On reaching the source, the crew is told that, due to relativistic effects, Earth has by now been taken over by the religious Cantharan Order, and the signal was a ruse from the friendly Ishiman, who wished to maintain humanity as a free race; the Ishiman planned to find a new world for the crew of the Apollo.

Although the advanced but peaceful Ishiman are unwilling to enter into direct war with the Cantharans, the Apollo's crew is able to persuade them to supply a limited amount of their technology in an attempt to free Earth.

Ares offers combat situations and strategic planning combined by allowing the player to directly control a single spaceship, at the same time as building and commanding others.

There are numerous smaller species which come up throughout the solo play levels, such as the Obish, the Elejeetians, and the Bazidanese.

[5] This revision of the game added a level editor named "Hera", which allowed Ares levels to be edited and plugins to be made, similar to the plugins available for Ambrosia software's hit game Escape Velocity.

The availability of the source code and assets resulted in continued development by the game's community.