Civilization heated up the tempers of many players. But the most exciting competitor will be released on Steam and Game Pass at the end of September.

At gamescom 2024, Civilization VII finally presented new information, but few players are enthusiastic. Because Civ VII completely overhauls many functions and completely eliminates others. And not all players like that.

However, in a few weeks a new strategy game called Ara: History Untold will be released. And it could be a real Civ killer and a successful alternative for many disappointed players.

Global strategy with simultaneous rounds and nice graphics

Ara: History Untold is a global turn-based strategy game and is inspired by other games such as Civilization, Humankind, Old World and similar games.

The developer behind the game is Oxide Games, which became known through its first game “Ashes of the Singularity”. The engine from “Ashes of the Singularity” is also used in Ara: History Untold.

What is Ara: Untold Story? In Ara: History Untold you choose one of several nations, then build cities, collect resources and move through different eras. In doing so, you build world wonders or wage war against other nations.

That sounds a lot like Civilization, but Ara: History Untold also brings its own ideas. A few other subtle differences are:

• You don’t move across hex fields, but rather across dynamic polygons. This is primarily intended to ensure less detailed micromanagement because the areas are larger.
• The game also relies on simultaneous rounds: all players decide on all actions at the same time and then end their round. Only then are all your actions carried out simultaneously. This should make multiplayer games run faster.
• You always choose research from random cards and not from a fixed tech tree.

You can start fights and battles, but these then run automatically over several rounds without you being able to influence them. This might not be enough for some tacticians among you. But it remains to be seen in practice how well the combat system works in the end.

Another special feature is that you collect prestige throughout the game. If you don’t have enough of it, it can be over after the first age. According to the developers, this is to prevent you from continuing to play a party for hours even though you no longer have a chance.

What else stands out? The graphics and design are very detailed. While Civilization has been treading water for 8 years and serves you the same graphics as in part 6 in Civ VII, Ara: History Untold relies on many fine details: You can zoom in and watch your population at work.

Is there anywhere you can watch gameplay? Yes, you can already watch gameplay on YouTube. German YouTuber Gaius Julius Caesar recorded around 40 minutes of gameplay. Here you can also see how he manages his cities, defeats an enemy tribal village and explores the map. Much of it, such as districts and training specialists, seems very familiar:

More strategy games: Are you looking for more alternatives or are you simply looking for the next hit for your game collection? MeinMMO presents the best games in the genres of real-time strategy, turn-based strategy and 4X that you can play on the PC in 2024: The 15 best strategy games for PC 2024