ARK: Survival Evolved

 Xbox One
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 120 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 120
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 120
  3. Negative: 36 out of 120
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  1. Eventuating
    Oct 10, 2018
    7
    ARK: Survival Evolved is an open world survival game with thousands of possibilities and is every dinosaur lover's dream game, waking up on the vast empty shores of the Island to the dangerous depths of Aberration. You can be caged by your worst enemy or eaten by the infamous Giganotosaurus. Whilst the game is very intensive on whichever platform you decide to play on, it still has manyARK: Survival Evolved is an open world survival game with thousands of possibilities and is every dinosaur lover's dream game, waking up on the vast empty shores of the Island to the dangerous depths of Aberration. You can be caged by your worst enemy or eaten by the infamous Giganotosaurus. Whilst the game is very intensive on whichever platform you decide to play on, it still has many upsides. It is the leading survival game of its time. There are two main game modes that you can play which will ultimately determine which community you'll become a part of, the pvp community and the pve community. Whilst the game is primarily multiplayer it also has a lore behind the official maps which leads a mediocre back-story of various survivors throughout the different maps, however this is often pushed to the side by many players as they play for the experience and not the lore of the game.

    The pvp experience is very different to its pve counterpart. When playing on a player versus player server it tends to be the case that you need to think more tactfully than aesthetically. You need to learn how to trust strangers in order to succeed in this community as larger tribes will stop at nothing to destroy you when provoked. This community is also a harsh environment and is perfect for those who enjoy others suffering, however not for the young or light hearted. People have no limit to what they'll say in this community and will not care if they offend someone. Tribes will often form alliances to cause reckoning amongst the various servers. However this can be fun to those who like challenge and like the thought of looting others.

    The pve experience is a little more forgiving than the pvp experience as people tend to be nicer. However you should not start playing expecting it to be a walk in the park. The game still has the natural challenge of dinosaurs and other wildlife and occasionally someone will try to give you some trouble whether this be surrounding your base with pillars so you can't expand or leading wildlife to destroy your beloved tamed dinosaurs. If you want to get anywhere far in this game then this is the game mode for you.

    The graphics of this game can be excellent if you have the hardware that the game requires to run it. I would personally recommend a top tier computer or if you want to play it on a console then the Xbox One X is probably your best bet for graphics in particular, however the framerate is also unreliable when exploring new terrain or clustered structures. The official wildcard hosted servers are horrific when it comes to uptime and stability and even worse when it comes to being updated. These are often what ruin the experience as they can cause loss of items or even characters and dinosaurs.

    This game has a multitude of mechanics from combat to building to taming wildlife, these are all key aspects of the game and are almost all perfected. However this doesn't stop the cheaters or "hackers" in the entirety as many in the pvp community find ways to cheat whether that be duplicating items to cause an unbalance or raiding people from under the map, this is a major issue which Wildcard seem to be ignorant to.

    Throughout playing the game I have met so many great and horrible people. Some people are kind and you'll end up playing various other games with however some are not so nice. Over my time playing the game (3500+ hours) I have met more nice people than not. These people are people I have bonded with making the game a lot more enjoyable and fun. I do believe this game is better when you're playing with people you enjoy talking with.

    Overall I would say that this game is a great game if you have the time to play it. The grinding of resources and taming of dinosaurs takes a extortionate amount of time but that time is minimised if you play with people, which also makes the game more fun. If you are easily distracted or are likely to get upset when something dies then this is not the game for you.    … Expand
  2. Dufflad
    Mar 29, 2021
    9
    Don't play this solo. Try to find a group or even just one person to play with. This game needs crossplay ASAP, but it has crossplay between PC and Xbox One/Xbox Series X. When I first tried Ark in early access on XB1, I thought it looked and played like crap, but today that's a thing of the past. I've put 60+ hours into the current server I'm playing and have enjoyed 95% of that time.Don't play this solo. Try to find a group or even just one person to play with. This game needs crossplay ASAP, but it has crossplay between PC and Xbox One/Xbox Series X. When I first tried Ark in early access on XB1, I thought it looked and played like crap, but today that's a thing of the past. I've put 60+ hours into the current server I'm playing and have enjoyed 95% of that time. There are some small glitches, particularly with building, that get annoying and dying is common, but if you like Dinosaurs, this game is finally worth checking out.… Expand
  3. countyourmacros
    May 31, 2021
    7
    This really is a game meant to be played on the Series X, not the One. The small dev team did a great job on this game, and its reviews are due to the rocky start as, some bugs, as well as brutal lag on the Xbox One and PS4. On Series X, it runs fine, and on a good PC it also runs fine.

