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.

However, it must be admitted that as compelling as PixArk can be, it manages that in spite of itself, because often, it feels like the game is trying to undermine and sabotage itself any chance it gets. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the game is technically still “early access”, so it lacks in a lot of polish and pizzazz that you can expect from a finished product. This means that the game is extremely glitchy (the most infuriating of which is when it decides to stop accepting any button inputs for no apparent reason), or suffers from random framerate drops, or makes the base PlayStation 4 system sound like it is a commercial jet about to take off. Undoubtedly, time will see more polish applied to the game, and we can expect these problems solved. But there are other issues, which seem to be more fundamental, and which hold the game back from true greatness.

The most obvious of these is that PixArk is ill-suited to consoles. It has an extremely unwieldy and clunky UI, with menus upon menus, which is very poorly suited for a gamepad. Given how much time you spend in the menus for one reason or the other (whether it be crafting, managing your inventory, or leveling up), this means that you will spend far more time simply trying to fight with the controls than you will be actually playing the game. Add to that the already mentioned frustration of the game randomly not responding to button inputs, and you have a recipe for disaster.

"It must be admitted that as compelling as PixArk can be, it manages that in spite of itself, because often, it feels like the game is trying to undermine and sabotage itself any chance it gets."

Other issues have to do with what the game is– for instance, it is a survival game, which means there is a lot to manage and take care of. You have to look after your stamina, thirst, hunger, and health, you have to make sure you’re not too hot or not too cold, you have to collect materials from the environment to craft tools to help you better cope with the world… this is actually not a complaint, because the game does this well. The complaint is that it never actually explains any of it. You are dropped into the world with absolutely no warning or explanation, and while there are pop up prompts that attempt to explain the controls, there is absolutely nothing that actually explains any of the mechanics, or even the HUD indicators. So, the game suddenly tells you you are hungry- and then you realize you can get hungry. Or it tells you you are too hot or too cold, but you don’t actually have any idea what to do about it. To PixArk‘s credit, the solution to all the problems is always in the world around you, and the enterprising player will enjoy slowly unraveling the yarn this game poses- but the game is extremely unfriendly to new players.

Consider the question of thatch- thatch is an extremely basic material you need for everything in PixArk. The game tells you you need it, particularly as you learn recipes for crafting more things- what it doesn’t tell you is how to get it. Do you have to cut down trees? That only gives you wood. You see grass all around you, but any time you interact with it, you seem to only get materials for the block it is on. You can press every button in vain trying to interact with the grass- I even had to pull up the controls to see what I was missing- in the end, it turns out that one button pressed when you don’t have anything else equipped and are facing grass will pull it out and give you thatch. 

There is no tutorial that teaches you this. There is no indication that you can even interact with the grass (when you pull up the game’s highlight tool, it highlights the block the grass is on, but not the grass). You don’t even have any idea it is possible to interact with things beyond punching or attacking them. The game expects you to stumble around to figure this out yourself. And this is just one example- there is a quest system, but the game never explains it unless you go foraging in its menus. You can tame wild animals! But again, the game offers frustratingly little direction (though this at least is communicated better than most other things in the game are).

"Certainly, there is a sense of satisfaction the first time you hunt something down, or build shelter, or start a campfire, or build a weapon, and realize you are now empowered to take on far more than you ever could have imagined at the beginning."

Other problems have to do with the game’s procedural generation. You see, unlike, say, ARK, which puts you in a sort of “safe zone” sandbox as a tutorial area for you to learn the grips, PixArk randomly generates and populates the map each time you play. So, you could very well just end up on a map populated with all manner of aggressive, high level creatures you don’t have much recourse against. Generally speaking, the immediate starting area always appears to be “safe”, but venturing too far out in any direction can land you in trouble, which means that for the longest time, your best bet is to hunker down and grow before you take on the big bad world.

