Ark Survival Ascended has finally pulled ahead of Survival Evolved on Steam, and Studio Wildcard is talking about bringing an RTS-style control scheme into its new expansion, Lost Colony.
The leap came after Lost Colony went live. For several days ASA’s concurrent players on Steam outnumbered those on the older game. In an interview with PCGamesN, development director Jeremey Stieglitz said the studio wants to fold the top-down, unit-control mechanic from the Genesis Part 2 expansion into Lost Colony if they can find the time.
Lost Colony expands the sandbox in several big ways. The new Arat Prime map mixes wintry, trippy, and gothic biomes. Players can tame new creatures such as the massive bat the Gigadesmodus, and the fox-like Veilwyn, which can evolve into either the demonic Malwyn or the angelic support Solwyn. There’s also a traditional RPG-style skill tree and new base-building tools.
But the addition getting the most attention is the new thrall system. Thralls are recruitable NPCs that can defend a base, perform utility tasks like organizing inventory, harvest resources, and fight alongside you. Stieglitz explained that you can even take direct control of a thrall to scout dangerous areas without risking your main character.
That thrall control is the obvious bridge to the RTS idea. In Genesis Part 2, piloting the Exo-Mek let players switch to a top-down view and direct dinos and units from above. Stieglitz said the mechanic had too many issues to ship with Lost Colony, but the studio hopes to add it in a later update so players can order units from a god-like perspective.
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Ark: Survival Ascended
Developed by Studio Wildcard
Ark: Survival Ascended is a next-generation remaster of our beloved ARK: Survival Evolved, harnessing the power of Unreal Engine 5. The base game will include SOTF and all the Ark: Survival Evolved DLC maps (which will be added to ASA over time).
- Genre: Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Adventure, Indie
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
- Release: 2023-10-25
- Publisher: Studio Wildcard
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Age Rating:
USK 16 / PEGI 16 / GRAC 15+ / CERO D / CLASS_IND 14 / ACB MA 15+ / ESRB T
- IGDB Rating: 72.1/100