    I personally found it was not horrible on XB1. You don't have to play the story part of the game and    This really is a game meant to be played on the Series X, not the One. The small dev team did a great job on this game, and its reviews are due to the rocky start as, some bugs, as well as brutal lag on the Xbox One and PS4. On Series X, it runs fine, and on a good PC it also runs fine.

    I personally found it was not horrible on XB1. You don't have to play the story part of the game and if you want you can just mess around in an open world dinosaur game. It's best with friends.

    6.5/10.    … Expand
  4. Jarody
    Mar 11, 2018
    7
    Ark: Survival Evolved is a very interesting game. The developers of this game deserve a lot of praise, especially when the game was in early access, with them pumping out updates like it was nothing. Even now when the game is released they seem to be working hard on DLC's and future updates. As for the graphics, they are very inconsistent. Sometimes they can be beautiful, and other timesArk: Survival Evolved is a very interesting game. The developers of this game deserve a lot of praise, especially when the game was in early access, with them pumping out updates like it was nothing. Even now when the game is released they seem to be working hard on DLC's and future updates. As for the graphics, they are very inconsistent. Sometimes they can be beautiful, and other times all you'll see are pixels. This game has also a significant amount of bugs, although that's expected from a game of this calibre. However, unlike a lot of other games I never seem to get bored of this game, because there's so much to do and explore. I'll take a month off it, and become interested again. So despite this games buggy nature, I can't help liking it.… Expand
  5. Nerevarinho
    Dec 3, 2020
    8
    After the 3rd chance to get into, i really started to like this game in singleplayer. Played surely 30+ hours, without thinking to stop. Even after already finished Subnautica a year ago and thinking i have seen enough good survival game mechanics, this game has a pretty good different experience to offer.
  6. Mrman69
    Jul 27, 2020
    9
  7. Jaxxomi
    Dec 6, 2018
    5
    ARK: Survival Evolved or as I liked to call it... Die within two minutes.
    So yeah I am not a big survival fan, but after seeing how amazing the game looked in trailers, I wanted to know more... I mean I got into the game and was instantly impressed by the look of it, the animals were very detailed and their was a realistic tone to them... Then I was killed by three level 150 creatures and    ARK: Survival Evolved or as I liked to call it... Die within two minutes.
    So yeah I am not a big survival fan, but after seeing how amazing the game looked in trailers, I wanted to know more... I mean I got into the game and was instantly impressed by the look of it, the animals were very detailed and their was a realistic tone to them... Then I was killed by three level 150 creatures and then I ran into the issue of not knowing how to build and then that eating berries was only slowly keeping me alive... I just kept running into balancing issues over and over again that made me feel discouraged for playing the game.
    If you are hardcore into survival games than this is the game for you, if you like really hard games than this is the plan for you... But for me who likes to enjoy the game thoroughly this game was not for me.
    Good game, just not for me    … Expand
  8. westfam4190
    Apr 22, 2019
    7
    This game is fun but hard. I enjoy playing with friends on their servers, but single player is super hard because I keep dying. It might just be a me thing. Let me know.
  9. Politegun8
    Aug 13, 2019
    8
    poformance&downsides There are major peformance issues. The framerate tanks alot the game seams half finished the game craashes every few hours the game is harsh on most ligit serversthe most dinos are slow you even have to focus on speed or weight or health and 720p res the up sides the maps are huge there is alot to do the games fun in general. It is challenging if not modified you havepoformance&downsides There are major peformance issues. The framerate tanks alot the game seams half finished the game craashes every few hours the game is harsh on most ligit serversthe most dinos are slow you even have to focus on speed or weight or health and 720p res the up sides the maps are huge there is alot to do the games fun in general. It is challenging if not modified you have alot of choices the official servers are fun if you grind enough. More downsides. Tthe controls are confusing and a pain to learn theree is no guide so you have to learn yeself or use google or youtube… Expand
