Ark: Survival Ascended Shows Off First UE5 Gameplay, Launches on Steam Early Access

Ark: Survival Ascended, the new Unreal Engine 5 of the popular dino adventure Ark: Survival Evolved, is one of this year’s most hotly-debated projects, and now, we’ve finally been provided a peek at the game in action. During the Xbox Partner Preview showcase, we got a look at Ark: Survival Ascended’s much-upgraded environments, creatures, action, and more. While it’s sometimes hard to pick up what’s gameplay and what isn’t, we’re assured this is all in-engine footage. You can check the trailer out for yourself, below.

Looking pretty good! In a new Xbox Wire blog post, Ark developer Studio Wildcard discusses how they’ve made use of Unreal Engine 5, including its Lumen, Nanite, Instance-Based Rendering, and fluid and foliage animation techs. Modding will also be getting a big boost, with new mod tools essentially letting you tap directly into Unreal Engine 5. And yes, this time around, console players will have access to the large catalog of Ark mods.

But that’s not all. Studio Wildcard is also promising a variety of base gameplay improvements, including…

“A third-person camera for players and creatures with additional per-creature customization and flexibility. A new, highly detailed map system that supports world pings and points of interest. Advanced dynamic navigation for intelligent creature pathfinding, so no more running into walls of your base, but running away from Carnivores just got tougher!

There’s so much more to cover, including more character customization options, unique color sets, quality-of-life improvements, new split-screen multiplayer functionalities, audio revamping, new gameplay items and structures, changes to existing items and creatures, and essentially, every inch of The Island has been redesigned, and much more.”

That all sounds pretty good, but Studio Wildcard’s business decisions surrounding Ark: Survival Ascended remain controversial. Basically, Ark: Survival Ascended is replacing the original Ark: Survival Evolved, with the latter’s servers being shut down. Those who want to upgrade don’t receive any credit for owning the original game, it’s being sold as a new full-price product.

Here are the Ark: Survival Ascended PC system requirements…

Minimum

• OS: Windows 10/11 with updates
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, Intel Core i7-6800K
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 1080
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 70 GB available space
• Additional Notes: SSD Required

Recommended

• OS: Windows 10/11 with updates
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel i5-10600K
• Memory: 32 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 70 GB available space
• Additional Notes: SSD Required

Ark: Survival Ascended is apparently coming out in early access on PC today, although its Steam page is not offering the game for sale yet. The Xbox Series X/S and PS5 console versions will arrive in November. A full sequel, Ark 2, is slated for sometime in 2024.

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