We’ve got some big news coming out of the “Ark” camp today, as the team has revealed the series’ roadmap for the next year (and beyond), which includes a brand-new remaster along with a major delay for Ark 2.
Let’s start with that remaster. In August 2023, we’ll be getting Ark: Survival Ascended, which takes the form of a “next-generation remaster” of the original Ark: Survival Evolved – specifically for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and PC.
Xbox owners will be able to acquire Ark: Survival Ascended as part of a bundle for $49.99 from this August, and it’ll include access to both Survival Ascended along with Ark 2 when the latter eventually launches.
Here’s a taste of just some of the improvements in Ark: Survival Ascended:
- Unreal Engine 5 Overhaul with Nanite, Lumen and RTXDI
- Dynamic Water
- Interactive Foliage
- Unreal Engine 5 performance gains: instanced-rendering (large-bases etc.), threaded server networking, and native physics engine
- Cross-platform Multiplayer
- Cross-platform Modding
- Cross-platform Anti-Cheat
- Survival of the Fittest
- Art Assets are being upgraded throughout the entire game
- Newly-designed holiday events take advantage of the next-gen pipeline, released as mods, so they’re always available to play!
- New content, QOL improvements, balance, and gameplay changes
As for Ark 2, it’s been announced that the game has been delayed out of its 2023 window to late 2024.
In a message to fans, the team explained the reasons behind the lengthy setback:
“Our goal is to make ARK 2 the best game it can be and provide a truly exceptional and rewarding experience for players. Unreal Engine 5 is incredibly new technology to us (and all developers), and we aim to use this cutting-edge tech to its fullest potential while creating a game with never-before-achieved scope at Studio Wildcard.
As we learn more about the engine and develop the sequel, we have adapted our workflows and adjusted our pipelines to accommodate this new next-generation paradigm, and because of everything that involves, we need more time for development.”
Because of the delay, there are no longer any plans for Ark 2 to be showcased extensively this year, with a gameplay reveal now scheduled for 2024. However, the team still intends to keep fans “engaged” in the development process throughout this year.
Some good news and some bad news, then – let us know what you think about all of this down below.
