ARK: Survival Ascended Impressions - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

mmorpg.com:

ARK: Survival Ascended has entered early access, and the developers at Studio Wildcard have outdone themselves on this iteration of the original game while still being very much Studio Wildcard. From the stunning visuals to the improved systems, ARK: Survival Ascended would be a complete joy to play for fans of the original, if not for a mix of issues.

ARK: Survival Ascended looks stunning. Once players finish creating their survivor in the new character creator, listen to the short new cutscene, and spawn onto The Island, it's immediately apparent that Unreal 5 makes a huge difference. Everything looks fantastic, from the dinosaurs to the underwater particle effects. It was a joy to wander the beach as all the visual improvements brought the base map to life.

As I started my routine of gatherings and building from  ARK: Survival Evolved , I was shocked at how smooth the single-player gameplay initially felt. The menus are snappy, and I quickly noticed many quality-of-life improvements within the gameplay systems and UI. But as I played, old familiar issues appeared mixed in with a few new problems.

Did I mention that  ARK: Survival Ascended  looks fantastic? Good, because it's worth saying again. The developers have done a great job making the environment a feast for the eyes when all the bells and whistles are turned on. This starts with character creation. Gone are the limited options of  ARK: Survival Evolved ; players can now adjust almost every aspect of their survivor's appearance and make some decently good-looking characters or an absolute monstrosity. The only minor criticism I have of the character creator is that Studio Wildcard needs to let us change the character's expression eventually. The permanent