Ara: History Untold is a historical grand strategy game about guiding a nation through changing eras and shaping the legacy it leaves behind. Its world is presented at multiple scales: players can survey broad landscapes and zoom in on citizens whose lives respond to conditions such as war, peace, health and sickness. Rather than follow preset routes to victory, players choose how their nation develops and what priorities define it.
The game’s national crafting economy connects resource gathering and public life with military preparation. Players can direct production toward amenities that benefit cities and citizens or equipment for their armies, while improvements range from libraries and public parks to factories and fortifications. A non-linear technology tree asks leaders to choose where to focus invention, with decisions about the pace of scientific progress carrying a stated risk to the present. Nations also expand through territory claims, conquest, religion or influence, and leaders bring distinct traits, abilities and AI personalities.
Ara resolves every nation’s actions simultaneously each turn, making anticipation of rivals central to its twist on turn-based strategy. Combat spans land, sea and air, with maneuvers resolving at once in the living world. Alongside single-player, the game offers online PvP and cloud-backed synchronous or asynchronous multiplayer, with options for tailoring play with friends; an online Microsoft Account is required.
