Over a year ago, Microsoft announced it would publish Ara: History Untold, a turn-based grand strategy game from developer Oxide Games, via its Xbox Games Studios Publishing division. While there have been two Xbox Insider tests for the game since June 2022, the general public has not gotten much info about the game since then.
That finally changed this week with the first gameplay trailer for Ara: History Untold, and a presentation at Microsoft"s Xbox booth at Gamescom 2023. Oxide Games also posted the first video dev diary for the game on its official YouTube channel.
This first video features Oxide"s Director of Production, Satch Puri, as he discusses and shows off some of the combat features in the game. If two armies encounter each other in the game they will automatically start fighting, according to Puri. The battles will work under a sophisticated kind of "rock paper scissors" system.
The armies with the highest strength will defeat the weaker army in the game. Besides unit strength, other factors such as the formation of the armies and the type of terrain they are in can help to create bonus strength points.
Puri also says that having alliances in the game can help when battles happen. Players can also make defensive moves like putting a huge wall around their cities. The game will also include a battle camera that will offer more than just top-down views of armies battling each other.
Oxide Games plans to release new video dev diaries for Ara: History Untold, every week. That should allow gamers to get a ton of info on the game before it"s released. Currently, the game has a fairly large time frame of 2024 so we may have to wait a while before the full version is released. You can put it on your Steam wishlist right now.