Info about ARK: Survival Ascended:

Official game description:
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, 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!
**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 off of 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, Scorched Earth, Aberration and The Center are released now, Extinction will be released on December 16**,** with the subsequent expansion worlds to be added at no additional cost on a regular basis.
The definitive survival experience returns better than ever: design your Survivor, form a tribe, and tame, train, breed & 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 & play new custom content created by players, including new maps, creatures, items, and game modes, through a dedicated mod collection 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: 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 8 players, and local split-screen for 2 players.

Release date: 25 Oct, 2023

Categories: Survival, Base Building, Monster Collecting, Open-World Exploration, Crafting, Resource Management, Cooperative Multiplayer, Competitive Multiplayer


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Overall Enjoyable Gameplay (weight 0.4): Players consistently describe the game as highly enjoyable, fun, and addictive, whether playing solo or with friends. The gameplay is often noted for being comfortable, easy to understand, and offering significant replayability, keeping players engaged for extended periods.
- Significant Improvements Over ASE (weight 0.28): Many reviewers consider the game a significant upgrade from Ark: Survival Evolved (ASE), noting it as a full remake rather than just a remaster. Key improvements include better optimization, numerous quality-of-life features, a smoother building system, and fewer bugs compared to its predecessor.
- Vast Content & Exploration (weight 0.23): The game offers an immense amount of content, including diverse maps, biomes, and ongoing updates with new DLCs. Players appreciate the vast open world, the sense of discovery during exploration, and the variety of playstyles available, from single-player to engaging multiplayer experiences.
- Unique ARK Experience (weight 0.22): Reviewers emphasize that Ark: Survival Ascended provides a unique and unparalleled gaming experience, unlike any other survival game. It evokes nostalgia for long-time fans while offering a deep, immersive, and challenging world filled with prehistoric creatures and engaging PvP/PvE content.
- Stunning Visuals & Graphics (weight 0.2): The game's graphics are frequently praised as beautiful, stunning, and visually impressive, even on lower settings. Reviewers highlight improved lighting, water effects, detailed environments, and realistic weather, contributing to a highly immersive visual experience.
- Enhanced Dino AI & Taming (weight 0.08): The game features noticeable improvements in dinosaur AI, making creatures smarter and their behaviors more lifelike. The taming system has been refined, offering more meaningful bonds, and new dinosaurs, along with updated models and animations, enhance the primeval world experience.
- Robust Mod Support (weight 0.07): The game offers robust and accessible mod support, with mods downloadable directly in-game via a dedicated menu. This feature provides significant variety, enhances replayability, and allows for extensive customization, including for console players.
- Improved Base Building (weight 0.07): The base building system is highlighted as a favorite feature, offering creative freedom and an improved, easier experience compared to the original. Players enjoy constructing intricate bases, often enhanced by various mods that introduce new building styles and functionalities.

Common complaints:
- Poor Performance & Crashes (weight 0.99): The game suffers from severe optimization issues, leading to frequent FPS drops, stuttering, and constant crashes across various hardware configurations, including high-end PCs. Updates, particularly the Unreal Engine 5.5 upgrade, have often worsened these performance problems and introduced new instabilities, resulting in lost progress due to unsaved games.
- Persistent Game Bugs (weight 0.34): Beyond performance issues, the game is plagued by numerous persistent and game-breaking bugs, many of which were present in its predecessor, Ark: Survival Evolved. These bugs significantly impact gameplay, causing frustration and leading to loss of progress or items.
- Overpriced & Aggressive Monetization (weight 0.28): Players criticize the game's high price point for what is perceived as an incomplete product, coupled with an aggressive monetization strategy. This includes expensive paid DLCs and "pay-to-win" elements that are seen as a cash grab, forcing players to spend more to keep up or access content that was previously free.
- Server Stability & Cheating (weight 0.21): Official servers are widely reported to be unstable, suffering from frequent crashes, disconnections, and severe lag spikes, making multiplayer gameplay unreliable. Compounding this, official servers are often overrun with cheaters and hackers, with little to no developer intervention, ruining the competitive and cooperative experience.
- Excessive Storage & Updates (weight 0.2): The game requires an exceptionally large amount of storage space, often exceeding 200GB. Furthermore, updates are frequently massive, sometimes requiring players to re-download the entire game or clear hundreds of gigabytes of free space, leading to frustratingly long download and installation times.
- Lack of New Content/Value (weight 0.17): Many players feel the game offers little new content or significant improvements beyond a graphical update compared to its predecessor, Ark: Survival Evolved. It is perceived as an overpriced remake that reintroduces old problems and lacks innovation, diminishing the overall enjoyment and value for returning players.
- Developer Incompetence/Neglect (weight 0.07): Players express significant frustration and a loss of respect for the developers (Wildcard/Snail Games), citing a perceived lack of competence, poor communication, and neglect in addressing critical game issues. Developers are seen as prioritizing new paid content over fixing long-standing bugs and performance problems.
- Frustrating & Unenjoyable Experience (weight 0.05): A segment of the player base describes the game as an overwhelmingly frustrating and unenjoyable experience, often using strong emotional and hyperbolic language to convey their dissatisfaction. This sentiment stems from the cumulative impact of the game's numerous technical issues and perceived poor design choices.

