While ARK: Survival Ascended’s sudden release announcement during a gameplay trailer left many fans stunned by developer Wildcard’s lack of effective communication, it seems that the game’s fantastic graphical and mechanical improvements have shone a positive light on the initial negative responses. However, ARK: Survival Ascended still has one major problem Studio Wildcard desperately needs to overhaul before fans can consider the release a success: optimization.

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In the meantime, fans who are fortunate enough to run the game have many great changes to admire, such as the abundance of foliage, astonishing lighting, and drastically enhanced dino behavior. With new sound effects replacing obnoxious old ones, and hopefully more revisions to come, ARK: Survival Ascended is evidently a mammoth improvement to its predecessor.

7 New Building Blocks And Better Snap Points

Build Better, More Detailed Structures

Building in ARK: Survival Evolved was an apparent mess to anyone brave enough to try and construct something that wasn’t a square box, and even though the game had potential, improved by popular mods such as S+, the fussy snap-points and unreliable placements made the entire building process frustrating.

ARK: Survival Ascended has improved building significantly, allowing players to assemble unique and intricate buildings with greater ease. On top of this, all structures saw a graphical overhaul, as well as the introduction of new wall types, and additional snap-points on roofs. Not to mention that ARK: Survival Ascended thankfully reduced the total amount of engrams needed to learn to build certain building blocks such as pipes and walls, managing to fit structure variants into one neat place.

6 Improved Water Textures And Splash Animations

Take To The Prehistoric Seas

ARK: Survival Ascended saw a complete overhaul to ARK: Survival Evolved’s water textures and physics, and it’s amazing how a simple change can make such a huge impact on the game’s ambiance and overall quality of graphics. Furthermore, the game’s new water and splash physics are a much-welcome addition.

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The quality of the water update continues beneath the surface of the ocean, which looks stunning with ARK: Survival Ascended's new lighting, too. While ARK: Survival Evolved’s sea looked murky and lacked appeal, ARK: Survival Ascended’s ocean is simply breathtaking.

5 Denser Foliage And New Flora Animations

These Trees Won't Chop Themselves

Of all the things ARK: Survival Ascended does right, one of the most noticeable is foliage. While the game’s predecessor felt barren even in the densest woodland, ARK: Survival Ascended feels prehistorically overgrown, and it’s fantastic. Despite the additional flora making it difficult to find some corpses and bags, the dense foliage feels so core to the game that it’s hard to remember it not being there in the series' first entry.

Wildcard’s team outdid themselves on the ambiance, especially with the added animations when creatures and players interact with the environment. It’s truly amazing how simple changes such as the foliage moving while characters pass through it and the new felling animations for trees can be so impactful for immersion.

4 Hit Box Overhaul And Improved Hit Registration

Ichthyornis Can Finally Get The Bonk They Deserve

ARK: Survival Evolvedhad many frustrating elements that players learned to accept and shake off, including the finicky hitboxes and aggravating hit registration commonly associated with smaller creatures - fliers in particular - that made certain dinos in the game very annoying. The hit registration on arrows was so bad on dinosaurs like the Ichthyornis that players hosting unofficial servers would often turn off that particular dino spawn altogether.

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ARK: Survival Ascended improved hit boxes and hit registration immensely, so much so that some reliable traps hilariously no longer work. Despite this, the collective community has rejoiced over the ability to finally deal with the pesky Ichthyornis that once haunted them in the early game. Furthermore, the odds of getting stuck inside another dinosaur, especially Alpha Carnos, seem to be a lot lower, hopefully reducing the "tamed-dino-stuck-in-alpha-carno" casualties.

3 Better Player Animations And Models

Dino Taming Never Looked So Good

Animations such as walking, running, swimming, and different methods of gathering have had a much-needed overhaul and some tender love and care from Studio Wildcard. While the series' iconic, over-encumbered slow running might have been hilarious and well-loved, the new walking animations in ARK: Survival Ascended are a much-needed change.

The new animations in combination with ARK: Survival Ascended’s new player models and physics are a fantastic update to ARK: Survival Evolved’s stiff characters. While there is certainly some room for improvement, specifically when it comes to the player faces, Studio Wildcard has made solid progress in the player-model department.

2 New Lighting Effects And Improved Bloom

Just Look At That Sunlight... Look Right At It

All light sources in ARK: Survival Ascended have been significantly improved, creating a much more immersive ambiance for players. Furthermore, players no longer need to fear the reflective glare of sand and snow or turn off light blooms in the video settings. Wildcard has done a brilliant job with overhauling the lighting in ARK: Survival Ascended, likely thanks to updating the game's engine to Unreal Engine 5.

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Gone are the days of flying slightly towards the horizon, only to be blinded by the searing rays of the sun, and instead players are welcoming the much softer tones of ARK: Survival Ascended. That being said, players hoping to stare directly at the sun will still be greeted with its full, concentrated power.

1 Baby Dinosaurs And Dino Behaviour Adjustments

The Cutest Deadly Reptiles Around

Dinosaur behavior in ARK: Survival Evolved already saw a couple of tweaks over the years, but ARK: Survival Ascended improved the AI far beyond that. As well as just generally being smarter when it comes to pathing, and being less likely to get caught in trees or on rocks, dinosaurs also actively avoid some traps such as the popular ramp trap technique.

Some passive dinosaurs will also now turn around and fight the player in an attempt to survive if they're attacked, adding a sense of realism to the game. As well as improving the overall AI for dinos, ARK: Survival Ascended introduced wild baby dinosaurs, adding a new and cute way to tame. Part of the improved AI means that parent dinosaurs are more likely to defend their offspring, including passive dinos like the Parasaur.

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