New details of the much-anticipated sequel to ARK: Survival Evolved were finally revealed yesterday as part of the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase event. ARK 2 made its official debut with a trailer that promises the best in next-gen survival experiences. Many viewers also noticed that Vin Diesel will be in the starring role.
With the release of the announcement trailer still fresh, the team at Studio Wildcard have also shed some more light on the project, which, according to a blog post shared on Xbox Wire, has been in the works for quite some time. Check out the announcement trailer here in case you missed it yesterday.
ARK 2 will have a central narrative that focuses on a father-daughter dynamic and will feature both Vin Diesel as protagonist Santiago and Auli’i Cravalho as his daughter Meeka. While there’s clearly a lot more going on in terms of storytelling in the sequel, there’ll still be plenty of opportunities for players to carve out their own unique adventures. Players will need to work to build their own tribe, make connections with others, and of course, tame and make use of the incredible variety of dinosaurs that will be roaming the world.
Additionally, ARK 2 will also only feature third-person gameplay and will apparently feature heavily skill-based Souls-like action. This is a different kind of direction for the franchise, and certainly, one that’s fairly uncommon in a PVP-based survival game. Parkour and world traversal has also been re-engineered in ARK 2, with the game’s co-creators and studio founders Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak taking inspiration from the climbing mechanics in games such as Assassin’s Creed when designing new ways of navigating the world space.
The game has been developed in Unreal Engine 5, and if the in-game footage shown in the announcement video is anything to go by, the game itself should be a truly stunning experience when it launches on consoles and PC next year. Although there’s no specific release date yet, we do know that ARK 2 will be a console launch exclusive for Xbox Series X and Series S and with Xbox and PC Game Pass on Game Preview. It will also be available on PC via Steam Early Access.
