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Throughout the game's decade-long span, some of the best Ark Survival Evolved maps have come from the community. Most of the non-canon maps were once custom mods, later subsumed into an official expansion. Ark's maps come with new biomes, visually distinct flair, and sometimes their own unique game mechanics.
This article will count down what are arguably the 5 best Ark Survival Ascended maps released as part of an official expansion. If you are familiar with these expansions, you can also take a look at the best map mods in Ark Survival Evolved for some fresh content.
5 best official ARK Survival Evolved maps and the unique features they have to offer, ranked
5) Aberration
Released on 12 December 2017, Aberration is a fan-favorite ARK Survival Evolved map, and introduces an apocalyptic environment.
Aberration is likely the best Ark Survival Evolved map for players who like slow exploration. It does not allow flying tames. Due to leakage in the internal atmosphere, survivors have to face harsh underworld landscapes with intense radiation, new biomes, new resources, and a bunch of new creatures.
New environmental features include earthquakes, extreme temperatures on the surface, and seasons that change the day-night duration. Aberration is also famous for its breathtaking background scores made by Gareth Coker.
Many common dinos like Therizino and Rex are missing from this map. However, Aberration has introduced lots of new ones like Alpha Basilisk, Alpha Karkinos, Alpha Surface Reaper King, and Rockwell, to keep up the balance.
4) Ragnarok
Ragnarok is a popular and free ARK Survival Evolved DLC map. Having been released way back on June 12, 2017, it was the second DLC map of the game and is 2.5 times the size of The Island.
New creatures include Ice Wyvern, Male Iceworm, Dire Polar Bear, Spirit Direwolf. The beaver dams in Ragnarok are much bigger and more realistic. The active volcano on the map sometimes erupts, creating lava flow and causing meteors to fall, and several ruins and viking boats can be spotted as well.
What makes Ragnarok one of the best Ark Survival Evolved maps is its easter eggs, including a Shrek's hut and Jat's face scattered around the map. There are hot springs with stone benches where survivors can sit to get the 'rested' buff.
3) Lost Island
The Lost Island was first launched as a mod map, which later got officially released on December 14, 2021. It was the first ARK Survival Evolved DLC to contain three new creatures chosen by the community: the spike-throwing Amargasaurus, poop-throwing baboon Dinopithecus, and flyer-backpack Sinomacrops. The map’s boss, Dinopithecus King, is a terrifying creature.
This map is a mixture of many previous maps, including The Genesis, The Island, and Scorched Earth. The Lost Island consists of different biomes like the volcanic biome, desert biome, icy mountains, tropical islands, rivers, Redwood forrest. It also has a number of caves, castles, and a ruined temple, all of which are great for building bases.
2) Fjordur
Fjordur is the latest addition to the ARK Survival Evolved DLC maps. This free-to-play map is the latest addition to the list of official ARK maps. This non-canonical DLC expansion was just released on June 12, 2022. Again, this map contains four new creatures, chosen by the ARK community: Andrewsarchus, Fjordhawk, Desmodus, and Fenrir.
The environment and biomes of ARK Fjordur seem like straight out of Nord Myths. The mod contains three protals leading to three different realms. The map is 3.5 times larger than The Island, and has 200 runes scattered around the three realms. Various parts of Fjordur map are inspired by The Lord of the Rings, including Moria/Kazhadum and Helm's Deep.
1) The Island
The Island is hands-down the best map in ARK Survival Evolved. It was the first map that came with the ARK Survival Evolved base game. There are five large mountains in the north, and plain land in the south. And like Lost Island, there are three Obelisks that form a triangle on the map.
There are only two types of weather on The Island: rain, and fog. There are a total of 12 spawn locations on the map and three spawn zones in each direction, with survivors required to collect artifacts and beacons. This multi-biome map is the only map that is available in ARK Mobile.
Some of these best Ark Survival Evolved maps are soon going to be ported over to a new engine with Ark Survival Ascended. Here's a comprehensive Ark Survival Ascended DLC roadmap where you can find out more.
Check out our other guides on this game:
5 Key differences between Ark Survival Evolved and Ark Survival Ascended || How to save in Ark Survival Evolved || How to get Mjolnir || How to tame a Horse
