ARK: Survival Ascended

ARK: Survival Ascended

Early access since Oct 2023

ARK is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation of video game technology with Unreal Engine 5! Form a tribe, tame & breed hundreds of unique dinosaurs and primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain. Your new world awaits!

60% positive · 119K reviews
Not yet
In early access, content still planned
High confidence
Content Planned
Not yet
In early access, content still planned
High confidence
Content Planned

Where to buy

Steam $44.99
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Evaluation

ARK: Survival Ascended launched into Early Access on October 25, 2023 and remains in Early Access. Studio Wildcard has maintained an extremely active development cadence with no meaningful communication gaps — the most recent developer post was September 5, 2026 (today), and news posts appear multiple times per week. On January 10, 2026, Studio Wildcard published a detailed multi-year roadmap covering planned releases across 2026 and into 2027. Since that roadmap, several major content drops have shipped: ARK Fantastic Tames Season 1 launched May 20, 2026 (with the first creature, the Burrowbuck); ARK Tides of Fortune, ARK: Dragontopia, and ARK: Genesis Ascended Part 1 all launched on July 3, 2026; and the Astraeos map reached its final "Heaven & Abyss" update on August 27, 2026. Looking ahead, the developer confirmed on both August 22 and September 5, 2026 that a packed September 30, 2026 release is coming: the Cerberax (the second of three creatures in Fantastic Tames Season 1), the Gargantar for ARK: Dragontopia, a Therizinosaurus TLC, and an Unreal Engine 5.8 engine upgrade. Beyond September 30, several major roadmap entries remain undelivered: Atlantis (a water-focused expansion building on Tides of Fortune mechanics), Bob's True Tales: Galaxy Wars (featuring a revamped Genesis Part 2 with an outer-space biome), and Legacy of Santiag (described as the future of the ARK franchise). The Fantames Season 1 third creature, the Enigmasaur, has also not yet shipped. There is no indication from Studio Wildcard that Early Access is ending or that a 1.0 launch date has been set.
Evidence
Developer confirms September 30, 2026 release for Cerberax (Fantastic Tames Season 1), Gargantar (Dragontopia), Therizinosaurus TLC, and Unreal Engine 5.8 upgrade.
news post · Sep 5, 2026 source content planned
high
Astraeos Heaven & Abyss update launched, described as Astraeos reaching its final chapter (1.0). New creatures, ships, and map regions added.
news post · Aug 27, 2026 source content shipped
high

Content

20 of 20 released · no outstanding content
Released
Jul 2026

Media

Details

Publisher
Studio Wildcard
Achievements
32
Platform
Windows
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Verified
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer · Co-op · PvP · Local/Split Screen

About this game

Respawn into a new dinosaur survival experience beyond your wildest dreams… as ARK is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation of videogame technology with Unreal Engine 5! You awake on a mysterious island, your senses overwhelmed by the blinding sunlight and brilliant colors bouncing off every surface around you, the azure waters of a verdant Island lapping at your bare feet. A deep roar echoes from the misty jungle, jolting you into action, and you stand up – not afraid, but intrigued. Are you ready to form a tribe, tame and breed hundreds of species of dinosaurs and other primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain? Your new world awaits… step through the looking-glass and join it!

FEATURES

ARK: Survival Ascended has completely recreated and redesigned the artwork and worlds of ARK to take advantage of the latest in videogame technology, Unreal Engine 5, using high-end graphics features such as fully dynamic Global Illumination (“Lumen”), so that light bounces realistically off of surfaces and provides realistic reflections, and advanced mesh streaming (“Nanite”) of hundreds of millions of triangles for extreme detail.

Advanced new physics systems such as dynamic water so that every creature creates waves, ripples, splashes, and bubbles as they move through fluids, and fully interactive physical foliage where every blade of grass, bush, and tree reacts to characters, explosions, projectiles, and physics objects. Knock down a tree, and see it crash into other trees and disturb all the foliage on its way down to smacking into the grass below! Detect an enemy moving sneakily through the grass as it shifts and sways in response to their presence. Demolish a building and watch the pieces break apart realistically, interacting with the grass and water as they fall.

ARK: Survival Ascended includes access to all of ARK’s worlds, including Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, ARK Genesis Part 1, ARK Genesis Part 2, and more. The Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration and The Center are released now, Extinction will be released on December 16, with the subsequent expansion worlds to be added at no additional cost on a regular basis.

The definitive survival experience returns better than ever: design your Survivor, form a tribe, and tame, train, breed & ride dinosaurs within a living ecosystem. Watch your food, water, temperature, and weather patterns. Slowly expand outwards as you harvest, build structures, farm crops, customize your visual designs, and proceed to explore to uncover the true nature of The Island and the worlds beyond.

Thorough Quality of Life revamps in every area: redesigned User Interfaces, dynamic navigation for intelligent creature pathfinding, Wild Babies, Photo Mode, new Camera systems, new Map system, Tracking System, new Structures and Items, new Creatures, and much more.

Cross-Platform Modding: Download & play new custom content created by players, including new maps, creatures, items, and game modes, through a dedicated mod collection directly within the game! Enjoy an endless stream of new ARK content as the creativity and talent of the community is fully unleashed for the first time ever across gaming platforms!

Cross-Platform Multiplayer: form your online tribe across different gaming platforms as you work together to survive and thrive on the ARK!

Supports public online multiplayer for up to 70 players, private-session multiplayer for up to 8 players, and local split-screen for 2 players.

Last evaluated Sep 5, 2026
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