The remaster of the hit dinosaur survival game Ark: Survival Evolved, Ark: Survival Ascended, which is being built in Unreal Engine 5, has seen a small delay from its original August release date. Originally announced earlier this year, Ark: Survival Ascended is aiming to bundle all the original game's DLC expansions into one cleaner-looking package ahead of its Ark 2 sequel.
Since its 2015 release, Ark: Survival Evolved has quickly become one of the most popular titles in the world of survival games with its focus on being able to fight and tame an array of different dinosaurs. Having been first revealed at The Game Awards 2020, the sequel Ark 2 is set to feature Hollywood actor Vin Diesel as it carries the survival franchise forward using Epic's newly developed Unreal Engine 5. With some of the very first Unreal 5 games like Lords of the Fallen and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 finally beginning to near release dates, Ark fans have been eager to learn more about Ark 2 and Survival Ascended. Though, fans will now have to wait a bit longer for the latter.
Developer Studio Wildcard has announced the delay of the Ark: Survival Ascended remaster from August to October, with no specific date, as the team works through some challenges with Unreal Engine 5. The DLC expansions from the first game that are set to be included in Survival Ascended will be fragmented and released following the remaster's October launch. The Island DLC will be included in Survival Ascended day one, while Scorched Earth will be made available in December. Additionally, the Ragnarok and Aberration DLC expansions will make their way to the remaster in Q1 2024.
The price of Ark: Survival Ascended will see a change as well. Its previous $60 price tag will be lowered to $45 for early access with a $5 discount at launch. Additionally, with Survival Ascended essentially replacing the original Ark: Survival Evolved game, a changing of the guard for the servers will need to take place. Now that Survival Ascended has been delayed to August, the Survival Evolved servers will see closure on September 30. The Ark community has been displeased with having to purchase the remaster in order to continue playing. Since this is a live service survival game, making the remaster a free update for existing players would be ideal, especially with Survival Evolved being taken offline permanently, but this isn't the case as of now.
As the wait for Ark 2 continues, fans of the dino survival sandbox can look forward to a potentially better looking version of the original game this Fall. As this coming October is loaded with major blockbusters like Alan Wake 2, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and more, it'll be interesting to see if Ark: Survival Ascended will be able to cultivate and maintain a larger audience of new fans ahead of Ark 2.
Ark: Survival Ascended is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S in October.
Source: GameSpot
