ARK: Survival Evolved Wiki – Everything you need to know about the game

ARK: Survival Evolved is an upcoming open world, survival adventure game currently in development at Studio Wildcard, founded in 2014 and comprised of “veteran developers”. The developer will also be publishing the game and it will be made available on PC through Steam, by way of the Early Access program on June 2nd.

Outside of PCs, the game will also be coming to Linux and Mac platforms. It will also launch on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One by way of the ID@Xbox program.

ARK: Survival Evolved is currently expected to launch 2016, with the developer mentioning in its Early Access FAQ that the game’s tenure in the program would be, “Approximately 1 year, with a full release planned for June 2016 coinciding with the console versions.”

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Studio Wildcard set out with the initial plan of making “AAA quality” games and “ambitious indie productions.” It’s because of this that they are developing ARK: Survival Evolved for a wide variety of platforms that includes Linux, Mac and the home console market.

Speaking about this, Jesse Rapczak, the co-founder and co-creative director at Studio Wildcard, has said, “We’re particularly excited to bring ARK to consoles, as open-world survival gameplay is typically found solely in PC games.”

Despite bringing the game to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the PC build has more features that are set to arrive upon the game’s completion. The PC build will include optional support for the Oculus Rift and it also gives access to the Steam Workshop which enables custom map and Mod support. The PC build will also allows players access to the Steam Economy, presumably with trading options.

With an early access build of the game coming to PC via Steam this June, the developers have commented on the game as it currently exists. It will include over 40 creatures (which will expand to more than 70), gas powered vehicles, enhanced building mechanics, items, weapons and more, the developers have also said, “Everything described on the full Features List is in the Early Access version right now — not all 100% polished, but designed to be fun. Over the next year, the game will be rapidly iterated on with updates usually coming 3 times per week, almost always including new features, balance and polish improvements, and bug fixes. We are extremely fast at development, and will continue to push forward with maximum energy to make the game ever-greater on a daily basis. We live and breath game development, this is what we do.”

Each server that will host the multiplayer games will have in excess of 100 players, with each action having an obvious consequence to other players. This is thanks to ARK: Survival Evolved being set in a mostly persistent world that is all tied into the games meta-universe which primarily exists by way of the Steam Economy.

Story

There isn’t much in the way of story for ARK: Survival Evolved, all that we’ve been told is that the gameplay itself will open up some of the games backstory. In an announcement press release for the game, an excerpt reads, “Players awake naked and starving on the beach of a mysterious island among a herd of other confused humans. On ARK, they must then hunt, harvest, craft, research technology, and build shelters to protect against scorching days, freezing nights, volatile weather systems, dangerous wildlife, and potential enemies.”

Gameplay

ARK: Survival Evolved is a fairly standard open world survival game with one major twist in it’s gameplay. Unlike most other survival games which pit the player against zombies, other players or some sort of mutant enemy, ARK pits the player against Dinosaurs and other creatures which can be captured, tamed and then used as pets under the player’s control.

A major gameplay twist is that some of the larger creatures in the game can be ridden after they are equipped with a saddle. They can then be made more durable by attaching pieces of armour and equipment.

The player must maintain their energy up by eating and drinking. Each consumable plant and meat in the game will give the player a different return due to, “different nutritional properties.” Surprisingly though, should the player choose to, Human meat can also be consumed.

The need to feed is tied into world interaction as your character requires food and water for all physical actions and inventory weight can actually slow you down as you travel. On top of this, the game world is also influenced by a day and night cycle as well as randomized weather events. These weather patterns will cause the players hunger, thirst and temperature levels to fluctuate for added difficulty and realism.

You will need to craft shelter, build fires and make your own weapons to survive in the game world. You’re also going to be crafting clothes and other pieces of equipment that will help you survive the world. All crafted items come with durability levels, a wooden tool for example wouldn’t last as long as a metal one. Due to locational damage, you can expect your clothing to become quite ragged as you play the game if it’s not made out of hardy materials.

Characters

ARK: Survival Evolved doesn’t have a cast of NPCs. The player character is created through customization and can interact with other player characters throughout the world.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.