With all attention on its Unreal Engine 5 remaster and its official servers switched off for good, Ark fans never thought they'd see an original expansion in Ark Survival Evolved again. However, to celebrate the series' tenth birthday, ASE is back in the spotlight with Ark Aquatica. While its AI-generated reveal trailer caused some backlash, it looks to be a mightily impressive expansion to Survival Evolved, which will have its official servers reinstated just for the occasion. Now, Snail Games has locked in an Ark Aquatica release date, and you don't have long to wait at all - you'll be able to head beneath the waves next week on Tuesday, July 15.
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Alongside the likes of Rust, Valheim, and Subnautica, Ark has established itself as one of the biggest players in the survival game space. Ark Survival Evolved is now ten years old, and still boasts healthy player counts to this day. The same can be said for its Unreal Engine 5 remaster, Ark Survival Ascended, which is busy enhancing ASE's vast library of content expansions and creating original ones in the process. An ambitious sequel, Ark 2, is also in the works. There's even a star-studded Ark animated series. While that all sounds remarkably positive, it's safe to say that there have been trying times too. In an exclusive interview with PCGamesN, two of the co-founders of Studio Wildcard - Jesse Rapczak and Jeremy Stieglitz - reflect on the last decade of Ark, the reasons why swathes of players are yet to shift over to Survival Ascended, and their favorite Ark expansion of the last ten years.
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