When Ark: Survival Ascended, a remaster in Unreal Engine 5 of the much-loved dinosaur-themed game Ark: Survival Evolved, was first teased, many thought it would be a free upgrade to the game.
However, fans took to social media to stress how unimpressed they were when it was officially announced as part of a $50 or R936 bundle with a preorder for Ark 2.
Shortly after, the developers of the game, Studio Wildcard, pivoted on the announcement and stated that instead of packaging the remaster with a preorder for the sequel, it would instead come with several DLC upgrades.
The game would also cost $10 or R187 more without the additional game, which went down as well as you could imagine.
During this time, Studio Wildcard also announced that the remaster would be released in late August, which has now been pushed back to October, according to the studio’s newsletter.
“We’ve found it challenging working with Unreal Engine 5.2, but at the same time, it is incredibly exciting. We’re discovering new ways each day to push the technology to the next level; combined with the work needed to support a fully cross-platform-moddable game ecosystem on consoles and PC, it’s clear that we’ll need a bit more time.”
The remaster is still set to launch with The Island expansion included. However, Scorched Earth has been moved to a post-launch update along with the extra DLC maps.
“Scorched Earth will be coming to ASA in December this year. Ragnarok and Aberration will follow in Q1 2024, and the rest of the maps beyond then.”
The price is also seeing yet another change; Ark: Survival Ascended will now cost $45 or R842 during its early access period, estimated to last until late 2024.
What do you think about all this? Will you pick up Ark: Survival Ascended in October? Let us know in the comments.