ARK: Survival Ascended now available in Early Access for PC, coming to PS5 and Xbox Series

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The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions were originally planned to launch alongside the PC version, but were delayed to November after the development team “identified some critical issues in the multiplayer version of the game that would have had major implications for the console versions of the game.”

The Early Access version of ARK: Survival Ascended includes “The Island”—the game’s first official map—as well as official mod support. It is expected to remain in Early Access through the end of 2024, with all of ARK: Survival Evolved‘s expansion worlds and more to be released as updates throughout the Early Access period.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Respawn into a new dinosaur survival experience beyond your wildest dreams… as ARK is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation of videogame technology with Unreal Engine 5! You awake on a mysterious island, your senses overwhelmed by the blinding sunlight and brilliant colors bouncing off every surface around you, the azure waters of a verdant Island lapping at your bare feet. A deep roar echoes from the misty jungle, jolting you into Action [1,481 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/action”>action, and you stand up—not afraid, but intrigued. Are you ready to form a tribe, tame and breed hundreds of species of dinosaurs and other primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain? Your new world awaits… step through the looking-glass and join it!

Key Features

ARK: Survival Ascended has completely recreated and redesigned the artwork and worlds of ARK to take advantage of the latest in videogame technology, Unreal Engine 5, using high-end graphics features such as fully dynamic Global Illumination (“Lumen”), so that light bounces realistically of off surfaces and provides realistic reflections, and advanced mesh streaming (“Nanite”) of hundreds of millions of triangles for extreme detail.

Advanced new physics systems such as dynamic water so that every creature creates waves, ripples, splashes, and bubbles as they move through fluids, and fully interactive physical foliage where every blade of grass, bush, and tree reacts to characters, explosions, projectiles, and physics objects. Knock down a tree, and see it crash into other trees and disturb all the foliage on its way down to smacking into the grass below! Detect an enemy moving sneakily through the grass as it shifts and sways in response to their presence. Demolish a building and watch the pieces break apart realistically, interacting with the grass and water as they fall.

ARK: Survival Ascended includes access to all of ARK‘s worlds, including Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, ARK Genesis Part 1, ARK Genesis Part 2, and more. The Island is released now, with the subsequent expansion worlds to be added at no additional cost on a regular basis.

The Definitive Survival Experience [209 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/experience”>Experience Returns Better Than Ever – Design your Survivor, form a tribe, and tame, train, breed, and ride dinosaurs within a living ecosystem. Watch your food, water, temperature, and weather patterns. Slowly expand outwards as you harvest, build structures, farm crops, customize your visual designs, and proceed to explore to uncover the true nature of The Island and the worlds beyond.

Thorough Quality of Life Revamps in Every Area – redesigned User Interfaces, dynamic navigation for intelligent creature pathfinding, Wild Babies, Photo Mode, new Camera systems, new Map system, Tracking System, new Structures and Items, new Creatures, and much more.

Cross-Platform Modding – Download and play new custom content created by players, including new maps, creatures, items, and game modes, through a dedicated new Mod-bowser directly within the game! Enjoy an endless stream of new ARK content as the creativity and talent of the community is fully unleashed for the first time ever across gaming platforms!

Cross-Platform Multiplayer [241 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/multiplayer”>Multiplayer – Form your online tribe across different gaming platforms as you work together to survive and thrive on the ARK! Supports public online multiplayer for up to 70 players, private-session multiplayer for up to eight players, and local split-screen for two players.

Watch the launch trailer below.

Launch Trailer