If Civilization 7 let you down, underrated 4X game Ara is getting a big overhaul

Ara History Untold was released at precisely the wrong moment. It was September 2024, just three months after the first trailer for Civilization 7. If it had arrived a year or so earlier, 4X fans who’d worn out Civ 6 might have been tempted to try something new. But with Firaxis’ sequel confirmed, a lot of people likely decided they’d just wait. Civilization 7 hasn’t quite met expectations, however, and although Stellaris, Endless Legend, and Songs of Silence put variations on the theme, it seems like we’re still waiting for a credible historical strategy game to rival the Sid Meier empire. Ara may have struggled at launch, but with a new studio in charge of post-release material, the upcoming DLC and dozens of free updates could catalyze a comeback.

Ara History Untold is more flexible and customizable than your formulaic 4X game. Rather than being locked to specific victory types, i.e. throwing all your efforts into building an army if you want a Domination victory, or surging through the tech tree so you can be the first nation in space, everything you do contributes to your ‘Prestige,’ and at the end of the match, it’s the civilization with the most Prestige that is crowned winner. So, if you want to go militaristic for a dozen or so turns, and then revert back to a more peaceful, industry-driven society, you can do that without ceding momentum towards your final win state.

You can also use resources to craft; rather than autocollecting wood, stone, and oil, and them all being thrown into a general production menu, you can choose to build specific items and amenities using what your people have discovered. It can create a lot of micromanagement, but it also lets you get more hands-on with the finer details of your strategy. And if it gets overwhelming, you can always step back and use automation options instead. Oh, and the map isn’t hex-based, either. There’s also a great feature whereby turns are all completed simultaneously, so it’s tougher to predict what your opponent is going to do next.

“There are meaningful contributions to the well-worn grand strategy genre at every turn,” contributor Grace Benfell says in our own Ara History Untold review. If you’ve never played it yourself, now is the time. While development of Ara is still led by creator Oxide Studios, production leadership for post-launch material is being assumed by Stardock Entertainment, publisher and co-developer of the beloved space strategy game Sins of the Solar Empire. The new Ara roadmap includes a number of big additions and improvements.

In May, there will be a new Earth map, performance improvements, enhancements to combat and AI, and a balance pass. June will mark an overhaul to Ara’s economy and diplomacy systems and also the arrival of new DLC Untold Scenarios, which includes extra maps, events, technologies, and amenities. In summer, there will be a major design update, another warfare overhaul, and a new influence system.

So, if you’ve put Civilization 7 on hold for now, Ara may well be worth your attention. You can get it either on Steam or via PC Game Pass.

Alternatively, try some of the best grand strategy games, or maybe go a little smaller-scale with the best RTS games on PC.

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