ARK: Survival Evolved

As a person stranded naked, starving and freezing on the shores of a mysterious tropical island called ARK, you must hunt, craft items, grow crops, build shelters and research technologies to survive. You’ll have to use your cunning and various resources to kill or tame and breed dinosaurs and other creature that inhabit this land. Plus, you can team up with or prey on hundreds of other players online.

Ark: Survival Evolved is one of those games you enjoy with no intention of stopping. What is not to love about having an army of dinosaurs that follow you into battle or exploring the map? It’s the title everyone young and old can enjoy.

Graphics 4,5/5

Thanks to regular optimization updates, Ark: Survival Evolved looks spectacular and runs smoothly even on weaker PCs. Although some players may prefer more consistent graphics and choose the console versions on PS4 and Xbox One, the PC version has an advantage featuring various mods and easy access to new maps as soon as they come out.

When Ark runs at high settings, it’s simply gorgeous. There are small details like seashells buried in the sand, lush vegetation, and the weather effects range from blue skies to rainy nights. The game’s atmosphere sucks players right in from the start and keeps them engaged into the wee hours of the morning.

Gameplay 4,5/5

APK: Survival Evolved doesn’t have much of an over-arching story beyond the explorer notes and obelisks scattered throughout the world. You start the game waking up in a chosen location with nothing except an implant embedded in your arm. And once you’ve awoken, the fight for survival begins.

The focus of the game mainly boils down to base building, base defense and taming. There is a constant, endless grinding, either harvesting wood to expand your base or running to collect more metal to upgrade to the strongest building material. And considering the constant slew of additional creatures thrown in nearly every month, you’ll always have a reason to expand your base for “one more creature.”

The ARK’s world is dangerous and addicting. Taming has become varied, so certain creatures are easier or harder to obtain depending on their abilities. They can help you in building, gathering certain supplies, or producing certain items. Taming is divided into two categories: Active Taming and Passive Taming.

Active taming requires you to hunt down a creature and shoot with tranquilizer arrow to knock it unconscious. Then, the right food or kibble needs to be placed in the animal’s inventory to tame it. In the beginning, survivors usually have access only to berries and meat, which increases the taming time. To cut down taming time, further in the game you will need to use vegetables that have to be grown or obtain prime meat by killing creatures like brontosauruses, mammoths, and other large animals. The level above vegetables and prime meat is kibble obtained by using such ingredients like berries, eggs, fiber and certain meat.

Passive taming requires a different set of skills. It involves sneaking behind a creature and then following and feeding it once a prompt pops up. Once again you can use berries, meat, kibble and even rotten meat for taming creatures to add to your dinosaur army. Depending on the creature and the type of food you use, passive taming takes from a few minutes to a couple of hours.

As you progress further in the game, you will find it easier to survive in the world of Ark by obtaining certain creatures and learning the world’s “ecosystem” to make craft items and kibble. For example, Dodo eggs are the main ingredient for kibble for mesopepithecus and Ichthys. The dilophosaur’s eggs are the main ingredient for kibble to take the ankylosaurus and doedicurus. The ankylosaurs eggs are the main ingredient to tame the carno. And this list can go on and on.

Base building is another important thing in Ark, which has endless variations. You can come up with everything from a basic box to a massive castle with a crafting room, storage areas, dinosaur parking, and more. The bigger buildings are impressive but take dozens of hours to complete. Even a base with just the essential stuff can take from ten to fifteen hours to get things up and running. And that is not to mention the walls that need to be set up around an area to house creatures and regularly expanded when bigger creatures are obtained.

Controls 5/5

The controls are typical for the first-person shooter, with WASD buttons and a mouse for performing all the actions. They work smoothly with no lags whatsoever. So, you will enjoy uninterrupted gameplay at all times.

Replay Value 4/5

The constant grinding can be a chore, but with the ability to throw in extra mods and change gathering rates, it’s easy to cut down on this part of ARK: Survival Evolved. This game is always fun to come back to. The regular addition of new creatures and items keeps the game fresh and exciting with each adventure.

Every time you log into the game, there is always something different to either explore, tame or create.

In-game purchases

ARK: Survival Evolved costs $29,99 as a single purchase. Other than that, it doesn’t require any additional payments to play. However, there is some downloadable content you may want to purchase like ARK: Scorched Earth - Expansion Pack for $19,99.

Conclusion

ARK: Survival Evolved is a great survival game that features gorgeous environments with roaming packs of prehistoric creatures. The RPG leveling system delivers an incentive to hunt, gather, and build even after restarting thanks to a constantly malnourished Tyrannosaurus.

While some optimization issues may deter new players, the game is still worth watching as it’s developed. ARK: Survival Evolved is the perfect game for people who like to create, build, and use their savvy to survive.

• Graphics 4.5
• Gameplay 4.5
• Controls 5
• Replay Value 4

Pros

Dinosaurs
Mod Support
Constant Updates
Gorgeous environment

Cons

Lots of grinding and gathering
Optimization issues