Introduction
Today we are going to hunt for dinosaurs in Ark! Can you survive the Ark, or will the raptors eat you? Believe me, there are much worse things on the Ark than raptors. For example, a Gigantosaurus! Or if you are looking for the herbivores that can be dangerous, you will be looking at the Titanosaurus. I played Ark well for over 4k hours, and most of this was before any kind of story was even implemented. Thus, I will not add a story in this review.
What did I think before replaying Ark Survival Evolved?
Of course, my wife and I are always overly interested in replaying this game, but we never play on the official servers anymore. Not even in the PVE servers because countless people are toxic. They will do anything they can to kill your dinosaur and hurt your base. Why? I have no fucking clue, pardon my French, but it is just, mean. Thus, we always hire a private server. Now, we should check out the Steam page.
The Steam page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/
The Steam page looks very good, and this game has excellent mechanics. However, a big problem is that if you log out in the official server, people can drag your body to the water, drown you, and steal your loot. Yes, even in PVE. If you do not log in, regularly, your stuff can be claimed by others. However, most of the gameplay mechanics are outstanding, as well as the graphics, even if there are quite some clipping errors.
Rating
I rated Ark Survival Evolved with an 8.8 before playing.
This game is always fun to play if you play on private servers.
Gameplay
If you do start this game, then you must be prepared to give your soul if you play official. Because if you do not invest all of your time into this game. Then you are not going to get anywhere. Be prepared to sit an hour in front of your screen to look at a sleeping max level dinosaur that you have tranquilized. That is, if you made the hard to get kibble in the new kibble chain. Otherwise, you can crank it up to four hours, and that is for a brontosaurus!
Many of the dinosaurs need to be tamed differently, either passive or by shooting them knockout. And if your hard-earned dinosaur dies, then too bad. Along with that, you need to gather many resources to build a base that is large enough to hold them. You cannot leave them in the wild, or they might get slaughtered. Depending on what dinosaur you leave in the wild. For example, leaving a low tier maximum level might survive for a while. And if you leave a Gigantosaurus, it is probably going to eat everything until it runs into a wild Gigantosaurus which has about 8x more health than a tamed one due to the nerf hammer.
You can also breed dinosaurs, then you need to stay hours along with a baby to feed it. Otherwise, it is going to die and all your hard work will be for naught. A Gigantosaurus baby takes ten days before it is fully grown, and you can use it. Two of these days you need to hand feed it, meaning you cannot log out, you cannot walk away, you cannot even go to bed. And beforehand, you need numerous fridges to store the meat. Yeah, that is why you have to give your soul to this game if you play official.
Rating
I rated the gameplay of Ark Survival Evolved with a 10.
Yep, this game is going to suck you dry, but, the gameplay is just, superb. There is so much more than what I mentioned here, but it is just too much. Be careful before beginning this game! It is addicting!
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics of Ark Survival Evolved are quite remarkable. There are many dinosaurs to tame, and a whole underwater biome to discover. Not to mention all the DLC that will take you to new places. Or the free to download maps with mods. Or the new dinosaurs with mods. However, the game does have some clippings and graphical errors. At least it is not as bad as when the game just released.
Sound
The sound department is where this game is a bit lacking. Most of the soundtracks are not good, and the sound effects get stale after a while.
Rating
I rated the sound and graphics of Ark Survival Evolved with an 8.1.
The graphics are wonderful, the soundtrack, not so much.
What did I think after replaying Ark Survival Evolved?
My wife and I rented a private server and adjusted the timer for taming. We usually go at five times the normal speed. Since we don’t have the time to wait that long before a dinosaur is tamed. The same goes for growing babies, and with a private server, you can pause it, and your baby will be fine when you turn it back on! Oh, there is also imprinting, for which you need to wake up in the middle of your sleep cycle. Every, four hours. Prevent this with a private server!
Then there is all the leveling you can do to learn new engrams, you do want to ride your new dinosaurs! Thus, you need to level up and learn new engrams. Then you need to collect the resources. If you want better blueprints, you have to go fishing, which has also seen the nerf hammer, or hunt for beacons. The high tier items cost ridiculous amounts of resources.
Rating
I rated Ark Survival Evolved with a 9.2 after playing.
This game is a lot of fun, but, I strongly recommend a private server.
What are my personal thoughts about Ark Survival Evolved?
My wife and I have been playing this game on and off for the last six to eight years. For some reason, we always come back.
Rating
My personal Rating of Ark Survival Evolved is a 10.
Last Words
Pros
- There are many dinosaurs to tame if they don't kill you
- A lot of fun gameplay mechanics
- There are many ways to level up and learn to build better bases, or better saddles
- Most of the dinosaurs have unique mechanics
- There are many maps to choose from
- Playing together in a private server is a lot of fun, overpowered dinosaurs, yay
- You can raise baby dinosaurs
- Many ways to gather resources
- You can use mods to spruce up your gameplay
Cons
- Official servers take too much of your time
- Official servers have plenty of toxic people
- This might not be a con, you are going to get addicted.
- You will rage when your favorite dinosaurs die, permanently
Your dinosaurs might fall through the ground, no worries, usually they will come back. Or not.
Final Rating
9.0
Please let me know what you think of Ark Survival Evolved in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends.
Last time I checked I found the game tiresome. It´s just not my cup of tea.
Sadly it is a fact the official servers have too many greefers, similar to the other multiplayer survival games. The requirements to stay in front of the computer all the time is absurd. Private server is a way to go but options to bypass these tiresome mechanics should be available on official servers.
Wow, 4k hours is some commitment! This game looks intimidating, but I’ll try it in the future.
Amazing review!
Awesome game!
Nice review!
Im more intimidated by the size of the game
Holy moly! 4K hours is insane, personally it’s not my kind of game so I avoid playing it, but a 9.0 rating makes it seem like a must play!
I still think the graphics look a bit cartoony/simplistic or dated, but otherwise, Great review Sven!
It’s a cool game, never played it 🙁
good game, greedy developers
Interesting!
Impressive game
I’m stunned by the HUGE filesize of this game and am disappointed to hear about some of its shortcomings, but overall, it does seem to be an interesting game if you can make your own private server. Does it cost anything to make one?
I know the Island may be boring but it feels like home. Pure Ark experience!
Great game, wolves look cool
the game is dino-mite!
Wow, personal rating of 10 means something!
I’ve always been curious about this game but it seemed too big and complex for my after work gaming Sessions.
I would be all over this if it was single player only, like Subnautica or Stranded Deep.
Looks like a cool game but I hate the login or lose your stuff! Boundless also has that feature and it scares me off from playing 🙁
seems cute
Hahah, I’ve found the review for the ARK now too! Over 4k hours… man…
I guess dinosaurs kept you playing this game for a “little while”. 😀
Love that you played it with your wife and you both enjoyed it. :3
We really need to replay this game, it has been too long.