Image via Studio Wildcard.
Studio Wildcard has surprise dropped the news that Ark: Survival Ascended will launch on Steam today. Alongside this announcement, we got a very visually impressive trailer showing off gameplay.
The exact release time of Ark: Survival Ascended was yet to be locked down at the time of writing, with the most recent update flagging it to drop no later than 7:30pm Pacific Time.
Ark: Survival Ascended takes the popular dinosaur-filled survival title Ark: Survival Evolved and brings it into the next generation. Rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, the trailer really shows how big of a change the engine switch makes in bringing the world and dinosaurs to life. You’ll still be waking up on a beach, gathering materials, crafting things, and interacting with other players and the majestic dinosaurs roaming the land. This time around, though, it’s going to look a whole lot nicer.
In the just over two-minute launch trailer you can see how densely packed the world is with detail and creatures. We also see a nice variety of environments, from the vibrant beach and forests through to the snowy mountain ranges. Characters are seen riding atop dinosaurs and hunting others with both rifles and bows.
Night time exploration is shown off with crisp lighting and shadows really shaping up to present some ‘wow’ moments. The trailer also features alien technology, a person just wanting to cook his lunch being munched by a large prehistoric alligator, and someone riding a dinosaur with a rocket launcher, which really speaks for itself! Check it out below:
Just like in Ark: Survival Evolved multiplayer will be a large aspect of this game and you can expect the same quality of multiplayer. There will be worlds that can support up to 70 players. You’ll even be able to dabble in some local split-screen co-op! Ark: Survival Ascended will also feature full cross-play functionality between PC, Xbox and PlayStation, though that will come later, after its console launch. At the moment, that’s currently flagged to happen at some point in November 2023.