Dec 12, 2017

Ark's Aberration expansion out today, launch trailer launched

ARK: Survival Evolved

Originally due in October, Ark's Aberration expansion lands today—bringing with it an new underground biome, dozens of alien-like dinos and over 50 new craftable items.

Despite not being much of a cave guy, Chris appeared to enjoy his hands-on time with Aberration last month, as he traversed its inhabitable and hazardous underground world where sunlight is apparently deadly. In turn, you should expect earthquakes, environmental pitfalls, ziplines, wingsuits, climbing gear, and, obviously, a cast of fantastically terrifying creatures.

Here's a look at some of that in video form:

And if that wasn't enough to contend with, developer Studio Wildcard warns we should "Beware the ‘Nameless’: unrelenting, Element-infused humanoids, which have evolved into vicious light-hating creatures, and the Reapers, massive alien monstrosities which can impregnate foes to spawn their offspring." Chris bills the latter process as a "rather messy chest-birth to a squirming worm grub" that's equally gross and fun. I'll take his word for it.

With new challenges and over 50 new craftable items to tinker with, Aberration provides plenty to get on with. Speaking to the new creatures, Studio Wildcard adds:

The intense radiation of Aberration has led to incredible genetic mutations, resulting in dozens of new creatures with amazing abilities! Clamber up walls and glide through the air on the back of a camouflaging chameleon-like ‘Rock Drake’, keep the dark at bay with one of four friendly ‘Lantern Pets’, or grab and toss multiple creatures simultaneously with a massive ‘Cave Crustacean’, or—if you are brave enough—allow the horrific Reaper Queen to impregnate you, and spawn a vicious male Reaper alien lifeform you can tame and control.

The Aberration expansion costs $20 standalone, and can also be purchased as part of the Ark season pass which includes Scorched Earth and an as-yet unspecified third expansion. We've been informed Aberration will go live at 6pm GMT/10am PT.

Dec 8, 2017

Mysterious Mysteries: Introducing ??????? & Community Crunch 111!

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jen

Mysterious Mysteries: Introducing ???????

What an intriguing discovery survivors, what could this be?

Aberration Countdown Is On!

The wait is almost over! Aberration will have a simultaneous release across all three platforms at 8 AM Pacific Time on the 12th.

In “ARK: Aberration” Survivors will find themselves waking up on a derelict, malfunctioning ARK with an elaborate underground biome system, where they will face exotic new challenges unlike anything before: extreme radioactive sunlight and environmental hazards, ziplines, wingsuits, climbing gear, cave dwellings, charge-batteries, and far more, along with a stable of extraordinary new creatures await within the mysterious depths. But beware the ‘Nameless’: unrelenting, Element-infused humanoids which have evolved into vicious light-hating monstrosities! You’ll uncover the ultimate secrets of the ARKs, and discover what the future holds in store for those strong and clever enough to survive!

To help ease the pain of waiting over the next few days, feast your ears on Aberration's theme song, created by Gareth Coker.

https://soundcloud.com/jeremy-wildcard/ark-aberration-theme

New Skins from Extra Life!

One of our rewards for collecting donations during our Extra Life charity stream was to get a skin of your choice put into the game. Because our fundraising event was such an overwhelming success we decided to award the top four donators instead of just the top one. On December 12th, four new hat skins will be added to the game.

These skins were chosen by the top fund raisers: x3Belle, PepperJC, windxiv, and Dakhar, and the skins are the: Cute Dino Helmet Mask, Chili Mask, Otter Mask, and Scary Skull Mask respectively. These can be earned by defeating the boss on Aberration. Thank you once again to x3Belle, PepperJC, windxiv, & Dakhar, and to everyone who participated in our Extra Life event!

Sponsored Mod Program Update!

It’s another exciting month in the Sponsored Mod Program! The mod entering the program this month is not one that we think many people are aware of. The modder, B.Cheers, has been around the modding community for quite some time. Some of you might remember some of his older work like Ark Futurism or Storage+. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

This month we will be sponsoring ARK Futurism Final Existence. What’s really cool about this mod is that these are all custom assets made by B.Cheers. There’s no doubt a ton of work went into making all the content that’s in this mod. At the moment, there’s a mostly complete structure set that uses a half wall design. This offers more flexibility to all the ARK builders. More importantly, there are mechs that can equip armor and weapons! With the addition of Tek Tier, I knew someone would take it to the next level.

B.Cheers has a development tracker if you’d like to keep up to date with what he’s working on and things that are to come. We believe this mod has a really promising future and might serve as a supplement to your Tek Tier existence. Don’t take our word for it, be sure to check it out for yourself!

ARK: Evolution Event++ Weekend!

Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Monday the 11th at 12 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate
2x Maturing
2x Hatching
2x Gestation
2x Faster Mating Interval Rates

Also, we won't be running an Evolution Event next weekend as we'll be taking a look at Aberration numbers and judging initial balance/feedback. Get in and take advantage of the rates whilst you can! :)

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To read the rest of the Community Crunch this week, check out our announcement post on survivetheark!

Keep on surviving!

Dec 8, 2017

Mysterious Mysteries: Introducing ??????? & Community Crunch 111!

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jen

Mysterious Mysteries: Introducing ???????

What an intriguing discovery survivors, what could this be?

Aberration Countdown Is On!

New Skins from Extra Life!

Sponsored Mod Program Update!

ARK: Evolution Event++ Weekend!

Nov 22, 2017

Ark's Aberration expansion set to arrive December 12

ARK: Survival Evolved

I recently got a chance to play around in an early build of Ark's second expansion, Aberration, which takes place in a series of underground biomes and introduces new movement systems like wingsuit gliding, rock-climbing, and ziplines. Originally planned for an October release, Studio Wildcard has announced that Aberration will now arrive on December 12.

Along with the new environments, and the new tools to get around in them, Aberration will of course arrive with new dinosaurs (or are they aliens?) such as the Rock Drake, which can glide, stick to walls, and become nearly invisible. There's also a hideous queen monster that can lay eggs inside you, causing you to give a rather messy chest-birth to a squirming worm grub. Gross! But fun.

The Aberration expansion will be priced at $20, and can also be purchased as part of the Ark season pass, which includes Scorched Earth and an as-yet unspecified third expansion. Ark itself is currently 50% off in the Steam store.

Nov 22, 2017

Ark: Survival Evolved's next paid-for expansion Aberration finally has a release date

ARK: Survival Evolved

Studio Wildcard has announced that Ark: Survival Evolved's next full-scale, paid-for expansion Aberration will release on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on December 12th.

Aberration, which was originally slated to release in October, is the second paid-for expansion to come to Ark, following last year's desert-themed Scorched Earth.

Its main feature is a new, horror-tinged map, set on an inhospitable, malfunctioning Ark - which, for those not in the know, are basically [MILD SPOILER] giant, floating space zoos run by some very naughty aliens [/MILD SPOILER].