ARK: Survival Ascended Review (PlayStation 5)

by Jim Smale · Published December 11, 2023 · Updated December 12, 2023

For this ARK: Survival Ascended Review, we play a reimagined from the ground up into the next generation of video game technology with Unreal Engine 5! Form a tribe, tame & breed hundreds of unique dinosaurs and primeval creatures, and explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food chain. Your new world awaits!

ARK: Survival Ascended Review Pros:

Beautiful high-quality graphics.
70.64GB download size.
Platinum trophy.
Action survival gameplay.
Full controller speaker support.
Graphics settings – motion blur film grain, color grading, light bloom, and light shafts.
Ui settings let you change the size and color of the Crosshair, what notifications you get, the chat window and how it shows, and transitional effects.
Camera settings – Invert Y axis, sensitivity sliders, camera view Bob, third-person camera offset, TPV camera lateral offset, disable third-person camera interpolation, player camera mode (off/tight/mid/loose), Dino camera mode (same as before), FOV slider, camera shake scale, and first-person riding (on/off).
Full mod support with search, filter, and featured.
Create and join the game option.
Advanced settings – network bandwidth (low/medium/high/epic), console access, disable menu music, blood visuals, voice chat channels, disable loading screen music, and more.
Shows a mouse and keyboard as a supported controller.
Three difficulties – Easy, medium, and hard.
Create game options – single-player or nondedicated, mod settings, game rules (such as damage/resistance/food drain, etc) for player/creature/structure/world and rules, advanced settings for – PVE, PvP, world, wild Dino, tamed Dino, player, exp multipliers, and miscellaneous. Engrams round it off and this is crafting recipes and their behaviour.
First and third-person camera view.
You have a lot of control over how your game world plays out and character progression.
Character creator – name, voice, body composition, overall height, skin color, body template, head, torso, arms, and legs.
You choose your spawn and respawn point by region with each region showing the Dino population and difficulty on the world map.
Fast loading times.
Cutscenes are a mix of in-game and FMV.
Goes with the traditional survival mechanic of punching trees to get wood and then building tools to make it faster and easier.
Tool types dictate what resources you get from them.
It’s a living world full of deadly dinosaurs.
Earn exp from doing everything and level up to increase stats and unlock new engrams (recipes).
A beautiful-looking island with many memorable places.
Play how you want.
The map fills in as you play.
Upon death you drop everything but can get it back, your death spot shows on the map.
Full day and night cycle with weather effects such as rain.
On-screen icons to show hunger and drink levels.
Character load out for clothing is – head, torso, legs, hands, offhand, and feet.
Armour and clothing can affect stats.
You can see objectives and personal markers on the map along with the Coordinates showing.
The engram unlocks are dictated by your level and your choices, you earn points and use them.
In Single Player, you can actually pause the game.
Pop-up text over dinosaurs and other players.
You can see the Corpse of your previous body.
Dinosaurs will attack each other, you can kite them into each other, and attacking one dinosaur usually has the rest of the pack hunting you down.
Save when you want.
You can craft weapons and items to hunt the many animals.
Basic tools, weapons, and clothing can be crafted in the inventory menu whilst bigger things require a crafting table.
You can just hold down the action button for swinging axes and using weapons etc.
Very addictive for those who like to craft and explore.
Territory flags help keep structures and items together but you can get raided in PvP.
Weapons and tools degrade with use and eventually break.

ARK: Survival Ascended Review Cons:

So many options everywhere it’s almost overwhelming.
Cannot rebind controls.
Animals don’t move and react that well.
A lot of the performance can be up and down.
A big undertaking.
Griefing can get out of hand quickly.
Building and surviving on the PvP side of things is really tough.
Few hit detection and building detection issues.
Shows a survival of the fittest mode but it’s coming soon.
Using the stick as a mouse cursor is not ideal in the menus.
The game has small text and I couldn’t find an option.
When changing any settings with a slider it always brings up the screen keyboard and puts the slider at zero.
Combat is very button-mashy.
You can completely break the game with the settings.
Uses so much from the first game that you can be forgiven for thinking you bought the same game again.
Using the menus overall is just clunky and slow, even the engram unlocks requires too many clicks.
No tutorials.
Just chucks you straight into the game.
So much to take in.
It takes a really long time to unlock and progress to a point where you can actually survive and progress.

