Is ARK Survival Ascended worth it in 2024?

ARK Survival Ascended is the latest title in a long-running series by Studio Wildcard. This game offers a unique twist to the survival-craft genre by introducing a diverse range of prehistoric creatures in a sci-fi world. These creatures can be tamed by players and utilized in different facets of gameplay for various advantages. This system is intricately crafted by the developers to dovetail with all aspects of gameplay.

Newcomers to survival games might be wondering — is it worth trying ARK Survival Ascended in 2024? This article addresses such questions and whether the title encapsulates the essence of survival-craft games.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinions.

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Ark Survival Ascended in 2024: What to expect

ARK Survival Ascended currently comprises an island map with a gigantic open world teeming with wild creatures. To survive in this world, you must gather crafting materials to build a shelter and equipment while also arming yourself to defend against predators.

There are various landscapes, from underwater caves, beaches, and swamps to volcanos and frozen mountains. Each biome is filled with creatures native to that area, and you can tame them to help facilitate gathering more materials and traveling across the world with a new level of freedom.

Taming creatures is not just a one-dimensional mini-game. You can also breed them to create an army and fight against the island's bosses to obtain legendary loot. This system is unique to the title, where you can sink over hundreds of hours.

While you can play in single-player mode, diving into a multiplayer server can open up a completely new aspect of gameplay with PvP activities such as tribal warfare and raiding.

However, these features — while unique among other survival games — exist in most titles from this franchise. Therefore, even though this series is a must-play for fans of survival games, when the question boils down to whether ARK Survival Ascended is worth playing, it must be directly compared to its predecessor, ARK Survival Evolved.

Since the title is an official remake of Evolved, there should be a compelling reason to opt for this remake over the original, which offers a more comprehensive and established version.

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Ascended versus Evolved: Pros and cons

ARK Survival Ascended isn't merely a direct port of its predecessor to Unreal Engine 5 but a completely overhauled game. It introduces so many changes to its gameplay with animations, user interface, character creation, AI pathing, interactions, and more that often it feels like an entirely separate entity.

The graphical upgrade with Unreal Engine 5's Lumen and Nanite technology is a feast for the eyes and enhances immersion. ARK Survival Ascended also has a massive advantage over its predecessor in rendering far-away landscapes and structures.

However, a major downside to all these changes comes with a hit in performance. It's poorly optimized and struggles to run properly, even on mid to high-range PCs. The performance on consoles is also abysmal. Due to these reasons, many still prefer to its predecessor.

Furthermore, Evolved offers a complete experience compared to the latest title, with numerous DLC maps, over 10,000 mods, creatures, crafting items, and additional content. So, while the title is an enjoyable experience for newcomers and offers a unique entry into the survival genre, it's better to play its predecessor with years of patches and content updates.

While it's confirmed in the ARK Survival Ascended roadmap that all the maps and DLCs from Evolved will be added to this remake, it's still better to wait for those updates and patches to iron out these bugs.

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Does ARK Survival Ascended carry over progress from ARK Survival Evolved?

Unfortunately, this game doesn't carry over progress from its predecessor, which is a major caveat for those who have invested a significant amount of time in the original game.

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Is Ark Survival Ascended available on consoles?

After being delayed for months for its PS5 release, this game can be finally experienced on both Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.