  10. Rubiales
    Apr 15, 2020
    6
    I feel really bad with this game, because i was expecting an awesome open world game with dinosaurs and other creatures that would be more solid and not so boring. It has a lot of creatures and they are awesome, but the game for me is quite slow. The game would have been a masterpiece if it were faster and more dinamic.
  11. Caldan
    Nov 14, 2020
    9
  12. Coral
    Jun 25, 2020
    8
    Dino survival game. One of the best survival games. Can have lag issues due to size of maps and number of players. The survival game with takes to get this formula right with a fix to servers will be the game to be.
  13. dutysebas
    Jul 6, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A mi me gusto lo que no me gusto es que el modo pantalla dividida no esta optimizado bien y al abrir el inventario en cualquier modo se lagea y que no se pueda jugar online pantalla dividida pero los dinos tienen pulidas sus funciones al inicio puede ser un gran reto pero en mi opinión lo recomiendo bastante le podrás echar meses hasta años a este juego lo que me gustaría es que tuviera mods para así poder tener muchas mas cosas pero los mapas ya son extensos y viene con una gran variedad de cosas tendrás que ir aprendiendo con el tiempo y te va a ir gustando mas y mas lo recomiendo jugar en compañía… Expand
  14. Spartanecho
    Jan 12, 2021
    10
    Improved over the years in performance and spectacle, this remains one of the best survival games of all time.
  15. asme
    Jun 21, 2021
    10
    Hands down the best Survival Game I have ever played in my life! Raptors are my spirit animal or dino lol.
  16. Bump4
    Jul 24, 2021
    7
    Not as good of a run as on PC, but still enjoyable beautiful soundtrack is retained.
  17. Ullaa
    Jul 27, 2021
    7
    Good game, the only bad thing is the glitches that are awaiting a fix but other than that totally worth it...
  18. Daredev
    Aug 5, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I play on PC and Xbox One and the game is beautiful and has a great concept, but servers can be pretty tough at times.… Expand
  19. BigBear94
    Sep 24, 2017
    1
    I tried really hard to enjoy this game, but after a week its ultimate fate is to go back to the retail shelf it came from. Why? Well unlike most people, I don't care about the bugs. Logging in and being stuck in your floor for a few minutes? Okay, whatever, I can deal. Good dinos take literally 4+ hours to tame? Okay, whatever, I can deal. What ultimately made me give up on thisI tried really hard to enjoy this game, but after a week its ultimate fate is to go back to the retail shelf it came from. Why? Well unlike most people, I don't care about the bugs. Logging in and being stuck in your floor for a few minutes? Okay, whatever, I can deal. Good dinos take literally 4+ hours to tame? Okay, whatever, I can deal. What ultimately made me give up on this potentially great game is the pure unoptimized performance. This is highlighted most when a small, fast dinosaur attacks. In more than one instance I was ambushed by raptors, and found myself unable to even fight back due to the serious framerate drops from the raptor attacks. Not only was this utterly pointless, but the lag inherent on all servers means you'll fire an arrow and get a sweet headshot on your screen and.... no hit marker, because the raptor is actually 12 feet away and you're attacking the air. To test this out, I managed to get more than 20 arrows stuck in a Dodo without it actually registering ANY damage.

    On top of all this, it feels entirely unfinished and NOT ready for retail audiences given the fact there is no intro whatsoever. Even the single player mode just drops you into the world without so much as a quick rundown of your UI, or how to do anything. Wanna tame a dino? Good luck figuring out what you're meant to do within the confines of the game. It doesn't tell you ANYWHERE! Sure, the game has been in early access for a considerable amount of time so many people know what they're doing. But this isn't the target audience of having your product on retail shelves.