ARK: Survival Ascended:

Official website.

Developer: Studio Wildcard

Publisher: Studio Wildcard

Store Links –

PlayStation

8/10

Graphics - 8/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
7/10

Accessibility - 7/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

7.2/10

Summary

ARK: Survival Ascended is a visually stunning game with high-quality graphics that immerse you in a living world full of deadly dinosaurs. The game has a hefty download size of 70.64GB, but it’s worth it for the platinum trophy and the action survival gameplay.

The game offers full controller speaker support and a plethora of graphics settings, including motion blur, film grain, color grading, light bloom, and light shafts. The UI settings are customizable, allowing you to change the size and color of the Crosshair, what notifications you get, the chat window and how it shows, and transitional effects.

The camera settings are extensive, with options to invert the Y axis, adjust sensitivity sliders, camera view Bob, third-person camera offset, TPV camera lateral offset, disable third-person camera interpolation, player camera mode (off/tight/mid/loose), Dino camera mode (same as before), FOV slider, camera shake scale, and first-person riding (on/off).

The game supports mods, with features to search, filter, and feature them. You can create and join games, and the advanced settings offer a range of options, including network bandwidth (low/medium/high/epic), console access, disable menu music, blood visuals, voice chat channels, disable loading screen music, and more.

The game offers three difficulties – Easy, medium, and hard. The game rules can be customized, including damage/resistance/food drain, etc., for player/creature/structure/world and rules. The advanced settings for PVE, PvP, world, wild Dino, tamed Dino, player, exp multipliers, and miscellaneous are also customizable.

The character creator is detailed, allowing you to choose your character’s name, voice, body composition, overall height, skin color, body template, head, torso, arms, and legs. You can choose your spawn and respawn point by region, with each region showing the Dino population and difficulty on the world map.

The game has fast loading times, and the cutscenes are a mix of in-game and FMV. The survival mechanics are traditional, with players starting by punching trees to get wood and then building tools to make it faster and easier. Tool types dictate what resources you get from them.

You earn experience from doing everything and level up to increase stats and unlock new engrams (recipes). The island is beautiful, with many memorable places, and the map fills in as you play. Upon death, you drop everything but can get it back, and your death spot shows on the map. The game features a full day and night cycle with weather effects such as rain.

However, the game does have its drawbacks. The controls cannot be rebound, and the animals don’t move and react that well. The performance can be up and down, and griefing can get out of hand quickly. Building and surviving on the PvP side of things is really tough, and there are a few hit detection and building detection issues. The survival of the fittest mode is shown, but it’s coming soon.

Using the stick as a mouse cursor is not ideal in the menus, and the game has small text with no option to change it. When changing any settings with a slider, it always brings up the screen keyboard and puts the slider at zero. The combat is very button-mashy, and you can completely break the game with the settings. The game uses so much from the first game that you can be forgiven for thinking you bought the same game again.

Using the menus overall is just clunky and slow, even the engram unlocks require too many clicks. The game has no tutorials and just chucks you straight into the game. It takes a really long time to unlock and progress to a point where you can actually survive and progress.

Overall, ARK: Survival Ascended is a big undertaking with a steep learning curve, but it offers a unique and immersive survival experience for those willing to put in the time and effort. For me personally I see it more as a remaster with a few little touches here and there but with that come some of the bugs from the first game, I am indifferent on it as on the one hand you have progress and on the other, you have regressed. It is a wait-and-see what the update does as right now you get more in the original game from me.