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ARK: Survival Ascended

ARK: Survival Ascended

Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, Instinct Games · released Oct 24, 2023

ActionAdventureIndieMassively MultiplayerRPGEarly AccessPCPlayStation 5Xbox Series X

ARK is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation of video game technology with Unreal Engine 5! Form a tribe, tame & breed hundreds of unique dinosaurs and primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain. Your new world awaits!

EA
Early Access · not scored yet

A work in progress doesn't get a VGC Score. When 1.0 ships, it's scored completely fresh: we judge the game that ships, not the road there. Until then, here's how the Early Access run is going:

Stable
60%
Recommend
60%
Now
45%
Player sentiment
2.9y
In EA
5
Updates 90d

Screenshots & trailers

What players say

Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 405 sampled Steam reviews (206 positive / 199 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.

What positive reviews talk about

  • Multiplayer & servers12% mention it
  • Bugs & crashes12% mention it
  • Performance6% mention it
  • Visuals & art5% mention it
  • Story & writing5% mention it

What negative reviews complain about

  • Bugs & crashes32% mention it
  • Performance25% mention it
  • Multiplayer & servers15% mention it
  • Visuals & art12% mention it
  • Monetization8% mention it

Satisfaction by hours played

Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.

Under 5h

39%

77 reviews

5-15h

55%

67 reviews

15-40h

57%

51 reviews

40-100h

63%

54 reviews

100h+

49%

156 reviews

Review sentiment over time

Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.

Press & Creators reviews (3)

Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.

  • 70
    trust 56Dec 12, 2023

    ARK: Survival Ascend is the feeling of the familiar, wrapped in improvements. The implementations added to the game significantly improve the gameplay experience, in addition to a wide range of content that has been added for the console version. It's the chance for old and new players to immerse themselves in a challenging, unique survival experience whose potential can be seen to be in constant progression.

    read full review ↗
  • 50
    trust 56Jan 14, 2024

    ARK: Survival Ascended leverages the Unreal Engine 5 to deliver improved textures and functionalities, notably excelling in the realistic depiction of animals and landscapes. However, it contends with performance challenges that may affect the overall survival gameplay experience.

    read full review ↗
  • 80
    trust 46Dec 18, 2023

    If you haven't played Ark before, I don't think you'll be disappointed when picking it up now. For fans of the original like myself, the biggest downside about Ark: Survival Ascended may be that buying this game is basically becoming a required investment if you want to keep enjoying Ark. Because as I understand it, Studio Wildcard is working actively to phase out the original game, having already shut down its official servers. This leaves players with no option but to upgrade. However, after overcoming the hurdle of paying again for a rework, there's not much holding you back from enjoying a prettier and better version of an already highly likeable game.

    read full review ↗

Patch history

  1. Astraeos Heaven & Abyss Update is now live!
    Aug 27, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  2. Community Crunch 514: The Belly of the Beast
    Jul 11, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  3. Lumina Awakens!
    Jul 9, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  4. ARK Tides of Fortune, Dragontopia and Genesis Part 1 are out now!
    Jul 3, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  5. ARK Fantastic Tames Season 1: Burrowbuck and Araneo TLC are out now!
    May 20, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  6. Astraeos Mega Update is now live!
    Feb 25, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  7. Community Crunch 491: The Sands Stir on Astraeos
    Jan 24, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  8. Community Crunch 490: The Future is Bright!
    Jan 10, 2026significant · resets scoring window
  9. Community Crunch 489: Naughty, Nice, or Eaten, Raptor Claus Returns!
    Dec 20, 2025significant · resets scoring window
  10. ARK: Lost Colony is now live!
    Dec 19, 2025significant · resets scoring window
  11. Valguero Ascended and Fantastic Tames: Elderclaw are now live!
    Oct 8, 2025significant · resets scoring window
  12. Community Crunch 468: LiveOps Update, Arkpocalypse, and more!
    Jul 25, 2025significant · resets scoring window
  13. Ragnarok Ascended and Lost Colony Expansion Pass are now live!
    Jun 20, 2025significant · resets scoring window
  14. Community Bite: UE 5.5 and Roadmap Update
    May 13, 2025significant · resets scoring window
  15. Community Crunch 443: Club ARK Update & Community Creature Submission!
    Feb 1, 2025significant · resets scoring window