Ara: History Untold Reviews

Really enjoying Ara - kind of a cross between Civilization and Anno (two of my favourite series of all time), and maybe even shades of Victoria 3(. I particularly like the way the crafting, research and prestige (or victory point) system together make it feel lik eyou have many meaningful choices through a run - where both civ and anno often feel linear (like only one sequence of actions is feasible/optimal). That and the way you can zoom down on your cities and see all the detail. Yes there is a lot oif micromanagement (I don't mind it - but then I like spreadsheets as well). And the UI is still really annoying i some places with information being difficult or impossible to find. But the devs seem to be making great improvements there and I have high hopes. All in all a great take on the 4x genre.

Interesting game. It's not another civ clone. It does it's own thing. In some ways i think it's better than the civ series (and im a big fan of civ having played since civ 1) in that the mechanics i.e. economy and military have greater depth and realism. It's a civ-like game but brings elements of Anno and its own unique mechanics and flavor. If you are a fan of civ-like games or Anno series, you would probably enjoy this one.

I am a huge Civ fan with far more that thousand hours in the games. And therefore I was sceptical about ARA and skipped it in the beginning. Now, after CIV 7 is still not the game we deserve I gave Ara a chance... Oh damn... I regret that I ignored this game so long... This is everything I ever wanted for a game like this. CIV in better (personal opinion of course). I love the micro management with goods that need to be produced and assigned to buildings. I love that you can zoom in to see the people walking through the scenery. I love that battles have a visualization and that you can see them. This game is awesome and I am really sure that it will hit the 100 hours far to soon :D

I bought it after the 1.4 release and have been really enjoying it. The core systems are great (religion needs some love though IMO), and the micro-management problems that earlier reviews complained about seem to have been resolved. AI seems decent enough (I lost a couple of cities in my first games due to neglecting my army for too long, on normal difficulty). UI is a bit rough in places still (especially religion), but is really not bad IMO. Turn time is too quick lol, and it doesn't let me chill out between turns like civ 4 does - making the game feel a little more stressful than it would otherwise be - would maybe even use an option to add a second (or longer) pause before starting the next turn :) Runs well on my 3 year old Linux laptop using proton (medium graphics setting). Thanks for the great game, looking forward to future updates. It might be that this game finally stops me from going back to civ 4 :)

I wanted to like Ara: History Untold—twice. I first played this game immediately after release, and my initial impression was disappointingly negative. The game felt tedious with an overwhelming emphasis on micromanagement that quickly became exhausting. I eventually abandoned it. Months later, the much-advertised “foundation” patch landed, so I gave the game another chance. Unfortunately, my experience remains overwhelmingly negative. While micromanagement has been slightly streamlined with some automation features, the game still suffers from numerous critical issues: Performance Issues: The most glaring problem is severe performance degradation, even on high-end processors. The game stutters noticeably when selecting goods for production, and this lag compounds with each passing turn. By late-game eras, the performance becomes virtually unplayable—even on minimum graphics settings. This is unacceptable for a strategy game of this caliber. War Mechanics - Game Breaking: The war system is fundamentally flawed due to its arbitrary turn limit (typically 20-30 turns per war). Consider this: • Deploying your armies requires 4 turns minimum • Individual battles last 4-5 turns each • Movement between territories consumes additional turns • Result: Insufficient time to achieve meaningful military objectives You're often forced to end wars mid-battle or while actively besieging enemy capitals, wasting tremendous resources and strategic positioning. The mandatory 16-17 turn cooldown before declaring war on the same opponent again is infuriating. This turn-based war limitation destroys any sense of realism or strategic depth. A percentage-based victory system (similar to Crusader Kings) would have been far more logical—where reaching 98-99% war score automatically determines the victor. Verdict: Ara still feels like a prototype in desperate need of systemic re-thinking: from performance to pacing to the fundamentals of its combat economy. Until the developers address these structural issues—especially the late-game slowdown and the turn-capped warfare—I simply can’t recommend it.

I love many concepts in this game, but unfortunately the game requirements are MUCH higher than those listed on the specifications. My machine meets the requirements, but in a game which theoretically allows for over 40 nations, I cannot even load a game with 12 players. If I reduce all graphics to the lowest minimum, I can load a game with 9 players. Disappointing; but I'll play with that. But after a few hundred turns, if I save and exit is there anyway that the save game will load again without crashing? Nope. No chance at all. And before you start asking Ara; Yes I verified the game files, I even uninstalled and reinstalled the game; twice. Not recommended for anyone who does not have a high spec dedicated gaming machine.

The game is great and way more enjoyable than Civ 7. The devs are focused on the right improvements and listening to community feedback. It’s well on its way to becoming the best civ game out there.

During the 1.4 release, they had a 50% off sale. I absolutely adore many of the concepts in this game about regions and zones and the construction of items in workshops. It certainly takes inspiration from Civi's UI and concepts but it sought to be different than a clone with some enhanced 4X features. That being said, why I cannot recommend it is that the game is broken into three ages, each with three eras in them (9 total) that last about 60 turns each. If you think 60 turns is a lot, you aren't me. In later Civilization games they dumbed down the game for the short-attention span with the idea that you could finish a game quickly. I am not in the demographic they wanted to create games for. I want to truly build a massive empire, and enjoy my Musketeers before machine guns apppear

So I've been playing Ara quite a lot these last two weeks. I feel like it's a really solid game that could and should have some of its weaker aspects improved; on this, the game is being actively developed and player feedback is taken into account. What's good: - The map/living world looks absolutely gorgeous + the choice of having natural looking provinces rather than hexes makes it look all the more realistic - The economy is great, with lines of production and goods galore - The technology system makes sense and you see your civ slowly evolving as you go through time - Good variety of units and buildings. The formation and reserve system for armies is a nice mechanic, though war is a bit too reliant on having the biggest stack. - Also that is a tiny aspect that really matters to me but cities in Ara show the actual number of inhabitants rather than abstracted numbers. Seeing that my mighty capital hosts 6m people rather than 21 units of population is one of these little things that helps getting immersed in your civ-leading. More of those! What could be improved: - Diplomacy and religion are both there, but they could be much more engaging. Multilateral diplomacy is sadly absent - Trade is nowhere near as developed as economy. With that many goods to be traded, that's a real pity! - There should be an easier way to compare your cities and to see their production, income, etc at a glance - Leading to this, this game screams for more stats and graphs. There is already a stats and standing screen, but it could definitely be expanded with more entries Also larger maps would be great! I've started playing on the 1.4 preview and the numbers of regions have been expanded (which is great) but as someone who loves playing on humongous maps with a lot of opponents, more size and generation options would be very welcome.

I'm giving up on this game, it's too aggravating. Having a cow farm on a 4 fertility region (the highest you can normally find) PLUS a plow PLUS a well PLUS an "expert" gets you 0.9 "cows" and naturally you need one for any industry like a butcher or tanner, so it's effectively useless. All of that while at the same time playing as an "agrarian" which is supposedly meant to boost farming output. I'm sick and tired of the nickel-and-dimeing crap. The new 1.4 upgrade makes butchers give a boost to livestock farms, but why is it so hard to have an early economy in the first place?? You shouldn't have to throw five ingredients into the pot just so you can eke out one product.