Ara - Review Thread

[xphantomx]

9.5/10

Ara: History Untold - But Why Tho?

Ara: History Untold presents a challenging trek through human history that rewards complex problem solving and it looks great while doing it.

butwhytho.net

“While Ara: History Untold asks a lot of players, it rewards those willing to put in the hours with a deeply rich gameplay experience that makes them feel like every choice they made shaped their nation and helped their people achieve greatness. From large-scale design innovations to the smallest details, the game delivers an almost flawless experience.”


4.5/5

Ara: History Untold review - Usurper to the throne

Ara: History Untold may look like Civilization, but there's much more to uncover once you start playing. Read our full review for more.

www.ggrecon.com

“Ara: History Untold brings fresh ideas for a long-running genre, and more than stands on its own because of them.”


4.5/5

Ara: History Untold review - Innoveert op meerdere fronten...

Sinds kort hebben een aantal studio’s de moed gevonden om de concurrentie met Sid Meier's Civilization aan te gaan. Niet altijd met succes, maar toch...

gameliner.nl

“Ara: History Untold enhances the 4X genre with a deep crafting system and simultaneous turns, where you earn Prestige across multiple categories, like population welfare, to win. The game shines with its diverse leaders, nations, and wonders, and while random events and cultural visuals could be more varied, it remains a polished and rewarding 4X strategy experience.”


9/10

Ara: History Untold - Review

Discover the addictive world of Ara: History Untold, a grand strategy game that will captivate both newbies and experienced players.

gamersocialclub.ca

“Ara: History Untold is absolutely gorgeous, the ambient sounds and music and event dialogue is wonderful. The focus on building and developing your nation rather than combat, alongside it's great tutorial makes it feel very accessible to newcomers, while also being a lot fun for fans of the genre.”

 

[xphantomx]

Im happy for the Oxide team, it’s reviewing extemely well as a new IP in a very crowded and divisive genre of games. Especially for a genre known to launch “bare bone” and only really shine and get stronger with continued support.

Really enjoyed my time with it in the alphas, can’t wait to play the finished product

 

[KayAU]

Yeah, this is definitely a strong start, and it is well deserved. Many of the reviews I have seen reflect my own feelings based on the alphas. Oxide have statef that they intend to continue as they have been doing for years now: improving the game based on player feedback. It is already great, but it is likely going to be much better still.

 

[CivLuvah]

Another video review of the game. This one gave it a 7.5.

 

[zhugejingqi]

I think there are several main issues at the moment. Firstly, does artificial intelligence engage in numerical cheating? Because their previous development logs and Q&A were said that no. Furthermore, I believe that low difficulty artificial intelligence should be made more user-friendly for human players. Secondly, they should have some designs to optimize complex industrial chains Thirdly, try to create more differentiation before the game is fully established. For example, adding content to some unique abilities for leaders.

 

[KayAU]

I think the biggest issue for me is going to be micro management in the mid and late game, but this is something which can be mitigated, and it seems UI improvements are already on the way. In any case, it does nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. There's just so much to love here.

 

[The_J]

Another one from IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/ara-history-untold-review .

I have only skimmed through some reviews, would you consider the following details to be accurate: In general positive opinions, nice cities, but somewhat complicated and not accessible if you're not a 4X pro?

 

[xphantomx]

Everything I read is that the tutorial does a good job walking new players through the basics, which is good.

I actually think this is a good game for anyone unsure and insecure about 4x games to jump in. It’s a very appealing game world and the basic ui and general gameplay is fun and easy to get into. I feel it’s much less intimidating than say, Old World or even Humankind.

Having played some, I agree with many of the reviewers who said it took them awhile and a couple of starts for everything to “click” and understand the breadth and the strengths of the game. Yes, a lot it is getting a handle of the many underlying details and choices.

But it’s a layer that both newbies and pros uncover as they play. It’s not a bad thing to have so much going on under the hood to fool around with…the game will shine because there is much to work with and figure out as you go. The good thing about the game is that you don’t NEED to know how everything works right away and you don’t HAVE to micromanage everything. Like any good strategy game you can have fun with a basic/surface playthrough as well as spend the time as you so desire to really dig in to everything.

 

[Killer Rabbit]

Everything I read is that the tutorial does a good job walking new players through the basics, which is good.

I actually think this is a good game for anyone unsure and insecure about 4x games to jump in. It’s a very appealing game world and the basic ui and general gameplay is fun and easy to get into. I feel it’s much less intimidating than say, Old World or even Humankind.

Hmm, I'm not so sure it's easier to get into than Old World. In a lot of ways, Old World is more like a traditional Civ game—it's got workers that build improvements and roads, etc. Ara's crafting system is pretty complicated as a new player.

Then again, I bounced off Old World a few times before I got into it. Now it's one of my favorite 4Xs of all time.