In a recently published update, Studio Wildcard announced that Ark: Survival Ascended is being pushed back to October, with the developer stating that it has “found it challenging working with Unreal Engine 5.2”.

“We’re discovering new ways each day to push the technology to the next level; combined with the work needed to support a fully cross-platform-moddable game ecosystem on consoles and PC, it’s clear that we’ll need a bit more time,” the developer wrote.

Meanwhile, Studio Wildcard has also announced that its splitting the planned releases of remasters of Survival Evolved maps The Island and Scorched Earth. Originally set to release together, now, the latter has been delayed, and will be added to Survival Ascended in December, a couple of months on from its release.

“With what we’ve learned about remastering The Island from the ground-up, it wouldn’t be feasible to complete Scorched Earth to a standard we’re happy with,” the developer wrote.

The delayed launch of Survival Ascended also means that plans to sunset the original Survival Evolved have been pushed back as well. Studio Wildcard now plans to shut down the original title on September 30.

In addition, the developr has also announced a new pricing structure for Survival Ascended. Owing to the title launching with less content than previously anticipated, courtesy of the delay for Scorched Earth, it will now release at an early access price of $44.99, which will come down to $39.99 with a launch discount. Previously, it was confirmed to be a standalone $60 title.

Gameplay for the remaster will be shown close to release, Studio Wildcard has confirmed.

Ark: Survival Ascended is in development for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Ark 2, which is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC, is set to launch in late 2024.

The developer has announced Ark: Survival Ascended, a remastered version of Ark: Survival Evolved. Built on Unreal Engine 5, it will serve as a significant leap forward for the game and will launch exclusively for current-gen consoles and PC sometime before the end of August. Around that same time, meanwhile, Ark: Survival Evolved will be shutting down its servers and ending support, so that players will only be able to play on private servers and in single player mode.

What exactly will Survival Ascended bring to the table though? The developer is promising a full technological overhaul thanks to Unreal Engine 5 and its Nanite, Lumen, and RTXDI technologies. Players can also look forward to dynamic water, interactive foliage, instanced rendering to allow for larger bases, threaded server networking, and a native physics engine.

Meanwhile, it’s also been confirmed that the remaster will feature support for full cross-platform multiplayer, cross-progression, cross-platform anti-cheat, and cross-platform modding, while it will also feature a fully revamped Survival of the Fittest mode. Additionally, art assets will be updated throughout the game, and new holiday events and content update will also be released post-launch.

Plenty of new QoL improvements, balancing changes, and content updates have also been confirmed, including an updated minimap, new structures, a queuing system, a pinging system, a new optional third person camera, directional sprinting and walking, chibi slot and skin tabs, gamepad cursors, and much more.

At launch, Ark: Survival Ascended will pack in The Island, Scorched Earth, and the aforementioned Survival of the Fittest Mode. Players will also be able to purchase two separate expansion packs- Explorer’s Pass will retail for $19.99, and will include Scorched Earth, Aberration (Q4 2023), and Extinction (Q1 2024; and Genesis Pass, which will launch for the same price, and will include Genesis Part 1 (Q1 2024) and Genesis Part 2 (Q2 2024).

The game itself will be sold at a price of $39.99 on PS5. Meanwhile, on Xbox Series X/S and PC, Studio Wildcard will be selling the Ark Respawn Bundle for $49.99, which will include both Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2, in addition to an exclusive one month closed beta of the latter for sometime in 2024. This bundle will be available for purchase for a year starting this August, after which point both games will be sold separately.

While that is obviously not something that has been officially disclosed, as discovered by YouTuber GP, a newly-unearthed legal document has revealed that as per an agreement between publisher Snail Games and Microsoft, Ark 2 will remain on Game Pass for three years after its launch. In addition, the document also mentions that its predecessor, Ark: Survival Evolved, is going to remain on Game Pass in perpetuity.

“The Company also has a long-term title license agreement (“Game Pass”) with Microsoft for a period of three years,” the document reads (page 70). “The Company recognizes deferred revenue and amortizes this revenue according to the terms of the relevant agreement. The agreement was initially made between the parties in November 2018 and valid through December 31, 2021. The agreement was subsequently amended in June 2020 to extend the ARK 1 game pass perpetually effective January 1, 2022 and to put ARK 2 on Game Pass for three years upon release.”

Developed on Unreal Engine 5, Ark 2 is expected to launch sometime in 2023 as a console exclusive for Xbox Series X/S, alongside PC. For more gameplay details about its combat, World Events, and more, head on over here.

ZUBAT (POKEMON)

If you’ve spent even a couple of minutes in a cave in a Pokemon game – especially one of the earlier ones – you’ve cursed out at the sight of a Zubat. These pesky Pokemon appear with far too much regularity, forcing players to exit out of battles what feels like one every few seconds. If you don’t have some Repels handy, you’re in for a true test of patience.

With the exception of Ghostrunner, which is exclusive to PS5 subscribers, all the games will be available to claim on both PS4 and PS5. GTA Online, on the other hand, is a bonus game that will be available to download starting March 15th, while the others will be available to download starting March 1st. Subscribers who haven’t claimed the games for February are advised to do so quickly.

All in all, March 2022’s offerings seem to be heavily focused towards multiplayer, but it is certainly a marked improvement over February’s PS Plus offerings, both in terms of number and quality.

Sony is also reportedly hard at work on a competitor to Xbox Game Pass codenamed Project Spartacus, set for a Spring reveal- read more on that through here.

In a message posted on the site’s forums, the user strongly hints that two of the games to be offered for free to PS Plus subscribers next month will be Studio Wildcard’s survival title Ark: Survival Evolved and Sega and Sumo Digital’s 2019 kart racing game Team Sonic Racing.

Since the PS5’s launch, Sony has been offering three games with PS Plus each month, with at least one of them being a native PS5 title, so it’s likely that there’s another game in next month’s lineup that we don’t yet know about.

Either way, there isn’t long left until Sony officially unveils what next month’s lineup for the subscription service will be, so we’ll have more concrete details soon enough. Stay tuned for more updates.

Final Fantasy 14

Regarded as one of the best MMOs, Final Fantasy 14’s approach is more story-oriented than something like World of Warcraft and can be very much enjoyed as a solo experience. As the Warrior of Light, you venture through Eorzea, battling the Beast Tribes, the Garlean Empire and the Primals while various schemes play out across its nations. Whether you’re focusing on the Main Scenario, indulging in side quests, mastering each Job, partaking in raids and dungeons, or simply completing events, Final Fantasy 14 is full of stuff to do. Just make sure to stick with it past the base game – the story improves by leaps and bounds afterwards.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/15-amazing-pve-games-you-need-to-play/feed 0 476870 https://gamingbolt.com/epic-games-store-receives-limited-achievement-support https://gamingbolt.com/epic-games-store-receives-limited-achievement-support#respond Thu, 30 Jul 2020 11:56:05 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=450454

The Epic Games Store has had quite the journey since launching in December 2018. Though known best for its weekly giveaways, it’s slowly grown as a platform to include wishlists and display OpenCritic reviews. It’s now received probably its most overdue feature yet – Achievements.

As per the storefront on Twitter, “Certain games on the Epic Games Store may begin to display achievements as you unlock them. This is an early version of the feature and you can expect to see changes & adjustments.” Of course, by “certain games”, it actually means one – ARK: Survival Evolved. Suffice to say that it will take some time before other games join the list.

In the meantime, the Epic Games Store seems to be doing well for itself. It crossed 100 million users in January with third party titles earning over $251 million. Several upcoming titles like Mortal Shell, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and A Total War Saga: Troy will also be either timed exclusive or exclusive to the storefront when they launch. Where the store goes from here remains to be seen but it’s grown a lot in a short period of time.

In the meantime, stay tuned for this week’s free games giveaway. Epic Games Store users can claim Tacoma and Next Up Hero by 9 AM PST today. 20XX, Barony and Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP will be free from July 30th to August 6th.

Certain games on the Epic Games Store may begin to display achievements as you unlock them.

This is an early version of the feature and you can expect to see changes & adjustments.

We'll have more info to share on achievements in the future, so stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/80dnoLYegV

— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) July 29, 2020

Tomorrw will be that time of the week again when the free games roll over for the Epic Games Store. Ever since it launched in 2018, the store has given out free games of various sizes like candy on Halloween. And this week we’re getting some pretty good flavors on very different sides of the field.

We already knew that Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection would launch on the Epic Games Store and be free for the whole week. Via Epic Game’s Facebook, it also seems that ARK: Survival Evolved will also be free for the week. ARK was rumored to have been the free game for this week, but it seems that was pushed back in favor of Overcooked 2, the first repeat in the free game giveaway since the storefront launched.

Overcooked 2 is available for free on the store until tomorrow, when Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection and ARK: Survival Evolved will be free until the 18th.

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a full year now since the Epic Game Store launched. Epic started the project to be the great disruption to the PC market, which has largely been ruled by Steam. Has that happened to any significant degree? I don’t know, I’ll let you be the judge, but regardless of what you think on that topic, Epic’s storefront deserves credit for its steady rollout of free games- and we might have many more to look forward to soon.

This week’s game was one of the biggest the store has ever given away: Grand Theft Auto 5: Premium Edition. It was such a big get, the whole thing basically destroyed the servers for hours. The next game is also a mystery for now, but it does seem like someone on Reddit managed to screen grab an ad that went up a tad early that allegedly spells out the next set of games: Civilization 6, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, and ARK: Survival Evolved.

Of course, as always with these leaks, we treat them as rumors for now. We actually got burned this month for the PS Plus by a pretty good fake. Fingers crossed here, though, as this is a pretty nice list for the next few weeks.