Powered by Unreal Engine 4, Ark: Survival Evolved takes on the survival genre with a unique blend of emergent multiplayer cooperation and competition. Players awake naked and starving on the beach of a mysterious island among a herd of other confused humans. On ARK, they must then hunt, harvest, craft, research technology, and build shelters to protect against scorching days, freezing nights, volatile weather systems, dangerous wildlife, and potential enemies.

Use cunning strategy and tactics to tame and ride the many dinosaurs and other primeval creatures roaming the dynamic, persistent ecosystems across land, sea, air, and even underground. Build your character’s strengths and gain items, skills, and pet creatures using in-depth role-playing systems. Start a tribe with hundreds of other players to survive and dominate competing tribes...and ultimately discover the ARK’s true purpose.

ARK has added the infinite depth of genetic recombination -- also known as breeding. Now players can pair two members of the same species together, even across Tribes if you've got a particularly well-endowed creature, and the resulting offspring will have a random selection of traits from both parents, along with a degree of arbitrary mutation. By selectively breeding for desired qualities, dedicated players can progressively raise generations of Dinosaurs that have more refined collections of high-end traits than could never be found in the wild. But this highly-rewarding process takes effort. In the dangerous world of ARK, incubating an egg and then raising a helpless baby Dino in real-time from hatchling to adult is no small task!

This week also adds the “Terror of the Deep” creature, AKA Mosasaurus Suspirita. Contrary to popular opinion, the Mosasaurus, not the Ultramegalodon, is the largest ‘dinosaur’ in the waters. While not quite as fast as a shark, but much larger and stronger, the Mosasaurus is actually an enormous deep-sea marine lizard that grows more than 50 feet long yet doesn’t actually breathe underwater. Instead, it holds its breath for incredibly long periods of time, similar to the modern-day whale. Allowing players to build mobile aquatic bases upon its back, the Mosasaurus is ideal to have as a powerful oceanic escort.

Tame and ride one of 70-plus amazing dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, including gargantuan creatures on a scale never before seen in video games! Fly a Pterodactyl squadron over snow-capped mountains, race through the deep jungle with your pack of trained Raptors, tromp through a fortified enemy base along a convoy of gigantic Brontosaurus, or chase down prey on the back of a raging T-Rex. Players will quickly learn that dinosaurs aren’t the only dangerous creatures on the island. Other players are organizing rebel tribes to accumulate resources, experience, re-spawn points, and to construct sprawling villages and cities, with technology spanning the primitive stone-age to the modern electric-powered era and beyond. And they will fight to destroy anything they see as a threat.

Ark: Survival Evolved will include Oculus Rift VR/Morpheus support and a thorough integration of Steam community features such as Steam Economy and Steam Workshop for custom maps and mods. Players will also be able to host private/LAN servers, and have access to a custom-built version of the Unreal 4 Editor for creating mods. The world of ARK is designed to be player-oriented and ever-expanding!