Exactly one year has passed since Oxide Games, from Ashes of the Singularity fame, launched its first 4X strategy game, Ara: History Untold. Celebrating the anniversary, the studio has now released the massive Revolutions update. It is also being touted as upgrading the game to v2.0 thanks to the number of systems it is introducing and overhauling. Check out the launch trailer detailing the new gameplay above.
Announced earlier this month, the Revolutions update"s biggest additions are the new Culture and Influence systems. Culture joins as a new quality of life category that generates the new currency, Influence. This can be spent to acquire cultural traits and territory, offering a new option other than military action.
At the same time, Agitators are coming in as a new type of unit unlocked in the Renaissance age. As their names suggest, these units will let players stir up rebellions in foreign regions and ultimately gain control of them using Influence. Per-nation historical units are now a feature too, giving every civilization unique forces to use in their campaigns.
The update also has redesigned leaders with unique mechanics, traits, and abilities for more personality-driven diplomacy, better AI systems that respond to how the player is progressing, an overhaul of the map generation, as well as less micromanagement in the production queues.
"We"re thrilled to introduce Culture as a gameplay element in Ara: History Untold," stated Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock and Oxide. "The importance of "soft power" is immense. Although military conquest is the most straightforward method for territorial expansion, we aimed to provide players with alternative strategies for asserting their influence over the world. This becomes particularly significant in the late game, when exploration and expansion have already reached their limits."
Following the preview program period, the Ara: History Untold Revolutions Update is now available for all players across Steam, Microsoft Store, and Game Pass.
Disclaimer: Neowin"s relationship to Stardock