    At the end of the day, this game is utterly unplayable in my opinion. Framerates drop the moment anything happens, the bugs will constantly bring down your experience, and you should probably expect to spend more time on Google and Youtube finding out what the hell you're doing than actually playing the game.

    Disclaimer: I know unofficial servers and player dedicated servers are out there. With that said, I paid the full retail price for this game, so I expect that the developers have their game complete enough and with enough tweaks that it's not utter crap on their servers. I was VERY wrong. Sadly, if you want to enjoy this game, you must abandon the official servers for unofficial, and that's not something I think should be expected of a game that is selling at full retail as a "complete game".

    And don't even get me started on all the tribes that treat this game like a job, and will literally turn it from a video game into a scheduled part time job. Sheesh guys.    … Expand
  20. LucasSO
    Jul 8, 2020
    10
    This game is certainly the most ambitious survival game that fulfills what it promised. It presents good gameplay, mechanics well explored, decent lore and everything in the game has its function.
  21. hgoon
    Apr 8, 2018
    10
    The low score for this game was done when it was an early access title full of bugs. Its an exceptionally ambitious title and understandable a difficult one to get right, the sheer freedom in this game is unmatched from the building to the combat to pvp diplomacy and the interactions with the fauna it is all amazing. The warning I do have however is that it is an anarchy simulator! someThe low score for this game was done when it was an early access title full of bugs. Its an exceptionally ambitious title and understandable a difficult one to get right, the sheer freedom in this game is unmatched from the building to the combat to pvp diplomacy and the interactions with the fauna it is all amazing. The warning I do have however is that it is an anarchy simulator! some people will be crushed and will not be able to handle it, but for those that can rise to alpha status they will have a blast with the freedom that Ark provides.… Expand
  22. DisturbedKarma
    Sep 16, 2017
    0
    100+ GB of bugs. I really wish I could say something nice about this game, had tons of potential, but the game is awful, and the company is even worse. Constant lies to players, broken promises, the list goes forever.
  23. Crackerjackx13
    Sep 14, 2017
    0
    OFFICIAL SERVER REVIEW - If you are looking for Fair and Balance PvP, play a different game. Lack of Security. Other players Doxxing enemy player and tribes in world chat with their private information, people Dossing official servers to roll back if under attack or to duplicate items, God tames(not normally spawned tames) put in by admins, Duplicating Items and selling them or basesOFFICIAL SERVER REVIEW - If you are looking for Fair and Balance PvP, play a different game. Lack of Security. Other players Doxxing enemy player and tribes in world chat with their private information, people Dossing official servers to roll back if under attack or to duplicate items, God tames(not normally spawned tames) put in by admins, Duplicating Items and selling them or bases through pay pal for real $$$1000's going to who knows, People wiping you from under the map, the list goes on, Theses are facts and issues the Ark Devs have yet to deal with or even try to address with over 2 years of development. There is a lack of security features or oversight to prevent this the issues persist just read the forums to hear some of the horror stories,

    Further more the developers over the course of 2 years instead of dealing with the many bugs and glitches rather keep rolling out more content rather then fix the bugs or issues with the game. My guess is to either to drown out the voices of those that speak up about some of the issues stated above or gain more revenue needed to fix the issues or for a new game they are working on.

    Most of the community will not touch official servers now because of theses many issues unaddressed and will to player dedicated servers sadily, all anyone had to do before the offical release was to take a look at the player count on the offical servers, most were 30-40 out of 100 players at most for a reason, just ask any of the regular players.

    ontop of that, the balancing of the game was not in favor of smaller tribes or the new player, but the no lifer who neglected life family, friends, jobs, etc and put everything into the "grind of ego and things" understand that alot of people on official servers would inside/betray player/tribes consistently because the value of things and ego out weighed the value of people, the primal cancer of the community thrives. There is no Fair, there is no balance.

