Ara - Review Thread

[Tonas1997]

Since our resident patron @KayAU is enjoying a well-earned vacation, I thought about starting a review thread as... well, reviews start pouring in ahead of launch!

For starters, here's a 8/10 veredict from MKAUGaming: https://www.mkaugaming.com/all-review-list/ara-history-untold-pc-review/

 

[Takfloyd]

People have mentioned that the "MKAUGaming" review is likely AI generated. The game is still under review embargo for now.

 

[Sephi]

People have mentioned that the "MKAUGaming" review is likely AI generated. The game is still under review embargo for now.

Were those real people or bots? When people don't like a review they claim all kinds of stuff. Reviewers often times only have a couple hours to spend on a review, don't expect Einstein level analysis.

 

[CivLuvah]

People have mentioned that the "MKAUGaming" review is likely AI generated. The game is still under review embargo for now.

You might be right O-o. We were all duped.

 

[Takfloyd]

Were those real people or bots? When people don't like a review they claim all kinds of stuff. Reviewers often times only have a couple hours to spend on a review, don't expect Einstein level analysis.

They were all bots, and so am I. And so are you. Beep Beep.

 

[CivLuvah]

We have to get ready now that the embargo’s gonna be up.

 

[Sephi]

We have to get ready now that the embargo’s gonna be up.

I'll do the opposite and leave social media for a while. Do not want any spoilers .

 

[KayAU]

They were all bots, and so am I. And so are you. Beep Beep.

01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00111111

 

[UncivilizedGuy]

A bunch of gameplay vids just popped up on Discord

 

[CivLuvah]

One of the first legit video reviews I saw on my feed… and coming from a rather unexpected source.

 

[CivLuvah]

First reviews from major gaming sites are up:

PCGamesN: "Ara History Untold review - Microsoft’s grand strategy game is a hit" - 8/10
Overwhelming and enveloping, Oxide and Microsoft's strategy game Ara: History Untold will steal hundreds of hours from you if you let it.

Civilization 7's most ambitious rival brings new ideas to the grand strategy genre

Overwhelming and enveloping, Oxide and Microsoft's strategy game Ara: History Untold will steal hundreds of hours from you if you let it.

www.pcgamesn.com

PC Gamer: "Microsoft attempts to grab some territory from Sid Meier's empire." - 70
A beautifully presented and accessible game in a sometimes obscure genre, Ara: History Untold is a pretty picture book rather than a deep tome.

Ara: History Untold review

Microsoft attempts to grab some territory from Sid Meier's empire.

www.pcgamer.com

Personal note: Someone will have to link the other major publications because I have to finish this paper due on Thursday.

 

[KayAU]

I've skimmed through a handful of reviews, scores so far seem to range between 7/10 and 9/10. I have not seen any below or above that range so far. For a new property, I think that is very promising.

I mean, I already know I love the game, but I seem to be right in the middle of the target audience it is designed for. I am curious to see how it is perceived by a wider audience.

I also do think established properties like Civilization tend to get a little bit of a boost in review scores, which Ara will not benefit from. If it's getting scores around 8, it is making a good first impression.

EDIT: I've skimmed some more reviews, everything is still within that 7-9 range, I'm guessing the average falls somewhere slightly above 8.

 

[DeutschDachs]

From what I am reading, I am very excited to try this one out. It sounds like this game has a great base on which to build. I'm seeing glowing reviews of most of its systems and visuals with a common criticism of some shallow diplomacy and that religion could use some expansion.

To me those are both things that could easily be addressed with future updates to expand on those systems. Diplomacy might be able to be outright patched and religion depth is always a mechanic that seems ripe for an expansion/dlc addon.

Can't wait to try it tomorrow

 

[CivLuvah]

To me those are both things that could easily be addressed with future updates to expand on those systems. Diplomacy might be able to be outright patched and religion depth is always a mechanic that seems ripe for an expansion/dlc addon.

Having played the last technical alpha, that was certainly my experience with the religion and diplomacy system. I think what's important for ARA is to get the foundation right, and they could just add whatever systems they could add to the game.

 

[fjaoaoaoao]

From what I am reading, I am very excited to try this one out. It sounds like this game has a great base on which to build. I'm seeing glowing reviews of most of its systems and visuals with a common criticism of some shallow diplomacy and that religion could use some expansion.

To me those are both things that could easily be addressed with future updates to expand on those systems. Diplomacy might be able to be outright patched and religion depth is always a mechanic that seems ripe for an expansion/dlc addon.

Can't wait to try it tomorrow

i think i've heard of them planning to update religion

diplomacy complaints is a new one for me as someone who started paying more close attention in the past couple weeks

 

[Takfloyd]

I've skimmed through a handful of reviews, scores so far seem to range between 7/10 and 9/10. I have not seen any below or above that range so far. For a new property, I think that is very promising.

I mean, I already know I love the game, but I seem to be right in the middle of the target audience it is designed for. I am curious to see how it is perceived by a wider audience.

I also do think established properties like Civilization tend to get a little bit of a boost in review scores, which Ara will not benefit from. If it's getting scores around 8, it is making a good first impression.

EDIT: I've skimmed some more reviews, everything is still within that 7-9 range, I'm guessing the average falls somewhere slightly above 8.

There's a 9.5 review as well. The average sits at 7.9 right now, but has been going up as more reviews release.

It's a good but not great start for a strategy game, but the promising part is that there is a big patch coming soon after release with a lot of improvements according to the devs on Discord, and they have said that they are fully funded for a year of free content updates. With that in mind, the game could easily be a 9/10 before long.

 

[CivLuvah]

There's a 9.5 review as well. The average sits at 7.9 right now, but has been going up as more reviews release.

It's a good but not great start for a strategy game, but the promising part is that there is a big patch coming soon after release with a lot of improvements according to the devs on Discord, and they have said that they are fully funded for a year of free content updates. With that in mind, the game could easily be a 9/10 before long.

In addition to that, though, first impressions matter. Then again, these publications won't be the ones to give us those actual first impressions.

 

[MRM]

Here is a review from XBoxEra

and here one in German from Writing Bull

Can't wait to play it tomorrow on my own

 

[fjaoaoaoao]

the XboxEra one was a little bit weird, seems like they only played 2 or 3 games and only with a few leaders in each game, and over-compared it to Civ. But a lot of players will approach the game in that way!

 

[KayAU]

I found this review by a smaller YouTuber called Mole Undermanagement, but I think he's doing a really good job at explaining the game: