4X fans and denizens of this forum have certainly followed the game, and today Ara: History Untold is finally availabe. It’s a 4X game very similar to Civilization, and while it has some features of the coming Civ7 (e.g. historical personalities as leaders with special abilities, and also an age concept), it makes many things different. It has nicely populated cites without a hex grid, production lines, and simultaneous turns. The reviews are in so far rather positive, with e.g. PCGamesN calling it “Overwhelming and enveloping, Oxide and Microsoft’s strategy game Ara: History Untold will steal hundreds of hours from you if you let it.“, although some note that it might not be something for beginners, as it can be rather complex. In general, it seems if you have played Old World, Humankind and Millennia, and you now want another fix until you get Civ7, then you should probably try it out.
The basic edition is available via Steam for 59.99, and we have set up a discussion forum for you here.