A short while ago, I was able to go hands-on with another upcoming Xbox-published Windows PC, which in a sense is a bit of an outlier. ARA: History Untold is a 4X strategy game built by Oxide, known for Ashes of the Singularity published under Stardock. Oxide Games shares a lot of its DNA with the Civilization franchise, as many staffers are Firaxis alumni. Microsoft is known for real-time strategy franchises, across Halo Wars and Age of Empires, but this is the publisher's first foray into turn-based 4X strategy, which rewards players for chess-like stratagems over longer periods.
To that end, it was hard to overlook aspects of familiarity between Civilization and newcomer ARA. However, some incredibly exciting dissimilarities should really solidify ARA's place as a genuine contender, maybe even successor, to the format many of Oxide's developers had a hand in pioneering. From Civilization to Stellaris, 4X grand strategy titles make up some of the best PC games in history, so ARA: History Untold has quite a legacy to live up to.
ARA: History Untold is launching on PC initially in 2024, and even in the relatively early build I played, I found myself immersed in that warm, addictive "one more turn" loop I lost hundreds of hours to in Civilization. ARA differentiates itself in some powerful, key ways, however, and we caught up with the team at Oxide to find out more.
What separates Ara: History Untold from Civilization?
While the shared DNA with the Civilization franchise is obvious, the team at Oxide Games is taking steps to differentiate Ara: History Untold from its prior work. That comes with challenges, with lead designer Michelle Menard saying the simultaneous turn system in the game is "extremely challenging" to get right, adding that it's "a very, very key departure, just the way it feels the speed at which it plays."
"The fact that you have to constantly reevaluate and like, pay attention to each turn, because things might not go the way you thought," she says. "You don't have access to that prior turn knowledge of being able to watch Player A make his turn before you and then 'Oh, I can just do whatever I want, because he had to go before me.'"
Dorian Newcomb, art director on Ara: History Untold, points to how the studio is trying to build a game with a bigger focus on its map and economy, instead of primarily being a tactical battle experience.
"We were focused on what we wanted to do, rather than having to fit into a series," he adds. "From a game perspective, I like to play new things. I like to see new ideas, I like to visit new worlds. I think that's, when we partnered with Microsoft, that's what we saw a lot in them as well, like they wanted to bring new experiences to gamers."
Dorian Newcomb, Oxide Games
He adds that while the team had "shared experience" working on Civilization games in the past, there are still challenges with building a new game in that genre, saying "when you have an idea that you like, you don't want to be defined by what you aren't."
"We were focused on what we wanted to do, rather than having to fit into a series," he adds. "From a game perspective, I like to play new things. I like to see new ideas, I like to visit new worlds. When we partnered with Microsoft, that's what we saw a lot in them as well, like they wanted to bring new experiences to gamers." Newcomb says that launching a strategy game on PC Game Pass opens up opportunities to expose the genre to players who might've never tried a strategy game before.
Making grand strategy accessible
Exposing a genre to a new audience and making it more accessible takes a lot of work, but according to Menard, that's something at the forefront of this game's design, who says one of the "core tenets" of Ara: History Untold's development was making it for people who might otherwise find grand strategy games intimidating.
"Everything we've been doing in tech, and art, and design, and UI especially, how do we make sure all those players who are approaching this from a new standpoint, can they play? Can they do something that is meaningful? Can they reach a goal? Can they feel like they accomplish something, even on their very first playthrough?"
"You can have a great game. But if people don't see it early and can't make choices and get excited, they'll fall off and they'll stop playing," adds Newcomb. "There's always the easier game to play. There's always the distraction over here. But we really want to commit to making sure that when players play for the first time they get it. They enjoy it and we give them the ability to own the choices they're making and understand what they're doing."
Sticking with strategy or sharing in spectacle
Even with a bigger focus on empire management and balancing resources, players will still have to manage armies and battles in Ara: History Untold. Oxide Games has a system that allows players to watch that spectacle unfold on the ground or take a more aloof approach, simply watching the numbers and results.
