ARK: Survival Ascended descends on Steam

Studio Wildcard

10/25/2023

ARK: Survival Ascended has launched on Steam and is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in November.

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ARK: Survival Ascended is a next-generation remake of the beloved ARK: Survival Evolved game that harnesses the cutting-edge power of Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) for huge improvements and enhancements to the visuals and gameplay. ARK’s codebase has been fully rewritten, and its artwork recreated by hand to take full advantage of UE5, using high-end graphics features such as fully dynamic Global Illumination (“Lumen”), so that light bounces realistically off off hundreds of millions of triangles for extreme detail.

“ASA provides an evergreen adventure that re-energizes the classic-ARK experience, one that will continue to grow and leverages the latest tech advancements with UE5, as well as what we've been working on with the ARK Franchise as a whole," expressed Jeremy Stieglitz, co-founder, lead designer/programmer & co-creative director, Studio Wildcard. "With ARK 2's direction as a Souls-like adventure, we realize our community still wants and loves the original ARK. ASA enables that original ARK experience to thrive in next-gen quality with continued developer support as well as the exciting growth from UGC creators.”

“In ARK the creative community has developed and shared a wide range of impressive mods that PC players enjoy,” said Thomas Williamson, CEO and technical director, Grove Street Games. “We’re excited to bring these to the console players as well, so now all Survivors have access to the brilliant mods that enhance and evolve the ARK experience!”

ARK: Survival Ascended includes access to all of ARK’s worlds, including Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, ARK Genesis Part 1, and ARK Genesis Part 2! Today at launch The Island is available with subsequent expansion worlds to be added on a regular basis. ASA will have its own content roadmap including its own gameplay/QOL changes, new DLC, seasonal events, and more.