Studio Wildcard has announced that ARK: Survival Ascended, a remaster of the original ARK: Survival Evolved, will be launching for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S. The game’s announcement comes following the news that ARK II has been delayed to late 2024, although that game looks unlikely to come to PS5.
ARK: Survival Ascended is slated for release by the end of August 2023, and includes the base game, The Island, SOTF, and the Non-Canon DLC maps. PS5 owners can grab the game as a standalone title for $39.99, although Xbox owners will be treated to the ARK Respawned Bundle, which grants access to both games.
Studio Wildcard also revealed that the ARK remaster will boast a number of performance improvements, among which includes a full overhaul thanks to the Unreal Engine, including Nanite, Lumen, and RTXD, plus dynamic water, interactive foliage, and more.
However, with the launch of the new game comes a price for the old version: servers will be shutting down.
With the launch of ASA at the end of August, we will be taking down all Official Servers on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC for ARK: Survival Evolved – at that time, the final save-datas from the ARK: Survival Evolved Official Servers will be uploaded for players to re-host on their own servers or play in singleplayer/non-dedi, as well as slightly earlier snapshots. You will still be able to play on single-player, non-dedicated, player-dedicated, and unofficial servers. ARK: Survival Ascended will have its own fully supported Official Network for all platforms.
In addition to the above, ARK: Survival Ascended will feature Cross-Platform Multiplayer and Cross-Platform Modding. Here’s a list of the various quality-of-life improvements and balance changes also coming to the remaster:
- Updated mini-map (pan, zoom, pings, etc – similar to the SOTF mini-map)
- New structures (display cases, smaller TEK Teleporters) & building QOL improvements (snap fixes, increased foundation support, foundation height adjustments, and more)
- Queueing System
- New third-person camera (with the option to opt out)
- Directional Sprinting and Walking
- Ping system
- Gamepad cursor
- Chibi Slot and Skins Tab
- Balance passes (e.g. Cave Entrances, MEKs, Aberration Creatures, more breedable creatures, etc)
- …and more! (seriously, a lot more, this list isn’t exhaustive, but it’ll get super long if we list everything, and there’s more we’ll decide to do between now and launch too)
[Source – Studio Wildcard]