Gameplay feedback:
- Core Survival Gameplay Loop (weight 0.15): The game offers a complex and immersive survival experience, blending elements of crafting, building, resource gathering, and exploration in a hostile world. Players engage in a core loop of taming, breeding, and fighting dinosaurs, often involving progress loss and rebuilding, providing a unique blend of genres.
- Strong Mod Support & Unofficial Servers (weight 0.11): The game features extensive and accessible mod support, including cross-platform compatibility and an in-game mod menu, which significantly enhances replayability. Unofficial servers, often modded, are preferred by players for their custom rates and freedom, contrasting with official servers that are criticized for cheaters and restrictive policies.
- Improved Building System (weight 0.1): The game features a revamped and simplified building system with significant Quality of Life improvements, allowing for greater creative freedom and easier structure placement. New mechanics like resource reimbursement and the ability to pick up multiple structures enhance the base-building experience.
- Detailed Dinosaur Taming (weight 0.09): Taming dinosaurs is a central and time-consuming mechanic, involving specific processes like knocking out creatures, feeding them, and babysitting them for extended periods. This system allows players to acquire, ride, and breed a wide variety of creatures, which are essential for combat, resource gathering, and progression.
- Diverse Dinosaur Interactions (weight 0.08): Dinosaurs are central to the game, serving as both formidable threats that can destroy bases and allies that can be tamed, ridden, and bred for combat or utility. The game features a vast array of dinosaur types, each with unique behaviors, contributing to a dynamic and challenging prehistoric environment.
- Significant Time Commitment (weight 0.07): The game demands a substantial time investment, often hundreds or thousands of hours, due to its extensive content, grind-heavy progression, and deep gameplay loops like breeding and resource gathering. This long playtime contributes to its high replayability and addictive nature.
- PvP vs. PvE Dynamics (weight 0.06): The game offers distinct PvE and PvP experiences, with PvP being described as a brutal, grind-heavy mode where players risk losing all progress to offline raids and encounter "pay-to-win" elements. PvE, in contrast, allows for more relaxed base building and exploration, leading to strong player preferences for one mode over the other.
- Remaster, Not New Game (weight 0.06): Many players perceive the game as primarily a graphical remaster of ARK: Survival Evolved, built on Unreal Engine 5, rather than a fundamentally new title. While it includes some Quality of Life updates and minor improvements, the core gameplay loop and story remain largely identical to its predecessor.
- Multiplayer & Cross-Play (weight 0.06): The game offers various multiplayer options, including cooperative play and cross-platform functionality across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. While it supports playing with friends on private servers, local multiplayer can be hindered by a tethering system that limits player distance from the host.
- Vast Open-World Exploration (weight 0.06): The game provides an expansive sandbox world with diverse environments, encouraging open-world exploration and discovery. It offers immense freedom and customization possibilities, leading to infinite adventure and high replayability as players continuously find new things to do and places to explore.
- Performance & Technical Issues (weight 0.05): The game is plagued by significant performance problems, including low frame rates, lags, and crashes, often requiring extensive graphic setting adjustments and troubleshooting. Players also report clunky controls and a lack of in-game tutorials, forcing reliance on external information.
- Steep Learning Curve (weight 0.04): The game is complex and challenging, with a high skill curve that makes it difficult for newcomers. It does not provide extensive tutorials or hand-holding, requiring players to independently figure out its intricate rules, settings, and numerous nuances to master the gameplay.
- DLC & Content Release Issues (weight 0.04): The game's approach to DLC and content releases is mixed, with some original maps being free updates while others may require payment or are part of a "pay-to-win" scheme. There are also consistent reports of significant delays in the release of new maps and content.
- Lore & Boss Content (weight 0.03): The game includes an underlying plot, mysteries, and boss fights, contributing to its overall content. However, the lore is often scattered and not explicitly presented, and there is a lack of in-game guidance or tutorials for players to progress through the story or find boss encounters.

