The German modder Nekatus is celebrated in ARK: Survival Evolved for his maps Fjördur and Valguero. Now his latest creation is finished, but the map comes without a popular feature of the survival game.
Which modder is it about?
- Nekatus is a German modder for ARK: Survival Evolved
- Nekatus is known for creating maps such as Valguero and Fjördur
- In 2019, Wildcard officially released his map Valguero in the game, followed by the official release of the map Fjördur in June 2022
- Currently, Nekatus is also experimenting a lot in Unreal Engine 5, showing how ARK could look in UE5, as ARK 2 and the remaster ASA will be using the engine.
What kind of a new map will it be? Nekatus’s latest map is called Svartalfheim. On Saturday, April 22, the German modder announced that the map has received its last major content update and is now complete. Nevertheless, he promised that Svartalfheim will continue to receive adjustments and fixes (via Twitter).
Svartalfheim takes place in a dwarf setting and features numerous caves. Additionally, there’s a new type of enemy on the map: the dwarf warriors (Dwarfen Warriors). You can also find a new dino variant, the S-Dinos, on Svartalfheim that must be downloaded with a separate mod.
- The mod map Svartalfheim can be found on Steam:
We embed the official trailer of Svartalfheim here via YouTube:
Svartalfheim removes flying
What feature does the map remove? Svartalfheim is a so-called “no-fly” map. This means that you cannot fly on the map. However, you can still use creatures like the Maewing and the Rock Drake, which can glide.
Another example of a “no-fly” map is the officially released map “Abberation,” with which the Rock Drake was added to the game.
Will the map be available on console as well? Yes, there will also be Svartalfheim on console, but not in ARK: Survival Evolved.
Nekatus revealed that he plans to upgrade the map to Unreal Engine 5 and convert it to the ARK remaster “ARK: Survival Ascended.” However, he must wait for the Devkit (via Twitter).
The remaster is scheduled to be released in August and will allow the use of mods on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It is expected that console players will be able to play Svartalfheim as well.
MeinMMO author Dariusz Müller believes that gameplay on PS5 will improve significantly due to the use of mods:
