The quest to build your nation from scratch and rise to the forefront of global powers is a gaming concept that has been around for decades. The pioneer and long-time leader was the famous Civilization series. And while it had many competitors at the time, Oxide Games’ Ara: History Untold feels like a game that is dangerously close to its heels. And in such a style that it tries to be completely different in several significant parts.
I’ll tell you right away, the answer to the question which game is better, you won’t get itThe reality is that there really is no such answer. While Ara clearly takes its roots and much of its game design from Civilization, it does a number of things differently, making it a slightly different experience over time than it might initially appear.
One of these changes can be seen already at the first start. Many different settings of difficulty, environment and alien nations are the prerogative of both games, but each in its own way. after all, it’s a little different in some waysAra: History Untold, as the name suggests, tries to focus on names you don’t usually see in Civilization, such as when choosing leaders. Here, England isn’t led by Queen Victoria, but by Elizabeth I. Greece is led by the poetess Sappho, and Germany is led by, for example, Hildegard of Bingen. Together, then, the several dozen leaders are made up of very clever and lesser-known names that can create some pretty solid combinations of nations and playstyles. Thanks to the aforementioned Hildegard, you can lead Germany as religious pacifists and Italy as educational matadors.
The final choice of your leader is the map on which the battle for dominance will take place. Of course, several pre-made maps have a fairly detailed generation option. You can choose not only the style, but also the size and more detailed parameters, such as axis tilt to determine biomes, overall temperature, humidity and sea levelOf course, all of this determines the potential problems or advantages associated with your location. Dry environments are not suitable for growing flowers or livestock farms. Flooded Earth, on the other hand, will force you to explore seafaring as soon as possible.
Research is one of the other key mechanics that Ara: History Untold tries to change from its biggest competitor. As in Civilization, you’ll research new technologies as you go, unlocking buildings, abilities, and even mechanics. However, the development tree itself is non-linear. To advance to the next historical era, you need to research its latest technology, which is unlocked after researching the previous ones. There is no need to focus on them all, so it is up to you to decide whether you prefer to advance to a more modern era earlier or focus on researching absolutely everything, even if it may not fully suit your play style. Unlocking more modern technologies does not require having older ones in a linear tech tree, like in Civilization. Instead, you have the opportunity to think through in detail each game which technologies should be ignored entirely. Either because they don’t suit you, or because a number of technologies allow you to re-unlock various buildings and abilities from previous eras, trying to automatically research everything may not be the best move.
I really enjoyed playing this. Especially with the ability to randomize the distribution of these techs. It made every match feel special, where I couldn’t rely on one specific tactic or build path, but really had to pay attention to what I needed and what I didn’t.
Source :Indian TV
