Ara: History Untold Review
Ara: History Untold Review
Table of Contents
Ara: History Untold is a strategy game developed by Oxide Games and published by Xbox Game Studios, aiming to carve a niche in a genre dominated by heavyweights like Civilization and Age of Empires.
4X strategy games, or “explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate,” are games that do exactly what the name suggests. Usually starting from a certain point in time, the player’s task is to lead their side, usually a civilization, to glory while navigating the intricacies of growing a society. It’s not for everybody, and newcomers, especially, may find that getting into a game as complex as this may not be their cup of tea.
Say what you will about Xbox, though, but it’s refreshing to see them championing variety in their offerings, and Ara: History Untold promises to offer an alternative experience for those looking for something that’s not named Civilization.
In With The New
As a relative newbie to the genre, what first got my attention in Ara: History Untold is its art style. The game is rendered beautifully and does away with the usual hex-based map, with lots of detail about the world. The colors and overall look are not as intimidating as other titles, immediately making me feel welcome. Zoom in close enough and you’ll see towns and inhabitants going about their ways, celebrating victories, and more, which is a nice touch that many would appreciate.
From a newcomer’s perspective, Ara: History Untold is welcoming not only in its approachable visuals but also in its detailed tutorials. Its NUF (new user funnel) is quite detailed, telling me exactly what to do, where to click, and what that button or feature does. From resource management to troop formations, the tutorial system covers everything, although I admit that there were turns where I didn’t quite know what to do after following the instructions, it still guided me well enough that I was able to finish a run without too much difficulty except for the occasional “where is that button again?”
This is probably one of the most important aspects of these types of games, and I think Ara: History Untold has nailed it pretty well, enough for a total newbie to come in and at least understand how to proceed with the game. If you don’t need it, you can turn it off too, but with the breadth of systems the game has, even veterans may need to keep these tooltips on for a bit.
As with games of this type, Ara: History Untold involves tons of micromanagement. You’ll need to keep an eye out for your resources as you simultaneously try to advance your society, which is something I slightly struggled with when I started to expand my territory and conquered more plots of land where each plot will house different structures. If anything, this is probably the part where newcomers to the genre may feel very intimidated, as the thought of managing twenty different things at the same time will feel like it’s a bit too much, especially down the line when you forget which city holds what structure.
Thankfully, Ara: History Untold has a turn-based system that will allow players to gain their bearings, review what’s in front of them, and deliberate their next move before advancing. Games in the genre are notorious for their “one more turn” effect, and that lives on in Ara: History Untold, pacing itself in such a way that you’ll always want to check out what the next turn holds for you and your empire.
Lesson in History
Ara: History Untold gives players control of a game through its leaders, 36 historical figures across the same number of nations, with more included in the more premium versions of the game. Leaders will take charge of a nation, and each leader will have a unique trait that will shape how players will approach the game for maximum utility.
Argentina has Evita Peron, whose trait is providing increased city prosperity and health, while Egypt’s Nefertiti will have farms providing additional food per turn, and France’s Jeanne d’Arc has increased force strength. The general structure of progression stays the same across all leaders, but their unique traits are worth considering for strategic purposes.
That said, outside of these traits, they aren’t really too different from each other because many aspects and abilities overlap, making the choice not as important as I hoped it would be. It also doesn’t help that they don’t have a “personality,” so to speak, as it would have really immersed me more in feeling like I was actually dealing with a unique historical figure.
Ara: History Untold makes a huge left turn in the way matches are structured, where competing nations take part in a leaderboard a la survival mode, where civilizations that don’t perform well enough and find themselves at the bottom will be ejected from the match. I found this structure to be more engaging, especially since you’ll need to perform consistently across multiple acts to make your way to the end.
Ara: History Untold also features crafting, which players can take advantage of to improve structures, production, and more. These production details are at the heart of the game, where each structure has its own use that you’ll need to consider, and planning ahead will be a crucial skill to learn to avoid lagging behind development.
For a game with several choices to make across the duration of your match, dealing with other leaders feels shallow, and encounters almost always lead to conflict down the line, despite my trying my hardest to be diplomatic about meetings. Combat is typically straightforward as well, and I wished that the game had a bit more depth to combat than simply sending my stack of troops to repel the invaders.
At some point, the information you’ll need to successfully manage your civilization will be buried under tons of menus, and tracking everything will feel like a chore unless you’re into that sort of thing. Of course, this is reserved for the min-maxers, and casual players such as myself may not even need to engage in this sort of data, especially at the lower difficulty levels.
Performance
Minimum | Recommended | |
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | |
OS | Windows 10 (20H1) or later | Windows 10 (20H1) or later |
Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 2400G – Intel i5-5300U | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 – Intel i5-6400 |
Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
Graphics | AMD Radeon RX 480 – Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 | AMD RX Vega 64 – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti |
DirectX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
Storage | 50 GB available space | 50 GB available space |
Getting Ara: History Untold to run doesn’t take a super machine, but we wouldn’t recommend playing this on a potato either, because the game looks fantastic, and the details that play out during the game really add to the overall experience. Towards the endgame is where things will get a bit dicey, as larger and more expansive cities will make you lose some frames here and there.
But can you play Ara: History Untold on the Steam Deck and take conquering eras on the go?
During our first time with it, Ara: History Untold wouldn’t even run on the Steam Deck as the game would simply crash after an initial load screen. After a couple of days in, and maybe an update from the devs, we were able to run it on the handheld, and it plays surprisingly well.
However, sacrifices are necessary, and turning it down to its lowest settings is the only way to achieve frame rates above 30. At ultra low settings, visuals are still readable and you’ll hover at around 30-50fps depending on which screen you are on. Low settings will take you below 30, and the trade-off isn’t really worth it considering you’re sacrificing overall smoothness.
That said, it’s still great that you can play this on the go, as its “one more turn” tendency really lends itself well to short gameplay spurts. It certainly scratches that itch, and even with watered-down visuals to take it on the go, Ara: History Untold is still worth trying.
Verdict: Wait for it…
Ara: History Untold is a great effort from Oxide Games, bringing a game with a strong foundation and enough unique features to make it a recognizable title amidst the many similar titles in the market. Despite its shortcomings in some areas, the game does a nice job of separating itself from the rest of the pack but just doesn’t do quite enough.
Newcomers to the genre may easily be intimidated due to the number of menus, systems, and things to keep track of, but Ara: History Untold does a pretty good job of onboarding players to slowly learn its many facets. 4X strategy titles are a niche genre for a reason, but the game does capture that “one more turn” impulse which is an extremely important factor to nail down, and it’s especially great that you can take the game on the go.
*Ara: History Untold was reviewed on a PC/Steam Deck with a code provided by the publisher.
Ara: History Untold Review
Ara: History Untold is a game with a strong foundation and enough unique features to make it a recognizable title.
PROS
- Comprehensive tutorial system
- Gorgeous visuals and deep attention to detail
- Highly replayable due to leaderboard structure
CONS
- Tons of menus to find relevant information
- Leaders aren't too different from each other
- Some systems, like combat, feel a bit too shallow