What you need to know
- Ara: History Untold is a 4X historical grand strategy game from Oxide Games and Xbox Game Studios.
- While an excellent entry to the strategy genre at release, I did voice a myriad of complaints in my review.
- Ara: History Untold's first major update, the Invisible Hand Update, is nearly here and adds a ton of new features and quality-of-life improvements.
- I went hands-on with the update early, and Oxide Games has directly addressed or improved upon many of my criticisms.
One of the more interesting titles Xbox has released recently actually isn't available on Xbox consoles (yet). Ara: History Untold is a brand new 4X historical grand strategy franchise that competes directly with the legendary Civilization series, and it immediately established itself as an interesting, accessible entry in the genre on Windows PC.
I did voice a variety of criticisms in my Ara: History Untold review, but I felt confident that many would eventually be smoothed over with post-launch updates. Oxide Games was apparently eager to prove me right, as Ara: History Untold's first major update is almost here and I've gone hands-on — spoiler, the Invisible Hand update brings huge feature and quality-of-life improvements, and sets the stage for bigger additions in the future.
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Welcome improvements to an already-great game
Ara: History Untold came out of the gate strong, but Oxide Games seems committed to improving it well beyond its launch state with post-launch support, including free content updates, quality-of-life improvements, and DLC. Version 1.1 of the game falls under the "Invisible Hand" update moniker, and it carries with it a healthy number of additions and changes, many of which directly relating to complaints I had when reviewing the game.
The absolute headliner for this update is the new National Economy screen. I criticized Ara: History Untold for forcing players to micromanage the crafting of all supplies and amenities, which quickly became tedious as your nation expanded. With this update, players will be able to access a new menu that lists all crafting improvements and lets players easily assign tasks and build queues for everything. Even better, players can now create basic policies that will automatically ensure your improvements keep creating specific supplies as needed.
The policies are a little on the limited side, but even this simple implementation is miles better than hunting down one of dozens of crafting improvements to move queues around or add more of a supply that you need for basically everything. Oxide Games also added some new amenities to Ara: History Untold to go alongside this update, giving players even more flexibility when planning their strategy.
Oxide Games has also improved battles and unit management, another weak point in Ara: History Untold. For one, the 3D Battle Viewer now offers more detailed information on army composition and how units interact with each other, although this feature does seem a little unpolished at the moment. Oxide says this feature is in continual development and will improve as the studio also enhances combat in general with better naval battles, greater nuance to how terrain affects various units, and more.
You can finally upgrade units through the ages, too, so you're not forced to disband valuable and experienced armies simply because your nation's technology has advanced.
Finally, Ara: History Untold is getting more improvements to its tutorial and onboarding features. I praised the game for its detailed and easily accessible tooltips, but also admitted that there was room for improvement to make finding specific information less frustrating. Now, all players will have access to a "Sovereign Advisor" in the Advisor tab that will provide contextual tips to help players move forward, and Oxide Games is working on integrating this advisor into more parts of the game and improving its helpfulness even further, too.
I played through a few dozen turns with the new update to test these new features, and Ara: History Untold really is moving in the right direction. All of the above changes are ones I sought when reviewing the game, and the new National Economy screen is especially great to have. Of course, the Invisible Hand update includes more than that.
In addition to the features that interested me most, Oxide is also finally implementing Phase 1 of its four-phase modding plan for Ara: History Untold. With this update, players can now mod files and use them in their games. Next, Oxide will add in-game mod management, then mod player sharing, and finally seamless in-game mod integration to make everything more accessible to casual players. Modding will help Ara: History Untold enjoy a very healthy and long life, so it's great to see the first features arrive so quickly.
Ara: History Untold 1.1 also adds a new Leader to the roster. John A. Macdonald is an important figure in Canada's history, and his unique attributes boost government and military production, encourage national defense rather than expansion, and boost early development with additional housing, furs, and lumber. I personally tend to prefer leaders that focus on culture, religion, or science, but John A. Macdonald seems well-balanced for a variety of gameplay approaches.
Finally, Oxide Games is addressing community feedback by adding a new Earth map, which — to no surprise — mirrors our own continents while also balancing gameplay needs.
Honestly, I already loved Ara: History Untold, and now it's considerably better with a single post-launch update. Oxide Games has already teased diplomatic improvements (another of my pain points), as well as supply and trade routes, an in-game map editor, and more. If you've been on the fence about Ara: History Untold or have been looking for a reason to jump back in, the Invisible Hand update officially releases on Nov. 14, 2024 for Windows PC via Steam, the Microsoft Store, and PC Game Pass.