And yet, in spite of all of this, the game remains compelling. Maybe it’s the charming and blocky graphics. Maybe it’s the inane but sweet music. Maybe it’s just the simple notion of (wo)man versus the world, and knowing that while you literally start out with nothing, you are slowly watching yourself become better equipped to take on the wilderness, and living through a microcosmic representation of humanity’s progress through prehistory, to agriculture, metal, industry, and beyond. Maybe the hostility of the game towards the player actually compounds the sense of conquering adversity and prevailing against the odds. Certainly, there is a sense of satisfaction the first time you hunt something down, or build shelter, or start a campfire, or build a weapon, and realize you are now empowered to take on far more than you ever could have imagined at the beginning.

The PvP element also helps. See, the world is populated by other players, too. You can join them and form tribes with them, which is great, but these players can also be jerks, and keep hunting you across the map and killing you- and that further adds to the sense of adversity.

PixArk has a lot of problems. To be honest, actually playing it can feel like a battle of attrition, because the game seems to be trying its best to wear you out. While you can explain some of these problems away thanks to the game’s “early access” label, others are harder to forgive or excuse. And yet, it’s a hugely compelling experience, especially for those who like survival games, or for example, kids versed in Minecraft. It’s got a lot of problems, and you should be aware of them- but if you are, and if you can grit your teeth and work your way through them, the final experience is oddly rewarding and engaging.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 4.

The game is still in Early Access and to learn more about how its development is coming along, Gamingbolt reached out to the developers with some questions and they provided the following answers.

"The idea behind PixARK was to make a game that everyone, no matter their age or survival game experience, could enjoy."

What inspired the idea to mix Minecraft and ARK: Survival Evolved?

ARK: Survival Evolved, while a very rewarding experience, is also very mature. There are themes and mechanics in the game that are not for everyone, including kids. The idea behind PixARK was to make a game that everyone, no matter their age or survival game experience, could enjoy. We felt that the voxel space and art style matched the theme that we wanted to portray, and also give us room to make a new experience for both veteran and beginning survival game players alike.

Is the main focus of the game crafting or survival, or is it a unique blend of both?

Crafting goes hand in hand with survival games. PixARK has a greater focus on the crafting and creative aspects of survival games, but does not shy away from putting players into situations that will get you killed if you aren’t careful.

Can you tell us about the RPG elements in the game?

When you first touchdown in PixARK, your character is level one, with only a few items they can craft. As they experience and explore the world around them, each “Explorer” will level up. These levels will allow players to put points into different stats, such as how much they can carry or how quickly their hunger depletes, as well as opens up new items they are able to craft. The new items that become available make tasks that took a very long time, much shorter, which shows growth in strength and ability.

Is taming dinosaurs an important aspect of the game’s experience? If so, how does it work?

Taming creatures gives you all sorts of advantages from combat, travel, and gathering resources. Passive creatures can be fed berries and will be tamed over time, while more aggressive creatures need to be knocked out before feeding them. Either method does not take too much time, as long as you have the right equipment for the job.

Considering that the game is a survival game, what will be the range of difficulty?

The difficulty in PixARK is not quite as punishing as other games, but still keeps the core heart and soul of ARK: Survival Evolved. Players will still have to manage food, water, and other stats that if neglected will cause your Explorer to perish. However, unlike most survival games, you do not lose all of your items upon death. While each player will lose their entire backpack inventory when encountering a foe they could not best, they will keep the items on their hot bar and their armor. We felt that this kept the identity of ARK: Survival Evolved, while not punishing the player as much for making a misstep.

Were there any particular challenges you faced during the game’s development?

Taking a game like ARK: Survival Evolved, and putting it into a Voxel environment was no easy task. There were many different mechanics in ARK Survival Evolved that didn’t account for a environment that was always changing. However, it was also very exciting to be working in a new space that allows for so many creative opportunities not only for us, but for the player as well.

"Players will be able to progress in any way that suits their play style, and customize their experience to their liking."

What can you tell us about the crafting system in the game? Is it similar to what we’ve seen in Minecraft or will it be different in some ways?

The crafting system is much more similar to ARK rather than Minecraft. This means that crafting something will require the proper engram to be learned, and the appropriate crafting station/materials to be on hand.

What can you tell us about character progression and customization in the game?

