offered by the interface well as it is comprehensive but was appreciated when I didn’t understand certain game systems.
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By the time you reach the Iron Age, you’ve probably already built a few cities with roads and a thriving trade system between them. That’s when I think the foundations you laid in your early years start to show. The resources you create and other things you build gradually improve over time, giving each city a fairly distinctive look. What you don’t upgrade also adds to its appearance, and as you grow your buildings, you can see residents walking around the city and doing things. They reveal what people think of you and how residents feel, just like in Old World, because here Oxide Games wants to bring us closer to residents than in other historical 4X alternatives.
By focusing on the small and the large, this title has a certain depth and you are reminded of it very quickly depending on the difficulty level. The higher settings were brutal while the easier ones let you get away with it. The difficulty options determine how many bonuses you or your computer opponents receive and how aggressive they are. While I expected the computer to play a little differently and perhaps more intelligently, that is not the case, but you have to be careful as the two weakest civilizations are permanently removed from the campaign at the end of each era, so choose your difficulty level carefully.
Unfortunately, the impressive graphical aspect comes at a price. As you explore much of the map and the cities grow, the title begins to stagnate at the highest visual settings. Performance is certainly not what it should be and I was unlucky enough to experience some pretty low framerates and the experience felt sluggish after a while. Even when I lowered several settings, some performance issues remained. This is something the developers need to fix and I don’t think everything will be fixed before release.
The sound isn’t as bad as the performance, as the game sounds good, but the music lacks a little personality. I think you could have your own music in the background without it affecting the experience. My suggestion would be to offer more folk music in the earlier eras, as historical experiences in particular can offer more contemporary music if the budget allows. Going back in time has great potential to offer more varied and contemporary music.
I like the customization options we are given, they are solid and can be tailored to your needs. This is also evident when you start a new game, as you can choose from many leaders and civilizations, each wearing slightly different clothing depending on their era, bonuses and historical background. The worlds are easy to create, with a good variety of biomes, but unfortunately I think they could have been designed in a way that would have had the biomes influence the cultures more as well. How underused they are in the genre is especially evident if you have just played Frostpunk 2, but Ara has a lot of potential to evolve with future expansions.
Although Oxide Games took inspiration from other similar games, there are a lot of new elements here that are well executed. Ara: History Untold is beautiful to look at, offers complexity, and pulls off its concept brilliantly, but it lacks the customization options offered by its competitors and is technically below its level. It has great potential to be a truly brilliant addition to the genre if the developers manage to fix the major technical and balance issues and properly update the title, making the game something that also stands the test of time. If you enjoy the genre, there is a lot to love here that also has the potential to grow and improve even more in the future.
