It was way back in 2014 when ambitious multiplayer dinosaur survival game Ark: Survival Evolved entered early access on Steam. It was a complete smash. Despite issues like glitches, bugs, dismal optimization, and no small amount of behind the scenes drama, Ark became one of the most played games on Steam and would remain that way for nearly a decade.
In 2017 Ark finally left early access, and now here we are six years later in 2023 where the remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved... has just entered early access.
Time is a flat circle covered with dinosaurs.
The Unreal 5 Engine remaster is called Ark: Survival Ascended (which has already seen its own share of drama) and is surprisingly due out today. The trailer can be seen above showing off some graphically improved dinosaurs and survivors running around and blowing each other up.
It looks nice! It's just a little hard to get excited about because it seems like a better idea to just keep playing the original game and wait for the sequel, Ark 2, which is due out in 2024.
How much does the Ark remaster cost? I genuinely don't know! Despite it coming out today there's no pricing on its Steam page at the moment. After it was delayed from July it went from a bundled price of $50 (with Ark 2) to a different bundled price of $60 (with extra DLC). I can't say whether or not that's changed again, however. We'll find out when it actually goes up for sale, which again, is supposed to actually happen today.
Edit: Looks like it's aiming for 4 pm Pacific launch.
Edit: It was aiming for a 7:30 pm Pacific launch, but that was several hours ago.
Edit: It's out and it costs $45 with a 10% discount until November 1.
📢Okay folks, we are looking at three to four hours from now (6.30 to 7.30pm Pacific) for release on Steam for ASA. We'll continue to update as we progress. We will also share more info regarding consoles tonight. Thank you for bearing with us.October 25, 2023
