ARK: Survival Evolved is an open world game with elements of sandbox, survival, action and exploration, among others. Studio Wildcard breathed more life into ARK during the PC Gaming Show by showcasing a new biome and official mod support.
Studio Wildcard intended for ARK to be mod-friendly, and players have been busy flexing their creative muscles since launch. The modding community has created numerous mods that change ARK gameplay altogether, thereby essentially creating a very different game.
Studio Wildcard has recognized the popularity of these mods, and announced official support for one popular mod in particular. Primitive+ is a role-playing mod based purely on surviving using basic tools and skills. Primitive+ has a large following on Steam because it requires players with varied skill sets to cooperate for survival and ultimately create a functioning and lasting community.
Primal Survival takes a very different approach to survival. In this scenario, players take control of ARK’s local populace -- the animals themselves. With Primal Survival, we get to witness a creature’s entire life cycle, from feeding to breeding. Players can play as any animal, ranging from ARK’s signature dinosaurs to birds and insects.
Along with these new mods, Studio Wildcard demonstrated ARK’s new redwood biome, which features towering, indestructible redwood trees. The massive redwoods add a vertical element, and players can build treehouse-like structures dozens of feet above the ground. Finally, Studio Wildcard revealed ARK’s newest denizen, the Titanosaur, which is a tremendous dinosaur that is large enough for players to build an entire fortress on.
It's good seeing the ARK: Survival Evolve modding community thrive, and even better seeing Studio Wildcard add official support for popular mods.
Alexander Quejado is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Alexander Quejado on Twitter.
The server I play on has been in a inactive holding pattern for over a month now because. :(
You could move away from the official servers to private servers. I ran my own private server for a few months but never got any traction other than my immediate friends so I eventually shut it down. I must admit, I had alot of fun with this game and seeing all the mod activity gets me all giddy again. I may have to fire up my server again and curtail some of the grinding aspect. Building and resource gathering were more enjoyable to me. Obtaining dinosaurs as beasts of burden was more appealing to me Vs for pets/breeding/warmongering.
A private server could have a more flexible update schedule giving its users a buffer between Official server patch roll-out and private server implementation of the patch. Still a limbo of sorts but how could you complain about new content being added to a game in Early Access?