We are now just a few days away before developer Oxide Games and publisher Microsoft (via Xbox Game Studios) finally release its PC-exclusive grand strategy game Ara: History Untold. This week, the game"s official YouTube channel has been adding a lot more content, including the two final Q&A video dev diaries before the game"s launch.
Both of the new dev diary Q&As feature host "GamerZakh‬" chatting with Matt Turnbull, Ara"s Executive Producer for Microsoft"s Xbox Game Studios, as he answers questions from the game"s community. The first video in the Q&A dev diary has Turnbull mentioning that while Microsoft has published RTS games in the past like Age of Empires, this is the company"s first turn-based grand strategy game. Turnbull stated that Microsoft was very happy to "have an awesome partner like Oxide to be able to do this with."
One question from the Ara community concerns the game"s turn limit. That fan asked, "Can the game last until someone conquers everyone, or something else happens and not have an artificial end?". Turnbull stated:
So just like the other acts in the game, Act I, Act II, Act III has a definitive end. And that definitive end is the same as the other acts. When you have a certain percentage of nations that have made it through the technology eras of that act and had made it through the future era to the technology singularity and ended to the singularity age, once that"s done and completed, that"s what really ends the game.
He added that the game"s turn limit was to give players a way to conduct shorter games or longer games. The current limit for the amount of turns in the game is 1,250, which would obviously be an extremely long game.
The second Q&A video has Turnbull answering even more Ara questions for fans. including confirming there will be cross-play multiplayer between people who buy the game on Steam, Windows Store and on PC Game Pass. He even gives an answer to what the name Ara means in the game.
Ara: History Untold is still set for release exclusively for the PC on September 24. You can pre-order the game now on Steam, with three versions (Standard, Deluxe, and Premium) available to purchase. It will also be a Day One release for Microsoft"s PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.