    In regards to real life fall outs from this game, some people have even killed themselves, lost there job, got divorced, domestic abuse, all because of the stress and isolation this game can cause, read the forums.you have been warned. I'm going to be honest, After Doing The Mega Alpha Server list(see the ark forums xbox strategy or reddit) for xbox legacy servers, and playing for 108 days, i have seen it all. play a different game..    … Expand
  24. JackBolt
    Oct 9, 2017
    8
    Ark: survival evolved is an upcoming game as it has just come out of early access and released as a full game. It is a game about surviving on an island with a choice of 4 maps, including 1 DLC, in addition to creating your own map with certain settings, known as procedural generated maps, however these ones can involve some small bugs as it is not ‘officially’ made by the developers. ThisArk: survival evolved is an upcoming game as it has just come out of early access and released as a full game. It is a game about surviving on an island with a choice of 4 maps, including 1 DLC, in addition to creating your own map with certain settings, known as procedural generated maps, however these ones can involve some small bugs as it is not ‘officially’ made by the developers. This game is also all about dinosaurs, as there are over 150 creatures in the game, some are, the developers like to call them ‘creatures’ as it can broaden their view of what to add so it doesn’t give them any boundaries because the creature may not be a dinosaur.

    The reason this game does not have as big of a title as it should, is because of the amount of bugs. Although the developers add in new content at least once a month, instead of focusing on bugs, they add more creatures which can occasionally add more bugs making the game feel worse than it is. However sometimes the bugs can be fun and experimental, it can sometimes be frustrating as it could possibly waste a lot of time. Although the game has many bugs, it hardly ever crashes, it may lag or freeze for a few seconds, but that is not as bad as it crashing, as the game crashing will reset a lot of time (if you are on a private server).

    The games visuals and audio will almost make you feel as if you are in the world as they are stunning. The visuals are extremely realistic as the game has multiple biomes, all which are suited by the surroundings, the trees, the plants, the structures (e.g. skeletons, fallen trees), as well as waterfalls. In addition to the visuals, the audio also makes you feel part of it as it shows the way that some creatures would sound, loud or quiet, this is also taken into the fact of depth, the distance that you are from a creature.

    Before the game was officially released, the developers had released a free game on the side of it, which was called survival of the fittest (only on PC), which the name made sense as it is, the best survive. This game was only made for a short game where the players in it would have a short time to get ‘set up’ and ready to battle others in this player vs player game mode. In this time you could tame creatures, get loot, craft loot. After a certain amount of time the ‘borders’ would close in, to stop people from ‘camping’ or staying in an area. This would manage to get the players closer and closer together, until they could either not fit in the circle, or everyone was dead (if you die you are out).

    Some people will not like the game as it doesn’t have a very big story line to it, however this can allow you to create your own story line for it. To sum the game up, you appear on a mysterious island where in your left forearm there is something called and implant, this leads people to think that the survivor is a test subject. As the game goes on there are bosses to defeat which can unlock you later maps.

