No one asks you what your favorite dinosaur is anymore and I think that’s pretty lame. Since playing Ark: Survival Evolved, I have tons of favorite dinos. The game itself is a perfect mix of science and fantasy, I mean seriously, where else can you find dinosaurs in space?
The storyline is super epic and the gameplay is out of this world - literally. However, in late October of 2023 the Ark developers are changing the game with the release of Ark: Survival Ascended. Overhauling essentially the entire base game, ASA aims to revamp everything we know and love about the OG dino game into one of the best open world adventure games of the decade.
Even though the Ark developers have only released a portion of the changes they’re making to ASA, the list is still pretty long. You might be wondering what some of the changes mean, or why they’re making them. Heck, you may not even know where to begin in the first place! Look no further, here is your Top 10 List of New Gameplay Features for Ark: Survival Ascended.
10. Cross-Platform Multiplayer
We’ve all done it. We’ve gone out to buy the same game that our friend has been talking about for days. We’ve got home, loaded up the game and called our friend to add us to the queue. Only to find out that they have it on a different console than the one you bought it for. It’s not a good feeling.
With ASA, you’ll never need to worry about that. Anyone, anywhere, on anything, can play together! You can play on PC with your friends on Switch, or you can play on XBOX with your friends on Playstation! You can even load up your character on a system that isn’t yours. You can start playing on your PC at home, and then grab your portable console and take it to your friends house so the fun never has to end.
9. Cross-Platform Modding
There are probably a large percentage of gamers out there who have never modded a single game, ever. For those of us that do mod our games though, this will be one of your favorite new features for sure. You might be worried that some of your old favorite mods might be getting the chop and you’ll be forced to find new ones, but ASA has got your back.
The Ark developers plan to reach out to all sponsored modders for Legacy Ark to give them the tools that they will need to update their mods. The plan is set for all sponsored modders to have their mods ready to roll for the release of Ark: Survival Ascended.
8. SOTF Addition to Main Game
Survival of the Fittest was released as its own game back in 2016 where it stayed running for a few years before the servers were shut down due to inactivity. In late 2022 the servers were brought back up and there was such a large influx of players that they nearly crashed the servers, again. Based on the response, the Ark developers made the hearty decision to add Survival of the Fittest into the main game as a sort of mini-game.
SOTF will have its own dedicated team for its implementation as well as future updates and just general upkeep. Including but not limited to gameplay changes, mechanical improvements, quality of life improvements, maps, and balance updates. It will have a new map - Scorched Earth and will be updated to Unreal Engine 5 along with the rest of ASA.
7. Structure Overhaul
Not only is ASA adding a ton of new structures into the game, they're performing some quality of life improvements for building that will take the game from Fortnight style building, to Conan Exiles style building. We’ve all had the issue in ASE where we simply cannot make our build work because certain pieces just wont snap together.
In ASA this will no longer be a problem with the implementation of snap fixes and overall building improvements. There is also increased foundation support and height changes in most of the structures to make your home feel more roomy and give you all that extra space you really need in this game.
6. Movement Redesign for Players
One of the most notable changes for players is going to be the combat. ASA plans to move away from the attack - run away - attack again basic style of combat and move into a more souls-like combat. Players will now be able to walk/sprint diagonally, dodge, perform heavy attacks and so much more.
5. Unreal Engine 5 Overhaul
Some players have called ASE the most beautiful survival game they have ever played. Those same players are going to have their mind blown when they experience ASA with Unreal Engine 5. The developers are utilizing tons of new components such as Nanite, Lumen and more to create one of the most visually pleasing games of its kind.
Nanite will help the detail come into focus and Lumen will allow the light to become more realistic in game. There will be interactive foliage - when you walk through a bush, watch the leaves move from around where you are. Water is made to be dynamic and will flow so smoothly you might confuse your monitor for a window looking out across the ocean. The overall performance gains will also provide a much needed rest for your hard working PC and run much easier than before.
4. Reworked Holiday Events
While being a bit more obscure, this feature is a huge perk. In ASA all holiday events will be implemented as mods. What this means is that you will “download” the holiday event pack after its release to be played whenever you would like. Yes, that means you can spend the holidays with your family and then still get to see Raptor Claus after the New Year.
3. Breeding/Taming Rework
Breeding and taming have worked essentially the same way for most of ASE. For breeding, your stat multiplier is based on the wild dinos stat multiplier, but in ASA this stat multiplier will instead be based on already tamed dinos. This has caused some dinos stats to be buffed while others received some nerfs. The developers claim that they will iron out the imbalances should any arise.
Taming should work as it had before, with the added bonus of being able to tame the baby dinos that can now be found scattered across the map. They can be found with a set of parent dinos that you must defeat in battle in order to be tamed.This could be similar to the spawnings and tamings of Conan Exiles mobs.
2. Dinosaur AI Rework
If you have ever received a jump scare courtesy of ASE, or spent hours with bated breath trying to tame a creature in a dangerous area, you’re probably only going to get more afraid with this next feature. Dino pathing has been completely reworked, this means that the dinosaurs are now smarter and will find their way to you in a more efficient, natural way.
If that doesn’t scare you, this will. In ASA the dinosaurs will now be able to smell you. So now you must not only be wary of line of sight and aggro range, but also scent range. If they can smell you, they will now begin hunting you. Good luck taming that Ryniognatha in the swamp now that everything knows you’re in there.
1. Quality of Life Improvements for Gameplay
The amount of quality of life improvements for gameplay are pretty high, but some are more important than others and should be noted. ASA will now have a fully reworked 3rd person camera system with access to play on either the new or the old. There is a minimap to be added that will showcase the new pinging feature. Players will be able to ping on the world to be seen on the minimap, or ping on the minimap directly. As pings carry over across your tribe, this will be super helpful for organizing raids or just simply working together with your teammates.
