Ara History Untold gets massive 2.0 overhaul, and it's exactly what it needed

Last year, Ara: History Untold came out, providing a new entry to the historical strategy genre. In the time since, similar projects have also launched, Civilization 7 most noteworthy among them, and Ara has seemed to come and go without garnering much fanfare. With Civilization 7 a bit of a disappointment and games like Europa Universalis 5 still a little way off, Ara looks to be in a good position to capture new attention with the announcement of its massive, wide-ranging 2.0 update, Revolutions.

We were fairly impressed with Ara: History Untold at launch, reviewer Grace Benfell writing that it "makes meaningful contributions to a well-worn genre at every turn, even if those contributions are not all successes." Still, there's been a lot of room to continue working on the strategy game, which creator Oxide Games seems to agree with, given the scope of the Revolutions update.

There are a number of huge changes and additions coming to Ara with Revolutions. One of the biggest of these is the new Culture and Influence system that provides for expansion opportunities outside of armed confrontation. It allows you to generate culture, which creates influence that's then used to buy cultural traits and claim new territory. Another big change is the addition of historical forces for every civilization in the game alongside redesigned leader mechanics and a new subversive unit type called the Agitator.

Oxide Games has also been plugging away at implementing other important but less dramatic changes. Revolutions will feature improved map generation, AI, and crafting queues, for example, as well as updated visuals and performance tweaks.

Ara: History Untold's Revolutions 2.0 update is available now to preview on Steam, and its final version launches on Wednesday September 24. You can add it to your wishlist or check it out in its preview form right here.

In the meantime, you can find more like Ara to play with our picks of the best 4X games and best turn-based strategy games on PC.

You can also strike up a conversation with other fans of the genre or discuss Ara's Revolutions update by heading on over to our community Discord.