    To conclude my review, I will give this game a 8/10 as the game is almost perfect for you if you like dinosaurs, but the game has too many bugs which can ruin the game as it does not flow as well as it could.    … Expand
  25. SuperkenGaming
    Aug 31, 2017
    6
    ARK Survival Evolved
    Theres something here, but its half baked
    ARK Survival Evolved is out of BETA, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite feel like it.. Fair Warning im awful at survival games and they don’t keep my attention for long…so if youre looking for an in depth review on all the survival stuff, youre not going to get it here, As a casual survival game fan, Ark survival is    ARK Survival Evolved
    Theres something here, but its half baked
    ARK Survival Evolved is out of BETA, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite feel like it..
    Fair Warning im awful at survival games and they don’t keep my attention for long…so if youre looking for an in depth review on all the survival stuff, youre not going to get it here,
    As a casual survival game fan, Ark survival is probably the most half baked one ive played..
    The hardest part of this game is actually getting into a server…
    the server numbers don’t make sense as there are some with numbers way over the limit and others that say they are under the limit until you try to join it..
    but once you do find a server, this server is basically your home unless you want a fresh start..
    There are 2 modes you can play in… one having modern technology and one focusing on just primitive technology, but you choose an area to spawn in at ..all with different difficulties with your fresh character and you get to surviving…
    |Knowing how to survive is one thing..
    knowing how the game works is another because this post beta game has no proper tutorial to teach you the game. I had to go to youtube to learn how to pick up stones, im not even joking…
    I found myself doing this a lot when I ran into questions like how to tame a dinosaur..
    oh did I forget to mention dinosaurs..
    theres dinosaurs…
    This game is full of them but theyre not as cool as I thought they would be..
    Theyre essentially jerks that try to kill you while you collect sticks rocks and berries… .
    the game is a pretty steady evolution of equipment which is cool..
    youll level up as you craft, collect, and hunt.. and you can dump skill points into stats but you can also learn how to craft new items like fires to cook raw meat.. btw another youtube trip.. how do you start a fire…
    the higher level you are the better items you can craft and the better dinosaurs you can tame, ill save you the trip.;. you beat them until theyre unconscious and throw a saddle on them,...
    But as a survival game you have to manage your health, hydration, hunger, and body temperature…
    This is done by collecting berries, building shelter, hunting animals with the weapons you craft, or going for a swim..
    this was the coolest part is how easy not dying of thirst is here…
    finaly a survival game gets it.. let me just drown myself until im not thirsty anymore..
    it works in this game as it should…
    but there are pvp and pve servers.. there are other people running around, theyl lbuild huts and fires too, these items cant be destroyed as youre able to lock them, but you can squad up and join tribes.. or be a lone wolf like me cause youre awesome at surviving and you don’t need a tribe…
    theres no real task here… its just dumb fun of running around a map and try to build the coolest stuff you can, sort of like minecraft with none of the fun stuff but with dinosaurs…
    which again are here to kill you…
    when you die you have all of your blueprints and levels… and youre able to rush to your dead body fr your gear if you can remember where you died at.. but other players can pick your gear too so good luck…
    I see the good in this game, I can understand why people love it and how they can have fun within its world…
    of creating your own survival goals and setting out to accomplish them..
    but it’s a half baked game that still feels as though its in beta…
    I cant argue that this game isn’t fun.. but I can argue that there are plenty of better more polished survival games out there on console
    I give ARK Survival Evolved
    a 6/10    … Expand
  26. toto1511
    Dec 5, 2018
    10
    ARK is a pure masterpiece! While it is not comparable to the AAA classics that we have today but we must not forget that ARK is an independent game developed by a small studio!

    Let's not start the positives: The content of the game is just huge! There are more than a hundred dinosaurs and creatures of all kinds, and it is possible that I am wrong and there are even more! The graphics    ARK is a pure masterpiece! While it is not comparable to the AAA classics that we have today but we must not forget that ARK is an independent game developed by a small studio!

    Let's not start the positives: The content of the game is just huge! There are more than a hundred dinosaurs and creatures of all kinds, and it is possible that I am wrong and there are even more! The graphics and art direction of this game are just sublime, immersive environments and especially life is present everywhere, you can watch the dinosaurs move and attack others or attack them yourself or tame them! The music (soundtrack) of this game is just fantastic and absolutely fabulous, Gareth Coker did a monster job! It is, I think, one of the games with the best BO in the independent domain! Not to mention the DLC which are certainly paying, but still add tens or hundreds of hours of games to the basic game that is already very long! And do not say that the game is flat and contains no story, just see the number of notes arranged throughout the map and especially the cinematic end to understand that the game hides a big story behind.

    But, as in all excellent games, there are negative points: Unfortunately the game is not very very well optimized, although there is still a huge difference between the advance access version and the final version, the game in Ultra is almost unplayable for those who do not have a GTX 1070 or 1080 and again ... But hey, I personally play high with a GTX 1080 and the game runs very well! Unofficial servers (which are purchased on hosting sites such as Nitroserv or OMGSERV) are not stable at all! There are many lags, automatic disconnections and crashes.

