More competition for Civilization.
Xbox had a huge booth at Gamescom, and the upcoming strategy game Ara: History Untold was on display there. Unfortunately, there was no hands-on demo, but one of the developers played it live in front of attendees. I was lucky enough to get to it right at the end of the day, which extended the usual 30 minutes to about 45 minutes, so I got to see a pretty solid portion of what the game had to offer.
The studio behind the title is Oxide Games, which is responsible for the real-time strategy game Ashes of the Singularity. However, it involves many Firaxis veterans who worked on Civilization V, so they decided that the next project would be a game in the same vein. At first glance, it is clear that the core of Civilization is the same: a randomly generated map with tiles, resource gathering, building, research, and many other aspects. However, it is not that Ara simply copies them, because there is a lot that is new.
Once you have chosen one of the nations and created a map, you are taken straight into the game, which (unlike Civilization) starts with an existing city. Of course, your task will be to expand and build different buildings or districts. There are many resources on the map that can help if you get to them first. At the same time, you may encounter unknown raw materials, the nature of which you have yet to discover with the help of researchers. Only you have information about this, with which you can use various tactics.
By the way, raw materials are not only used for collecting, they can be used to make some items, such as weapons. You do not have to create an army and constantly maintain it. If you have enough weapons, you can build an army only when it is necessary. This saves a lot of money and can confuse the enemy to some extent. Unfortunately, we did not know about the battles themselves, but they will probably be described in sufficient detail, because for each squad you can create your own formation of different types of soldiers.
Research is a bit different here. Unlike a classic tech tree, Ara has a deck of cards. When you finish researching a technology, several others from that era are thrown out of the deck, and you only have one to choose from. Once you reach the end, you can move on to the next era or return to the technologies that remained undiscovered. Once you move on, you cannot return to them. While I really like tech trees, I find this mechanic very interesting. Research can also be influenced by external factors. During your research, you may come across various neutral cities that will give you quests to win their favor (and thus potentially gain control of the city). One of these may be to research a certain technology.
Gradually, of course, you will also encounter full-fledged opponents controlled by artificial intelligence (although multiplayer will also be available). It is up to you to decide how you approach them: you can trade and befriend them, or fight them. Interestingly, the personality of your nation’s leader also plays a role here. If they share a quality with someone you just met, your relationship will automatically move to a higher level.
Another feature worth mentioning is the moves themselves. While in most similar strategies each player has their own turn, here you only plan what will happen during it, and all players’ actions are carried out simultaneously. However, it is difficult to say how much this will change the whole experience, because during the demo we were not quite in a situation where this could play a role.
As for the gameplay, I left the presentation delighted: the game offers really complex mechanics and looks fun. Only the graphics and user interface, in my opinion, are not of the quality I imagined. Ara looks, at least in my opinion, a little inaccessible and unnecessarily complex, although it is relatively easy to understand. Personally, I am still looking forward to it and can’t wait to see the full version next year.
Source :Indian TV