Players will be able to progress in any way that suits their play style, and customize their experience to their liking. If a group of friends want to go out together and make a huge structure, battling the elements together, they’re able to. However, if you’re a lone wolf and want to be someone that keeps to themselves, lays low, and builds a nice little home under the earth where no one can bother you, you’re able to do that as well.

What will be featured in the single player mode of the game?

Everything that multiplayer has to offer, by yourself! You can also adjust the game settings before you start a single player map, to increase or decrease the difficulty as you see fit. Players can adjust experience gains, gathering rates, creature difficulty, and more to tailor the game to their needs. For players who just want to build, you can start a creative mode game that allows you to spawn in whatever items you want and fly around to find that perfect spot to start your creation.

Is there anything more you’d like to tell our readers?

We’d like to thank everyone for all of the support that our community has given us during the early access of PixARK. We look forward to all Explorers, new and veteran, to come and take on the challenges that PixARK has to offer. We have a lot of plans for the future of the game, and are very excited for the future.

Snail games has announced that they will be releasing a game inspired by the survival elements in ARK: Survival Evolved and the building mechanics of Minecraft. The game is called PixArk and Snail Games have also released a new trailer to go along with the announcement.

The game will borrow key elements from ARK: Survival Evolved including survival, dinosaur taming, and more and this will all be combined with a voxel-based building system similar to what we’ve seen in Minecraft. The game will feature a robust character progression and customization system, over 100 dinosaurs and other creatures to tame and ride, a procedurally generated quest system and much more. You can read more details about the game in its Steam Early Access page.

The game will enter Early Access and will launch in Xbox Game Preview in March. The full game will release for the PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PS4 later in 2018. You can check out the announcement trailer below.

Snail Games’ fantasy survival RPG Dark and Light was originally supposed to enter Early Access this year, but the game has now been delayed to 2017. Snail Games explained the delay by emphasizing that the extra development time would be used to deliver a more polished product in the end.

“We can assure our fans that, with this extra development time, we’re going to release Dark and Light at a level that our studio is proud of,” they said. “To reach our goals for Dark and Light requires that we spend extra time at this stage in the development process to ensure we’re delivering an extraordinary game to our players, and we appreciate the patience as we ready it for Early Access.”

That said, there is a brand new trailer for the game, as well as some new screenshots, that you can check out in the meanwhile. The game also has a Steam page now, in case you were worried this would slowly recede into the background and become vaporware. According to that page, Dark and Light is going to launch in its final form in Q4 2017. Its early access launch will come far before then.

[Thanks WCCFTech]

Chinese companies often take liberal inspiration from internationally successful products, with pretty blatant trademark and IP infringements, and products sold with names that laughably represent the real thing- for instance, you will run into many a Nii or a Play System on Chinese streets.

With that said, it appears that one of these Chinese products is now trying to make it big in the US. It is called the OBox, and it is being backed by Snail Games, who are currently massive in China, having expanded from a browser-based MMO developer to both hardware manufacturer and the nation’s fifth biggest cellphone service provider.

At CES 2015, they showed off their OBox and W3D initiatives, both designed to gain inroads into the US market. The OBox is powered by the Nvidia K1 processor, and Snail Games has a pretty progressive plan to let retailers offer different variations, with the options being offered being as mundane as different storage capacities, to different HDMI setups, and even different processors; the consoles are all modular, meaning even if you scrimp and get the cheapest possible option now, you can upgrade with the better parts later.

The only kicker? It’s an Android console.

So that’s another promising product doomed to failure, much like the Ouya, the Fire TV, and the Google Nexus Player.

The W 3D is not a console- it is a smartphone, and it too runs on Android, except this has buttons, meaning high end gaming options might actually be a thing here. It has an 8-core MTK6595/2.2GHZ CPU, meaning it rivals the Vita, if not far supercedes it, in terms of premium handheld hardware… it also has a glasses free autostereoscopic 3D screen, so that’s the 3DS’s signature feature covered there as well.

While it would be foolish to count Snail Games out, considering what all they have accomplished in China, do remember that China is a very different kind of market, and Android based gaming has, so far, completely failed to take off in the US.

We will see.

