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ARK II

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
Genre: Action/Adventure
Developer: Studio Wildcard
Release Date: Late 2024

About Rainier

PC gamer, WorthPlaying EIC, globe-trotting couch potato, patriot, '80s headbanger, movie watcher, music lover, foodie and man in black -- squirrel!

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'ARK II' Delayed Until End Of 2024

by Rainier on March 31, 2023 @ 3:41 p.m. PDT

ARK II is a sequel to the open-world action/adventure dinosaur game, starring acclaimed actor and devoted ARK fan, Vin Diesel.

ARK II thrusts players into a brutal new world of primitive survival against both beast and man, facing down the ever-present threats of hyper-realistic intelligent dinosaurs, aggressive alien fauna, and the exotic environments of an unearthly planet.

Survivors will continue ARK's dramatic eons-spanning story of humankind's evolution, in this next-generation sandbox survival experience!

Starring the talents of Vin Diesel (Fast Franchise) as the hero protagonist Santiago and announcing Auli'i Cravalho (Moana) as the voice of Santiago's daughter Meeka, Studio Wildcard is using Unreal Engine 5’s photorealistic real-time lighting technology for this reimagined, next-generation survival experience.

Wildcard team also made headlines with the reveal that Vin Diesel will join the Studio Wildcard production team as the President of Creative Convergence where he will act as an executive producer of ARK II, star as a fully rendered hero protagonist (Santiago), as well as EP of the newly announced “ARK: The Animated Series,” where his character will cross over from the video game.

After careful consideration, we have decided to delay the sequel's launch to the end of 2024, when it will still launch exclusively on Xbox, Game Pass, and Windows distribution platforms (Steam/PC). We’ve put much thought into delaying ARK 2 for the betterment of the final product and the team's well-being. This news will be disappointing to many - we feel it too - but we’re confident this heavy decision is the right one.

So why the delay? Our goal is to make ARK 2 the best game it can be and provide a truly exceptional and rewarding experience for players. Unreal Engine 5 is incredibly new technology to us (and all developers), and we aim to use this cutting-edge tech to its fullest potential while creating a game with never-before-achieved scope at Studio Wildcard. As we learn more about the engine and develop the sequel, we have adapted our workflows and adjusted our pipelines to accommodate this new next-generation paradigm, and because of everything that involves, we need more time for development.

We sincerely apologize for this delay and genuinely appreciate your understanding. Your support and passion are vital to us, and we will continue to work intensively to deliver the ultimate next-gen dinosaur survival experience. With that in mind, we do not plan to showcase any gameplay/screenshots/videos of ARK 2 this year; however, we intend to keep you informed and engaged in the development process by regularly showcasing more ARK 2 assets in the months ahead, leading to our gameplay reveal next year.

But! Our desire to push the boundaries of what ARK 2 is on a next-generation platform has led us to the decision to create an intermediary Unreal Engine 5 ARK product utilizing some of the new technology we are building, allowing us to further our mastery of the new engine and ultimately battle-test some of our riskier technical advancements. We’ll gain a deep understanding of how well the rendering and lighting techniques work on console, what performance will be like, whether we can optimize and deliver interactive water and foliage on a widescale basis, and much more. We will deliver cross-platform modding, cross-platform multiplayer & a new account system, informing us about other changes we should consider for ARK 2. Due to the scope of all the technical and QOL changes required for such a next-gen experience, it is not feasible to make this new version of ARK backward compatible, which led us to conclude that this would need to be a separate product.

We also recognize that ARK 2 has some pretty significant design changes from the original game, which may not make it as appealing to everyone (looking at you, Souls-like combat, primitive-only weaponry, and strict third-person mechanics – and an overall “very serious” tone), which is why we feel it is essential to provide players with a fully next-gen version of the original experience to ensure that fans can continue to enjoy the ARK they know for years to come. 

We’re thrilled to share this new ARK journey with you this year -- bringing players from PC, Xbox, and PlayStation together in a next-generation version of the game you love, topped off with revolutionary cross-platform modding.

Key Features:

  • BEST IN CLASS, THIRD-PERSON GAMEPLAY - Advanced character traversal mechanics include mantling, free-climbing, parkour, sliding, and swinging!
  • REVOLUTIONARY CROSS-PLATFORM MODDING - Fully stackable, user-created Mods for new creatures, items and gameplay features, with maps distributed across all platforms – including onto Xbox – and support for modded servers enabled through official mod support by mod.io
  • SOULS-LIKE MELEE COMBAT - Target-lock, blocks, dodges, combos, staggers and special attacks all emphasize player-skill based action.
  • MASSIVE, NEW ALIEN ENVIRONMENT - Explore a mysterious, chaotic world where native flora and fauna are being overrun by invasive primeval creatures, from an extinct Earth.
  • COMPONENT-BASED ITEM CRAFTING - Construct weapons and tools from a range of distinct modules to customize their look and functionality -- millions of possible combinations enable players to craft their own unique gear! Specific materials will further affect the appearance of items, with multiple resource options in unique regions of the world.
  • DYNAMIC WORLD EVENTS - Natural and unnatural occurrences are always happening across the game world, independent of your presence! Your choices in deciding whether to interact with these events will yield rewards or challenges.
  • OPPOSING PVE FORCE - Hostile 'Aratai' hunt & attack you while riding their own tamed creatures, as they seek to drive human interlopers from their world.

ARK II is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC.


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