Very interesting 4X, clearly inspired by Civilization and Anno. Amazing graphics and promising mechanics, but poor execution. The Anno part on this game is clearly poorly designed, and leans heavily into micromanagement and byzantine systems. If your civilization has one incoming source of iron, why is it forced to dump all of it into either the production of metal tools, troops, or other consumer products? The game tries to be clever by forcing the player to micromanage a rapidly growing list of amenities, but lacks the proper execution of a minimally intelligent supply and demand system. In the end, the player is not taking interesting decisions, but instead managing numbers in the game's spread sheets to get some obscure bonuses. On the Civ side of the game, nothing too innovative compared to the Civilization games. Most of the systems are at best on par with Civ, and some others (such as combat) are mediocre. I want to like this game, but right now I cannot recommend it. T...

Let me just first say, I am not trying to offend anyone. I just think this game is not worth players' time anymore. I bought this game because the game designers that helped create Sid Meier's Civilization V supposedly helped create this game. When I actually did play Ara, there were many mechanics that I thought were genuinely novel and brought new dynamics to the 4x game genre. Cities grow and new districts with really in-depth graphic detail makes it look like your cities come to life. Wonders, which are called "Triumphs," are also highly detailed and can be destroyed in war. It is stuff like this that made me wish I could like the game, but there are mechanics that I just can't get over. In ARA you can't just build something like a cathedral willy nilly, you need to craft the specific materials first. You need to create mines for the stone, you need workshops to refine the stone. You also need to mine rock to create glass, you need workshops to refine the glass, then you need cr...

Imposible playing in lower non-gaming PC configurations. They are counting many attempts of starting game as playing and they refused refunding,

The game has really become great with the updates. A automation for crafting, unique leaders and leader specific units, UI improvements. Really immersive. My go-to now after the failure of Civ7.

Once you understand how to play, its very enjoyable. Start at the lower difficulties and work your way up.

Way better than Civ VII.

I do not know why there are so many negative reviews for this game. This game is fun to play. I do have one negative issue about this game. The AI players declare war on my civilization for no reason what so ever. They will also make demands for money & if I deny their demands, then they declare war. That is not how this game should be designed. If you can get pass the constant wars on your civilization, then this game is enjoyable.

Fun game for micromanagement

Recommended - A Fresh Take on 4X with Incredible Potential The game has some truly fantastic mechanics that make it stand out. While it has a long way to go before it's excellent, I'm absolutely hooked on the strategic depth. I love thinking about supply chains and a city's "quality of life", which is based on a conjunction of many factors rather than a single "happiness" bar. This approach makes me feel like my decisions truly matter, elevating how productive and fast a city grows. What's more, the cities feel incredibly alive, especially compared to other 4X games like Old World or even Civilization. The little touches, like seeing people walking on the streets and hearing the hum of city life, are a lovely detail that adds so much to the atmosphere. Points for Improvement There are definitely areas that need work. Warfare: The team was brave to try something different here, but the warfare system just doesn't click. It feels disconnected and doesn't offer the tactical depth or sa...

The core game play got much better since the release. The performance (at least for me) did as well. I think the balancing of the production chains and AI needs most work. The resources generation is also kind of whacky. On high resource count settings I saw 4 sources of Uranium on the whole map for 6 players. Then I would personally love more events and competitions (not only to build Triumphs). Also you should be able to view recipes/buildings that you can no longer craft/build due to moving between Ages or due to being on the Max allowed building count. Lastly I'd love more building variety for different play styles, right now you are forced to be more or less balanced, there is limited way to pivot only to military / trade / science due to building limits and low amount of buildings for the play style.