Performance notes:
- Severe Performance & Crashes (weight 0.28): The game frequently suffers from severe performance issues, including significant FPS drops, high resource usage (GPU/VRAM), and constant crashes across a wide range of PC configurations, even high-end systems. These issues often lead to an unplayable experience, particularly during cooperative play or server transfers.
- Gradual Performance Improvements (weight 0.12): Many players report that performance has gradually improved over time with various updates, including the Unreal Engine 5.5 update. This has led to fewer crashes and smoother gameplay for some, particularly on high-end systems.
- Poor Optimization & Trade-offs (weight 0.08): Optimization is a major concern, with many reviewers describing it as poor or non-existent. This leads to a difficult trade-off where players must choose between good graphics quality and stable frame rates, as achieving both simultaneously is challenging.
- Demanding Hardware Requirements (weight 0.06): The game demands a high-end PC for a satisfactory experience, requiring powerful components such as an RTX 4070 or higher GPU, 32GB+ of RAM, and a robust CPU. Older or mid-range systems often struggle to run the game smoothly.
- Unreal Engine 5 Visuals & Challenges (weight 0.03): The game utilizes Unreal Engine 5, which is credited for its impressive visual fidelity and immersive world. However, the engine also presents inherent challenges for optimization, leading to occasional visual glitches and performance difficulties.
- Improved Over ARK: Survival Evolved (weight 0.03): The game is generally considered a substantial improvement over its predecessor, ARK: Survival Evolved, in terms of graphics and overall optimization. It also boasts faster loading times compared to the original game.
- Breathtaking Graphics & Immersion (weight 0.03): Despite performance challenges, the game is widely praised for its stunning and immersive graphics. Reviewers highlight breathtaking landscapes, detailed textures, realistic lighting, and lifelike creatures, making it a significant visual upgrade.
- Varying Platform Performance (weight 0.03): Performance can vary significantly across different platforms and versions. Some users report better stability on Xbox or the Steam version compared to PC Game Pass, with even playable performance noted on Steam Deck.
- Graphics Settings & Console Tweaks (weight 0.03): Players can significantly improve performance and stability by adjusting specific in-game graphics settings, such as disabling motion blur, light bloom, fog, clouds, and shadows. Utilizing console commands can also provide substantial frame rate boosts.

Recommendations:
- ASE vs. ASA Debate (weight 0.34): There is a significant debate among players regarding whether to play ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA) or stick with the older ARK: Survival Evolved (ASE). Many veteran players recommend ASE for its stability and content, while some new players or those with high-end PCs find ASA an appealing graphical upgrade.
- Conditional Purchase Recommendation (weight 0.32): Many reviewers recommend purchasing the game only when it is on sale, citing its high full price for its current state. A significant number also advise waiting for substantial bug fixes and optimizations before considering a purchase.
- Severe Technical Issues (weight 0.19): The game is widely reported to be plagued by numerous bugs, frequent crashes, and poor optimization, leading to a frustrating and unstable experience. Many reviewers express a lack of trust in the developers (Wildcard/Snail Games) to effectively address these persistent issues, with mixed expectations for future improvements.
- Demanding PC Hardware (weight 0.13): The game demands a very powerful, high-end PC with significant RAM (e.g., 32GB) and a strong GPU to run acceptably, and even then, stable performance is not guaranteed. Players with mid-range or older systems are strongly advised against purchasing due to poor optimization.
- Niche Appeal, High Patience (weight 0.07): The game strongly appeals to fans of the original ARK, dinosaur enthusiasts, and those who enjoy challenging, deep survival experiences. However, it requires significant patience and tolerance for its numerous bugs and frustrations.
- Prefer Unofficial Servers (weight 0.05): Reviewers strongly advise against playing on official servers due to various issues, recommending unofficial or private servers for a more enjoyable and stable experience. These alternative servers often benefit from active admins and community-driven mods.
- PvE/Single Player Recommended (weight 0.04): Many players recommend starting or sticking with PvE or single-player modes, especially for new players, to familiarize themselves with the game. They often caution against the highly frustrating and 'broken' PvP experience.
- Overall Positive Experience (weight 0.04): Despite its widely acknowledged flaws, many players express general enjoyment and give the game high ratings. They find it a worthwhile and immersive experience, especially for dedicated fans of the survival genre.
- DLC & Monetization Concerns (weight 0.03): Reviewers express hesitation and regret regarding DLC purchases, citing concerns about pricing, value, and the overall business model. Some perceive the monetization strategy as prioritizing profits over player satisfaction.
- New Player Guidance (weight 0.02): New players are advised that the game has a steep learning curve and should be prepared to learn complex mechanics, adjust game settings, and potentially consult external resources like wikis or videos to succeed.

