ARK: Survival Ascended was released in October, the remake of the popular dino adventure, but the game came with issues.
What kind of remake is this?
- Studio Wildcard, the developers of “ARK: Survival Evolved”, released a new game called “ARK: Survival Ascended” on Steam on October 25, 2023.
- The console release is set for November, where it will only be available for next-gen, i.e. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
- ARK: Survival Ascended is a revised version of the base game ARK: Survival Evolved, which is supposed to run on Unreal Engine 5 with nicer graphics and a cleaned-up code. There should also be cross-platform modding so that console players can finally enjoy mods.
Controversy over the shutdown of the official servers
What is the reason behind the server shutdown? When Studio Wildcard first introduced ARK: Survival Ascended on March 31, 2023, the developers also announced the shutdown of the official servers of ARK: Survival Evolved – and this was not well received by the players, as they feared losing their progress. The official shutdown of the servers took place on September 30, 2023.
After Wildcard received harsh criticism for the shutdown plans, the studio explained the reasons behind the decision. In a statement on April 7, it was stated that the official servers of ARK: Survival Evolved were based on “outdated technology” and consumed “considerable development resources and time for operation and maintenance” (via survivetheark).
To counter the loss of progress, the developers made a snapshot of the save data on the day of the shutdown, which was subsequently provided to the players. With these save files, they were able to continue playing on private servers or in solo lobbies.
Nevertheless, many players of the original game are not fans of ARK: Survival Ascended, as they have to repurchase all the content they already owned in ARK: Survival Evolved – especially if they want to play on official and not private multiplayer servers.
ARK: Survival Ascended receives a lot of criticism for poor performance
What do the first players say? In addition to the enhanced graphics, ARK: Survival Ascended was supposed to bring improved performance – but it is precisely here that the remake disappoints the first players.
On Steam, many users criticize that a high-end PC is needed for the game to run well. While it looks very nice – this is frequently praised – the performance is very poor in return.
- “ARK has never looked so good! It feels like a completely new game […]. As for the performance, I can only confirm that you need good hardware. […] The more happens in the game world, the more the FPS suffers from it (via Steam).”
- “I love ARK… but this? […] The performance is just terrible. Save your money! (via Steam).”
- “The game is beautiful, but it runs terribly (via Steam).”
- “It’s an expensive graphics upgrade with a few QoL improvements. Anyone who loves ARK will love it even more thanks to UE5. Since I had fun with ARK: Survival Evolved, I gladly donate the €40 to Wildcard (via Steam).”
- “The required performance is too much for the average user (via Steam).”
If you are currently considering buying ARK: Survival Ascended, keep in mind that it has very high requirements and poor performance. But if that doesn’t matter to you, you will experience ARK in improved graphics.
If you are not interested in purchasing the remake but are still a fan of the dino adventure, the upcoming release of the sequel “ARK 2” may be interesting for you. However, it is not supposed to be available for the PS5, but only for Xbox Series X|S and PC. You can read more about the release here:
