The grand strategy game Ara: History Untold, originally announced in June 2022, finally has a release window: Fall 2024.
The news was shared during Xbox’s second Developer Direct, where the developers at Oxide Games (the same studio that brought RTS fans Ashes of the Singularity) shared an updated look at their new title. According to the team, Ara: History Untold aims to evolve the genre. Design Director Michelle Menard said:
With Ara, we wanted to challenge some of the preconceived notions about the genre, push it forward in a modern, empowering, and truly compelling and approachable way.
The big new feature is the so-called Living World map. Art Director Dorian Newcomb explained:
One of the first differences you’ll see when you dive into Ara is what we call the Living World. It’s a procedurally-generated alternate Earth, bursting with life. An intuitive, authentic and immersive space, a blank canvas for players to paint the society of their dreams.
Michelle Menard then added:
The Living World isn’t just a map, it reflects the choices players make over the course of the game. They can see everything from the settling of the wilderness to cultural influence on the architecture over time, to the thousands of citizens living their lives and reacting to the changes. We want players to feel like they’re truly occupying the world, leading their people as they thrive and grow.
To ‘win’ in Ara: History Untold, players will have to create the most influential and important nation in the world. The game will measure this through the Prestige system, a score that tracks their worth as a leader in categories like Commerce, Culture, Government, Industry, Military, Religion, and Science. There are no set win conditions, anyway, so players can decide their own goals.
Ara also features a crafting system that happens on a national scale, refining the harvested resources to create goods and components that can be traded with other nations, used to improve your citizens’ lives or to give your military an edge in battle. The game includes a simultaneous turn system where players won’t have to wait and do nothing, unlike in most grand strategy games.
Ara: History Untold will launch on PC (including Steam). Like all Microsoft titles, it will be available on Game Pass from day one.