Source: The Verge

Leonid Melikhov: Black Gold Online has a rather interesting setting, with a fantasy medieval steampunk theme going on for it. This kind of setting usually isn’t visited much in games (the most notable example is the seminal Final Fantasy VI, way back on the Super Nintendo). What made you want to try this setting, and in an MMO no less?

Johnny Lynch: The inspiration behind it was that we really realized that there aren’t that many steampunk MMOs. There is a few low-level ones like City of Steam, but there wasn’t anything action-like or the type of the thing. We decided to create this cross-over as the source of the conflict because we wanted to have a game that players could participate in. So we developed the story-line that’s behind the steam and the fantasy being two worlds that was developed in-tandem but separate from each other.

Then we put it on a collision course over this precious resource called Black Gold and they both use it in different ways. One side we use for their magic, it’s their foundation of their elemental magic and the other side uses it as a fuel source for their mechs, and that was the emphasis behind it. We wanted to mix the styles in a way that was on a gameplay level and also on an artistic level, just two conflicting worlds fighting over resources and that’s really the experience of the game.

"If you go to the different parts of the world they’re totally different and that’s actually part of the story-line that’s part of why it’s happening. If you go to the west there are little towns in a middle of deserts with very rough terrain. If you go to the east, it’s more lush wilderness, jungles and rain forests, which is also the explanation of why they have the distinct cultures and the distinct development between these two factions."

Leonid Melikhov: Why did the game take so long to come over to American shores?

Johnny Lynch: We obviously wanted to make sure that it got tested to being a quality game. We’ve gone through 2 levels of testing so far in the American market and both have gone very well. It is out in China, we had localization process and wanted to make sure that texts and quests were good.

Leonid Melikhov:  In general, how did you try to keep the graphics and art style consistent across two very different primary themes- steampunk and fantasy?

Johnny Lynch: The diversity of it is actually a big important part of the art-style. If you go to the different parts of the world they’re totally different and that’s actually part of the story-line that’s part of why it’s happening. If you go to the west there are little towns in a middle of deserts with very rough terrain. If you go to the east, it’s more lush wilderness, jungles and rain forests, which is also the explanation of why they have the distinct cultures and the distinct development between these two factions. If you go closer to the middle you’ll see them mix a bit and that’s kind of the point, it will show the worlds are in conflict. These areas in the middle are contested and there is a lot of different sub-parties going on that are mixing between the two, magic and fantasy.

Leonid Melikhov: Given how both, free to play games and MMOs, are now more and more making their way to consoles, do you think we can expect Black Gold Online to show up on one of the current consoles on the market as well? Which console ecosystem would you see the game thriving the most in?

Johnny Lynch: That whole process is in development, we actually have other things involved also in development for consoles as well. As a little teaser, we’re actually working on MOBA for consoles that’s unrelated to Black Gold Online and we have plans to move into that in the future, but it’s all still in development.

"Energy Wells are persistently control points on the map, different parts of the map can be captured and controlled by a guild and you can build defenses of turrets, walls and even big bosses that can defend their base."

Leonid Melikhov: The game uses a free to play model. Even as free to play games proliferate, and not just within the MMO genre, subscription MMOs have made a resurgence of late. Why did you make the decision to go with a free to play model with this one?

Johnny Lynch: Well, for one thing we just really wanted to make the game accessible to as many people as possible. That was the idea behind it, because of the very best features of the game such as PvP/PvE dungeons. They require a lot of people on the servers, so we didn’t make it something where it was restricted or you had to pay for it. We wanted to make a really accessible game, that’s the biggest thing for us.

In terms of balancing the game for the free-2-play, the biggest thing is that it’s definitely not pay-2-win. There is no cash shop, there is no level restrictions or anything like that. We’ve actually created our own new monetization model called the Sands of Time. The way it works essentially is that it’s a way to get gear in addition too, not in place of high-level loot drops in the world.

There is a way you can earn special points that will entitle you to get extra gear depending on how many points you earn over a certain period of time and those can be purchased with real money. It’s not really hindering player progression, but also allowing players who are willing to pay to and putting the time to really earn it to get extra high level loot. That’s the biggest thing we have in terms of keeping it competitive and giving the opportunity for people who want to do that instead.