"When I take my turn, and a battle occurs, I can then see a preview of that battle. Or I can click on that and see actually what happened," explains Newcomb. "So if I had a stack of three or four units made up of different formations, and I'm fighting another stack, I'll see all them fighting in the battlefield, we'll strip away some of the buildings, we'll zoom in a lot closer, and you'll see, like, hundreds of little folks fighting."
Newcomb reiterates that this feature is entirely optional, and the game can be played without ever using it, as the team is well aware many strategy players just want to get through battles as quickly as possible, especially the longer a game goes on.
Menard notes that player choice is the general theme of the game, and while players always start the game picking a character, they're encouraged to experiment on subsequent playthroughs.
"You build your nation by building a city, building it up, or increasing your land by either expanding out that existing one or creating new cities," she explains. "So you have a tall versus wide choice there to make as well. And then you're basically trying to decide how you want to earn prestige and basically challenge those neighbors around you and beat them."
Cutting edge tech that scales across hardware
Ara: History Untold is a good-looking game, and while the team isn't ready to share recommended specs that players should have, it's clear that a fair amount of effort is going into making it graphically beautiful while also ensuring it runs well.
Dan Baker, chief graphics architect at Oxide Games, notes that even in the team's early days, Oxide Games was working with Microsoft in order to take advantage of DirectX12 for Ashes of the Singularity. This early work ended up being the "origin story" for Ara: History Untold, as the team began talking to Xbox Game Studios Publishing. Ara: History Untold builds on that experience, taking advantage of DirectX12's feature set.
"It's really disappointing to see a lot of games and their technology not being able to use what a PC can do," Baker says. "So in terms of advantages, we spent a lot of time actually making sure that we're going to be able to use the PCs that people have, in a really efficient way."
"I can safely say that it wouldn't be possible to make this game without the next-gen stuff," he adds.
Another huge part of the engine work goes back to simultaneous turns, which means that players shouldn't be sitting around waiting for the AI to finish moving.
"It always bothered us when we were on Civ that at the end of [Civilization 5] the turns would start taking a minute," Baker says. "The way the engine was built, there's no way that we could really use the threads. And because they were sequential, it wasn't like the AI can be doing its turn while you're playing. Right? So it just would add up. But with simultaneous turns [in Ara] you're not sitting there waiting for minutes. I mean, it's so much faster to play a game just because of that."
What about Xbox consoles and post-launch support?
Right now, the team at Oxide Games is focused on the upcoming launch of Ara: History Untold on Windows PC. While there's no specifics that can be confirmed regarding a DLC or expansions, it looks like the team is in it for the long haul to support the game.
"I know, as they should be, these folks are focused on getting to a great launch," says Brian Stone, product owner at Xbox Game Studios Publishing. "But I can confirm that we have a long partnership with Oxide that extends well beyond launch and a commitment to support the game well past launch."
With Gears Tactics, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and most recently Age of Empires 4, Microsoft has a well-established history of building games in specific genres for PC first, before introducing a console port later on. The team again holds off on confirming anything specific, but an Xbox Series X|S port doesn't seem impossible for Ara: History Untold.
"We're focused on making a great PC game. Obviously, it's in my mind that our can be great on other platforms as well," Stone says. "When we get to that, we will do the work to make sure that wherever else it lands, that Oxide's given the time to make sure that [with] the UI and any other adjustments that we want to make, we make sure that it's a great experience on other endpoints."
A huge thanks to Oxide for catching up with us
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Though it was hard to get a true grip on the full scope of ARA: History Untold's complexity from my brief time with it this past summer, I do know that I found it difficult to put down. The game's visuals and stunning tilt-shift effect make the simulation aspects of the game more immersive than what the genre is often known for. Seeing individual units in large armies battle it out is a welcome cinematic shift for the genre, whose heavy hitters traditionally rely on abstract representations for units instead.
ARA: History Untold is shaping up incredibly nicely. While the game is launching first on PC, it will doubtless eventually join the list of upcoming Xbox games as well. Civilization and other turn-based games work incredibly well with a controller, and I don't see why ARA: History Untold would be any different. Whether you're a long-time fan of PC strategy games or a curious newcomer, ARA: History Untold is one to watch in 2024 and beyond.
