Fjördur is one of the most popular maps in Studio Wildcard’s dinosaur adventure ARK: Survival Evolved. Until now, the map was only available as a mod version. Starting today, it’s finally here: Fjördur is launching as an official map and celebrates its release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, bringing four new creatures with it.
What is Fjördur? Fjördur is a map in ARK: Survival Evolved created by the German modder Nils Menne, also known as Nekatus. He is also responsible for the development of the former mod map Valguero, which has been officially integrated into ARK.
When is the release? The release of Fjördur is scheduled for June 12 at 19:00 CEST. At the same time, the Xbox Bethesda Showcase will start, where new details such as trailers, gameplay, and release information about ARK 2 are expected.
How big is the patch? When Fjördur releases, you will need to install a new patch. The patch sizes vary on different platforms:
- PC: approx. 20 GB
- Xbox: approx. 40 GB
- PlayStation: the size of the patch is still unknown
You can watch the official trailer for Fjördur here:
What makes Fjördur special? Fjördur combines two themes in its design that the talented world artist finds interesting – the Norse mythology of the Vikings and the movie series The Lord of the Rings. These themes are reflected throughout the design of the map.
Due to the Viking theme, Fjördur is a very cold map, with trees and bushes inspired by Scandinavian nature. The “Lord of the Rings” theme is also evident in the design of some caves found on the map.
Overall, caves are an important aspect of Fjördur, which have been frequently designed with great detail and all differ from one another.
No less impressive are the additional worlds you can travel to from Fjördur via a portal, which are also part of the map’s extent:
- Jotunheim: a life-threatening cold snow world
- Vanaheimr: a world filled with nature and green plants, as well as elements from the Aberration DLC
- Asgard: a world where you can tame mystical creatures
- Underwater World: The underwater world is technically not an additional world like Asgard and can be accessed by anyone who goes for a dive in Fjördur. However, since Nekatus has designed Fjördur’s underwater world exceptionally elaborately and with great detail, it also deserves mention.
What new creatures are there? Fjördur will feature four new creatures that are adapted to the theme of Norse mythology and the general design of the map. These are the four new animals:
- Fjordhawk
- Desmodus Draculae
- Andrewsarchus
- Fenrir
The creatures are completely new and, except for the Fenrir wolf, have not been playable on the mod version of the map yet.
What can Fjordhawk, Desmodus Draculae, Andrewsarchus & Fenrir do?
What can the Fjordhawk do? The Fjordhawk is a type of falcon with high intelligence and the ability to foresee danger.
According to Studio Wildcard’s creature dossier, it is a playful bird whose favorite game is catching. Accordingly, the description of the falcon states that a tamed Fjordhawk can bring you objects you point to or track injured prey.
Especially interesting is another ability of the Fjordhawk: If you should die in ARK, the bird will grab as many items from your inventory as it can carry. It will then track you down after your respawn and bring you back your lost goods.
What can the Desmodus Draculae do? The Desmodus Draculae is an extremely large and dangerous bat. In the creature dossier, it is stated that it can fly and hide particularly well in caves or dark, cramped spaces. That sounds like a very powerful ability, which is why the dossier also advises hunting the bat in the light and away from its caves. Flying creatures are already very strong in ARK, which is why MeinMMO author Dariusz Müller believes that ARK 2 must forgo flying creatures.
Among the abilities available for the bat when tamed are a scream meant to scare off enemies and a type of blood thinner in the monster’s saliva that drains large amounts of blood from its victim.
You can also command the Desmodus to hunt small prey for you. When you are in the dark with the Desmodus Draculae, it can also use its ability to disappear in darkness, giving you a kind of stealth mode.
If this ability doesn’t convince you of the strengths of the giant bat, you should take a look at the bloody elixir that the beast reportedly produces, which is said to attract even the most stubborn creatures.
What can the Andrewsarchus do? Andrewsarchus is an extinct genus of mammals that can become very fast in ARK when provoked. According to the dossier, the new creature can be calmed with honey.
The Andrewsarchus will have a saddle that includes a minigun and also features armor in which the rider sits and is protected from attacks.
The Andrewsarchus is also supposed to be very fast when ridden, but has a weakness in making turns at maximum speed.
What do we know about Fenrir? Fenrir is a wolf modeled after the one from Norse mythology. Currently, there is no official dossier entry or trailer for Fenrir, but we will add both as soon as they are available.
With the upcoming release of ARK 2, it seems that ARK: Survival Evolved is slowly moving towards the end of its lifespan.
While it is certain that the survival hit will continue to run after the successor’s release, it is currently unclear how many updates, new maps, or creatures ARK will receive after Fjördur.
Are you already looking for alternatives to the popular dinosaur title? Perhaps there is something for you in our list of the 25 best survival games of 2022.