Leonid Melikhov: What’s the highest level in the game?

Johnny Lynch: In terms of just leveling it’s level 40 at the moment, that’s the level cap. Actually, there is a lot of different things that come in the rules. For example; as you get to higher level carriers, you’ll also have to rank up your military rank which you get by killing people and accomplishing tasks in the military battlefield. There is also something called Might Score, which is related to your accomplishments, your level and also your gear. That will also lock you to certain instances, if you want to do high level raiding dungeons then you would have to get to a certain might score in order to be able to do those things. That’s the highest level part with that.

Leonid Melikhov: What’s the limit on the player raid dungeons, how many people can go in there?

Johnny Lynch: There is 5 man, 10 man instances and 20 man max for end-game raids. There is also these other special instanced battles which is one of our major end-game features where it’s a guild competitive type of battles that are called Energy Wells. Energy Wells are persistently control points on the map, different parts of the map can be captured and controlled by a guild and you can build defenses of turrets, walls and even big bosses that can defend their base. There are regularly scheduled battles between the two factions, so every Friday/Sunday the two factions can battle to control one of these Energy Wells.

Then, the rest of the week after that, the guilds of that faction will then battle each other for personal control of these Energy Wells and those have their own instanced maps that you battle on. They have their own cool fortress defense and besieging mechanics and mix of on the ground and mounted combat that makes it really interesting.

"We also have these cool open-world dungeons called Chambers of Greed that are kind of a mixture of PvE and PvP. We actually did see some positive ways of camping there, people would form gangs of 5 or 6."

Leonid Melikhov: Is the gear for PvP/PvE separate?

Johnny Lynch: No, it’s the same gear. You get these different point values for accomplishing different things for both PvE and PVP and those things can be redeemed for gear. In terms of your gear, it just boosts your stats, in terms of critical damage, attack damage and special abilities. You have a number of different skills that you’re limited to be equipped with at a time to 7. So, you have to choose and mix/match your skills. Some of them are more PvP skills, some are PvE skills and you have to pick which ones you want to use in a certain type of situation.

Leonid Melikhov: How do you guys plan pn doing the death system?

Johnny Lynch: Well, actually you can revive in a safe spot or you can choose revive in nearby town. You’ll definitely be safe from campers. It really does depend on the situation too, because if its an open world PvP against the other faction they could always send a message to their buddies. Those usually happen in contested areas, so you’d just have to get out of the contested area for a little bit. If it’s against the people of your faction, you’ll obviously start up with a wanted value and then get arrested.

We also have these cool open-world dungeons called Chambers of Greed that are kind of a mixture of PvE and PvP. We actually did see some positive ways of camping there, people would form gangs of 5 or 6. In these dungeons you can go in to fight bosses to get loot and then if you find other players you can kill them and steal the loot that they found in that dungeon.

Leonid Melikhov: Thank you so much for your time, it was great.

Johnny Lynch: No problem.

Black Gold Online is yet another link the long chain of games that have attempted to copy Blizzard’s design philosophies. The game starts off like pretty much any MMO of the last ten years. You’ll pick a faction, choosing between the steampunk-inspired Isenhorst and the nature-loving Erlandir, who are fighting over the all-important, titular black gold. After that, you’ll be tasked with choosing between one of the three races (two kinds of humans, vampires, dwarves, shapeshifters, and big, blue elves) on each side, and one of twelve different classes, each of which adheres to the traditional MMO archetypes of warrior, mage, rogue, hunter, etc.

From there, you’ll be dropped into a starting zone and tasked with doing normal, MMO-y things so you level up, and get better gear. Repeat ad naseum, and you have the basis for every MMO in existence. This isn’t a problem when the game you’re playing makes these tasks entertaining or gives you an interesting story to follow, but Black Gold Online doesn’t do either of these things. Hell, the game barely even teaches you how to play or explains what the heck you’re doing, dropping you right into the midst of a heated battle.