Other player notes:
- Buggy Early Access State (weight 0.16): The game is widely considered an unpolished early access title, plagued by numerous bugs, crashes, and performance issues. Players report significant frustration and a need for constant troubleshooting, despite the game's underlying potential.
- ASA vs. ASE Comparison (weight 0.08): Many players view Ark: Survival Ascended as a graphically updated version of Ark: Survival Evolved, not a new game. They note ASE often runs better and has more content, leading some to return to the older title due to ASA's optimization issues.
- Developer/Publisher Priorities (weight 0.05): Strong criticism exists regarding developers prioritizing new paid DLC over essential bug fixes and core game improvements. Players also express distrust in the publisher, Snail Games, citing poor business practices and a perceived disregard for player feedback.
- UE5/Lumen Technical Challenges (weight 0.03): The game's use of Unreal Engine 5, particularly Lumen, presents significant technical challenges, especially with foliage and volumetric effects. This contributes to the game's high system requirements and performance issues.
- Stunning Graphics & Immersion (weight 0.03): Despite technical issues, the game is consistently praised for its stunning visuals, including realistic environments, impressive lighting, water effects, and weather. This contributes to a highly immersive and captivating atmosphere.
- Unofficial Servers Recommended (weight 0.02): Many players advise avoiding official servers due to instability and various issues, recommending unofficial or private servers instead. These often offer better stability and quality-of-life mods, improving the overall player experience.
- Dinosaurs Core Appeal (weight 0.02): The primary reason many players continue to engage with the game, despite its flaws, is their strong interest in dinosaurs and the unique prehistoric survival setting. The game's unique blend of PvP/PvE with dinosaurs is a major draw.
- Bob's Tall Tale DLC (weight 0.02): Feedback on the "Bob's Tall Tale" DLC includes criticism of its pricing and intrusive in-game advertisements. While some players find its quality-of-life improvements decent, many express a lack of interest.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.31): The primary cause of frustration stems from severe technical issues including poor optimization, frequent game crashes, persistent bugs, and significant performance problems like low FPS and lag spikes. These issues often lead to lost progress, making the game unplayable for many. Players are also frustrated by aggressive monetization strategies, including paywalls for core game features, paid DLCs, and perceived "pay-to-win" elements that create an unfair advantage or lock essential content behind a price tag. Additionally, the presence of cheaters, exploiters (like meshing), and unstable official servers with poor performance or connectivity issues significantly detracts from the multiplayer experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.2): Players express disappointment due to the game's persistent poor optimization, numerous bugs, and overall unstable performance, which often renders the game unplayable despite high expectations for a remaster. A significant source of disappointment is the perceived aggressive monetization, including expensive DLCs and pay-to-win elements, coupled with a feeling that developers prioritize new paid content over fixing long-standing issues or fulfilling promises of performance improvements. Many players are disappointed that the game, despite being a remaster, exhibits the same or even worse bugs and performance issues as its predecessor, failing to deliver a substantial upgrade or address core problems.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.16): Players are highly satisfied with the significant graphical overhaul, breathtaking environments, and improved visual fidelity, which contribute to a more immersive and aesthetically pleasing gameplay experience. Satisfaction stems from various quality-of-life improvements, refined gameplay mechanics, and the enduring appeal of the core survival, building, and dinosaur taming loop, which remains engaging and rewarding. The ability to play with friends across different platforms and the positive aspects of the game's community also contribute to a fulfilling multiplayer experience.
- Anger (weight 0.08): Anger is primarily directed at the developers for perceived incompetence, indifference, and a consistent failure to deliver a functional, optimized game, often leading to a feeling of being "ripped off" for a broken product. Players are angered by persistent and severe technical problems, including constant crashes, game-breaking bugs, and abysmal optimization, which render the game unplayable and result in significant loss of progress and items. The aggressive monetization strategies, including pay-to-win elements, expensive DLCs, and perceived false advertising, fuel anger, as players feel exploited and that the developers prioritize profit over game quality and player experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Players are excited by the vast possibilities for exploration, the promise of new maps, creatures, and mechanics, and the continuous addition of fresh content through updates and DLCs. The stunning visual overhaul, breathtaking environments, and improved graphical fidelity contribute significantly to excitement, creating a more immersive and visually appealing world to explore. The game's inherently addictive nature, combined with thrilling survival challenges, engaging PvP experiences, and the unique joy of taming dinosaurs, generates strong excitement for continued play.
