ARK: Survival Evolved has been a thorn in the side of every other survival game released since 2015. Despite numerous problems, the game has won over many fans over the years.
ARK has set the standard for a lot of things when it comes to survival games, especially when it comes to long-term content, something the game has never failed to do.
But something that really surprised fans was the announcement of ARK 2 during the The Game Wards 2020and who, for some reason, never showed up again.
After many rumors, ARK: Survival Ascended has finally been announced, and it seems to be a sort of stopgap for the new game in the franchise. But in the end, it made the future a little hazy.
Check out our review of ARK: Survival Ascended, a reimagining of the original game now in the Unreal Engine 5the popular new generation engine.
First of all, we would like to thank Studio Wildcard e Snail Games for sending us a review key for the game.
Not so reimagined...
Although it is a reimagining, ARK: Survival Ascended is not as reimagined as you might think.
In ARK: Survival AscendedAfter creating your character, you wake up on a mysterious island with sunlight blurring your vision, beautiful water surrounding you and dinosaurs roaring all around you.
You are now on an island with a great destiny: to form a tribe, tame and breed the more than one hundred species of dinosaurs present in the game and, of course, survive.
So what has changed in ARK: Survival Ascended?
Well, what really changed in the game was the evolution to the Unreal Engine 5. Now there are cutting-edge graphic features such as dynamic global illumination called "Lumen" and advanced "nanite" mesh technology.
There are also new advanced physics systems, such as dynamic water, fully interactive foliage physics allowing even an enemy to be detected by the movement of the leaves.
Not to mention the new demolition system, where you can see the pieces separating realistically and interacting with grass and water.
Looking at it this way, it seems that the evolution of ARK: Survival Ascended is incredible, embracing the new generation once and for all. But, of course, everything has its cost.
ARK: Survival Ascended has added to the problems
Whoever thought that ARK: Survival Evolved was poorly optimized, you're completely wrong. Survival Ascended is even worse, asking for the recommended 32GB of RAM, along with an RTX 3080.
But if that wasn't enough, even with these settings you still can't get a good experience with the game.
Not to mention that the game has only been released for PC so far; it doesn't have all the content released in Evolved (scheduled to arrive in 2024) and has a significant number of bugs and translation problems.
Also taking the opportunity to raise a complaint from the community, the game was released at a price of R$ 121.99 (coming in at R$ 109.79 with the 10% discount. However, a few hours later it was changed to R$ 220.00 (with the discount leaving it at R$ 198.00).
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is a slap in the face for the consumer, who is basically paying for the "same game²" that serves as a stopgap for the postponement of ARK 2and still suffers from numerous problems.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended worth playing?
If you are a ARK: Survival EvolvedI say with the greatest peace of mind in the world: Stay where you are, don't buy Survival Ascended at the moment.
It's a game that, despite Evolved already heavy, Ascended is even more so due to the use of lumens and nanite from the Unreal Engine 5. Not to mention the number of new or even old problems that haven't been fixed yet.
The lack of content at the start is also a major impediment. But, not to put too fine a point on it, the game has in fact received a major visual improvement over its "predecessor".
ARK: Survival Ascended is a game that might appeal to new players. However, it shouldn't be of much use to those who are waiting for the sequel with Vin Diesel. The problems are still major highlights, even showing a "lack of affection" from the Wildcard.
ARK: Survival Ascended is available at PC. In the future it will also come to the new generation consoles with crossplay.
What did you think of our review of ARK: Survival Ascended? Comment below!
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