Studio Wildcard's latest ARK: Survival Ascended expansion, Lost Colony, is now out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S players, as the latest expansion closes the gap between the stories of the previous Extinction expansion and the upcoming ARK 2, while adding a host of new creatures, seven new biomes, and more.
Lost Colony takes players to Arat Prime, where humanity made its final stand. You'll begin your journey in the Necrocene, a post-cataclysmic era that has plunged the entire southern pole of the Earth into darkness. It's here, beneath the snow, the ice, and under the shroud of night, where the Lost Colony continues to survive below its energy shields.
Energy shields that are powered by radioactive Red Element, which is also the source of what's keeping the Earth a broken planet. Which is how the Lost King wants to keep, to maintain his rule. It's then your choice to go the way of the lost king and succumb to his tyranny, or try to oppose him and hold on to your humanity.
The release of this expansion rounds out the Lost Colony expansion pass that Studio Wildcard announced and kicked off earlier this year, which was also when the game received a major graphical update across consoles and PC, including improvements that took advantage of PlayStation's PSSR and PS5 Pro.
Across the seven new biomes introduced, you'll experience the overwhelming and oppressive metropolis of the Lost King's domain, the arctic perimeter of the Tundra, the bioluminescent flowers and fauna of the Twilight Forest that's far more dangerous than it looks, the eerie Dark Forest that leads to even more dangers beyond what lurks in its woods.
There's also the Caldera, a volcanic crater with a massive sacred ring dedicated to the Lost King, hot springs which you'll find across the map in different concentrations, and aberrant crash sites where you'll have to avoid toxic sludge. So, cheery places all in all.
Across these new biomes you'll find 13 new creatures, which are:
- Veilwyn
- Solwyn
- Malwyn
- Ossidon
- Gloon
- Desmodus
- Cryolophosaurus
- Gigadesmodus
- Aureliax
- Thralls
- Gargoyles
- Neophytes
- Revenants
It's a fairly sizable expansion for ARK players to dig into while they wait for ARK 2, which doesn't seem to be arriving anytime soon. In fact, Studio Wildcard confirmed today that it won't be arriving until 2028, with an expansion in 2027 giving players their first taste of what the sequel will be like.
For more on ARK: Survival Ascended, check out our interview with Studio Wildcard's Jeremy Stieglitz about premium mods on the console versions of the game.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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