Ark: Survival Evolved is 10 years old this month, a fact that makes me feel like a dinosaur. Studio Wildcard's dino-themed survival sim first appeared in the primordial soup of Steam early access in June 2015, though it didn't see a full release until two years later. In any case, to mark the occasion, Studio Wildcard has issued an update to Evolved's next gen follow-up Ark: Survival Ascended, which brings visual upgrades, an anniversary event, and a slightly questionable update to some paid DLC.
Let's kick off with the update itself, which migrates Ascended from Unreal 5.2 to Unreal 5.5 with the goal of improving performance, stability and visual quality. According to the devs, players can expect to see improved rendering, faster load times, and a smaller overall installation size, which given how beefy games tend to be these days is always welcome.
The update also introduces Ark's anniversary event, which enables players to collect cake slices that provide buffs, search for hidden party dinos, and provides the game's tropical Club ARK with a festive makeover. It also adds an array of festive cosmetics like party hat skins and a literal birthday suit, letting your character run around, er, as nature created them. Mercifully, your character's modesty is covered by a pixelation effect.
Finally, if you own Ark's Greek themed Astraeos DLC, this has been updated with a new island called Lemnokis. This landmass of redwood trees and ancient ruins introduces Ark's first ever duo minibosses, the giant boars called Kalydonios and Erymanthian, and also heralds the return of snow owls to the world of Ark. Apparently, the island was created by a modder who goes by Nekatus, who also seems to be the designer for Astraeos in general.
There's a trailer viewable above that shows off the anniversary event in action. I'll be honest, it looks to me like it was thrown together in about five minutes. This may have something to do with the inherent gaudiness of birthday party chic, admittedly, but the awful font at the top of the screen and slapdash sound-mixing don't help. Then again, at least it isn't AI generated like the trailer for Ark: Aquatica, so I suppose it's an improvement overall.
The visual upgrade, anniversary event, and Astraeos update are all available now.
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