"The opening cinematic attempts to establish a story and some stakes, but it’s poorly put together and lacks voice acting, so you’re forced to read lines of text full of nonsense words that the game doesn’t even try to explain, and attempt to connect them to what is going on in the story."

You’ll kill a few normal dudes, hop onto a mounted warbeast, kill a few slightly bigger dudes, and then face off against a huge boss. I can only assume I was supposed to lose this fight because I did, and didn’t have to attempt it again. After my brutal murder and incredibly convenient resurrection, the game magically transported me into a more traditional starting zone where I proceeded to kill wolves and small-time bandits.

All of this would be fine if it weren’t so boring or underdeveloped, but Black Gold Online never gives you a reason to care about much of anything in its universe. The opening cinematic attempts to establish a story and some stakes, but it’s poorly put together and lacks voice acting, so you’re forced to read lines of text full of nonsense words that the game doesn’t even try to explain, and attempt to connect them to what is going on in the story.

The actual questing isn’t much better. You’re never really told why you’re doing the things you’re doing beyond “Bad Things Will Happen If You Don’t,” so it’s hard to care about anything. In one early quest, I was talking to an NPC, only to have another NPC in front of me randomly transform into a vampire and run off. I was informed that this NPC, whom I had never interacted with before, was actually an Important Member of the Community, and that I should go help him.

"You meet up with a character, do something for them, and then move on, gaining nothing but some experience and maybe some loot for your trouble. This might be okay if the individual quests were fun, but there’s no real reason that you’re doing them other than to gain experience, and the writing behind each one is usually painfully bad."

I chased him to a nearby grove, where he told me that he hungered for blood and that he needed a special plant to sate his bloodlust. I accepted the quest, walked ten feet, picked the flower my new vampire friend specified, and then brought it back to him. He thanked me, gave me some experience, and told me to get lost. I never saw him again.

It’s how most of Black Gold Online’s quests go, really. You meet up with a character, do something for them, and then move on, gaining nothing but some experience and maybe some loot for your trouble. This might be okay if the individual quests were fun, but there’s no real reason that you’re doing them other than to gain experience, and the writing behind each one is usually painfully bad.

The quest design would be easy to overlook if the act of questing itself, or the core gameplay, were fun, but, regrettably, this isn’t the case. Black Gold Online sticks to the hotkey-oriented action of most other MMOs pretty rigidly, but it never really manages to make the combat feel good. Sure, things happen when you press a button, but there’s never any sense of weight or power to your spells. You just press buttons until the other guy goes down. Worse still, there’s no auto-attacking, which means you constantly have to mash your shoot or attack button as a melee or ranged class that relies on weapons.

"Battle carriers, the warbeasts or mechs that I mentioned earlier (which you can mount at any time), are a lot of fun, and allow you to take the fight to big groups or large enemies. Likewise, the game’s PVP has a lot of interesting and varied modes, and the game’s decision to give you a mount early on encourages you to explore."

That doesn’t mean that Black Gold Online doesn’t have some good gameplay ideas. Battle carriers, the warbeasts or mechs that I mentioned earlier (which you can mount at any time), are a lot of fun, and allow you to take the fight to big groups or large enemies. Likewise, the game’s PVP has a lot of interesting and varied modes, and the game’s decision to give you a mount early on encourages you to explore (because the quest design sure doesn’t).

Beyond that, however, you would be forgiven for thinking that the game is a low-budget knockoff. Sure, the ideas behind the lore are cool, and the art style is actually pretty interesting, but the graphics never capitalize on the material provided by the setting, and everything, from the core gameplay to the quest design, just feels rushed and slapped together. Now, all of this could change. The game is still in (open) beta. But there’s already been a huge drop-off in the number of players, and a majority of the chat has been taken over by gold farmers hocking their wares.

That certainly doesn’t bode well for a game this early in its life cycle, especially an MMO. Black Gold Online has a lot of potential, and a few key fixes could really improve the game. Right now, however, it’s just not all that engaging, and worse still, not that good. Some people will no doubt love the unique aspects of the game, but in a genre with so many excellent, varied options, Black Gold Online just isn’t good enough.