- Joy (weight 0.04): A primary source of joy comes from playing the game with friends, family, or partners, fostering shared experiences and strengthening bonds within the game's world. Players find joy in the fundamental gameplay loop of survival, exploration, building, and interacting with dinosaurs, often fulfilling childhood dreams and providing a deeply immersive experience. The game's improved graphics and inherently addictive nature contribute to sustained enjoyment, making it a favorite pastime for many.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Players derive enjoyment from the game's unique and addictive core loop, which includes exploring vast worlds, taming diverse dinosaurs, engaging in combat, and building intricate bases. Playing with friends, family, or partners significantly enhances the enjoyment, fostering shared experiences and cooperative gameplay. The graphical updates, new creatures, and improved quality-of-life features contribute to an overall positive and engaging gameplay experience, even when acknowledging existing flaws.
- Acceptance (weight 0.01): Players express acceptance by acknowledging the game's persistent bugs, performance issues, and other technical shortcomings, often viewing them as minor or inherent to the franchise, and are willing to overlook them for the overall experience. Despite its flaws, players accept the game due to its unique niche and compelling core gameplay, which provides an experience they value enough to tolerate imperfections.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players express deep love for the game and the Ark franchise, often stemming from long-term engagement, a strong connection to its unique survival experience, and the core concept of interacting with dinosaurs. The game's fundamental mechanics, including building, exploration, and the unique lore, contribute to this strong positive emotion.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Players express hope for the game's future, specifically anticipating that ongoing updates and developer efforts will address current performance issues, bugs, and optimization challenges, leading to a more stable and enjoyable experience.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the significant visual improvements, quality-of-life changes, and the integrated mod system, which enhance the overall gameplay experience. Appreciation is also directed towards the game's unique concept, its community, and perceived efforts by developers to listen to feedback and improve the game.
- Addiction (weight 0.01): Players describe the game as highly addictive due to its compelling gameplay loop, which fosters a deep interest and a strong compulsion to play, often leading to significant time investment and a continuous cycle of progression and rebuilding.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Players express concern regarding the game's high hardware requirements and demanding optimization, which may hinder accessibility for many and impact the overall performance experience for others. There is also concern about the game's long-term health, its future development, and potential aggressive monetization practices that could alienate the community or negatively impact the new player experience.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Players find amusement in the game's often chaotic, unpredictable, and challenging survival experience, including humorous early-game deaths, unexpected bugs, and the general absurdity of its mechanics. Amusement also stems from players' ability to laugh at their own struggles and the game's demanding nature, often expressed through self-deprecating humor about time commitment and in-game mishaps.
- Awe (weight 0.01): Players experience awe due to the game's stunning graphics, detailed environments, beautiful lighting, and impressive creature models, which create a highly immersive and visually captivating world.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Players express annoyance over specific recurring issues such as unexpected bugs, intrusive monetization pop-ups, arbitrary inventory despawning, and large game/update sizes, which, while not game-breaking, detract from the overall experience.
- Confusion (weight 0): Players experience confusion due to issues like purchased content not activating, unexpected changes in game mechanics or creature spawns, paradoxical performance on different settings, and general difficulty for new players to grasp the game's systems.
- Admiration (weight 0): Players express admiration for the game's original concept, its unique gameplay potential, and its stunning graphical beauty, which creates a realistic and immersive world.
- Optimism (weight 0): Players express optimism based on the belief that future updates, particularly with engine upgrades and ongoing developer efforts, will lead to significant performance improvements, bug fixes, and overall quality-of-life enhancements.
- Caution (weight 0): Players advise caution regarding the game's high hardware requirements, potential performance issues on lower-end PCs, server instability, and the significant grind and difficulty for solo players, especially for newcomers.}