    But luckily the game remains fun to play for those who want to have fun with friends! For those interested in history, there are many secrets to discover and mysteries to solve! And the support of mod via the workshop extends enormously the game! Whether mods that add maps, creatures, gameplay, armor / weapons / tools and etc! In short, ARK is one of the best independent games in history!    … Expand
  27. james12
    Sep 9, 2017
    10
    Its actually pretty good if you can host your own server. I can't speak much for the public servers because I have mostly always hosted and played with friends. I did play a public one PVE a while back and it was no that bad. PVP might be a different story though. Single player can be pretty fun to. For the hours invested I have invested in this game already it was 100% worth the money. IIts actually pretty good if you can host your own server. I can't speak much for the public servers because I have mostly always hosted and played with friends. I did play a public one PVE a while back and it was no that bad. PVP might be a different story though. Single player can be pretty fun to. For the hours invested I have invested in this game already it was 100% worth the money. I am not sure what some of the other reviews are going on about with personal life problems caused by ark. Seems like if you let a game run your life you have different issues beyond a video game… Expand
  28. Hornwalker
    Nov 28, 2017
    4
    This is the worst game that I've sunk hundreds of hours into. The only reason I've sunk hundreds of hours into is because I play with a couple of friends. The game is a great concept, poorly executed. And rather than fix the problems that exist(broken networking being #1 up there), they would rather make paid DLC.

    My wife calls it the pooping game, which is pretty great. But there    This is the worst game that I've sunk hundreds of hours into. The only reason I've sunk hundreds of hours into is because I play with a couple of friends. The game is a great concept, poorly executed. And rather than fix the problems that exist(broken networking being #1 up there), they would rather make paid DLC.

    My wife calls it the pooping game, which is pretty great. But there is nothing polished about this steaming pile of Large Animal Feces.

    However, if you have some friends with a sense of humor who enjoy sinking hundreds of hours into repetitive tasks that start to feel like a second job, this is the game for you!    … Expand
  29. Broyax
    Jul 18, 2018
    1
    Les jeux de survie sont à la mode depuis quelque temps, un principe évidemment séduisant sur le papier mais qui débouche trop souvent sur des baudruches vides, surtout lorsqu'elles sont boulottées par des studios plus ou moins indés, plus ou moins médiocres et incapables.

    Comme le but prioritaire est le multi-joueurs, on y observe avec consternation des mécaniques de grind absolument    Les jeux de survie sont à la mode depuis quelque temps, un principe évidemment séduisant sur le papier mais qui débouche trop souvent sur des baudruches vides, surtout lorsqu'elles sont boulottées par des studios plus ou moins indés, plus ou moins médiocres et incapables.

    Comme le but prioritaire est le multi-joueurs, on y observe avec consternation des mécaniques de grind absolument épouvantables (il faut garder les kévins le plus longtemps possible sur le jeu, les kévins et leurs copains krololol) afin qu'ils achètent les extensions et autres DLC... et continuent de jouer.

    Ark cela dit, est tout-à-fait jouable en solo -et sans connexion aucune- et laisse au joueur unique la liberté de modifier moult paramètres de l'expérience. Hélas, la traduction française a été faite par des amateurs (des "fans") qui n'ont aucune idée de ce qu'ils font et qui auraient mieux fait d'aller cueillir des pâquerettes ou de continuer leur farmage tranquillou.

    Jeu de survie donc mais aussi de "construction" puisqu'on peut construire sa maison et des machins et des trucs mais là encore, il faut farmer les ressources comme un Coréen et apprivoiser ces cons de dinos avec d'autres bidules à farmer : de toute façon, t'as pas le choix, tu descends dans cette putain de mine, tu la fermes et tu bosses 24/7.

    Sur Xbox, il faudra se taper une interface conçue pour le PC, son clavier et sa petite souris mais avec une seule manette en tout et pour tout : on a rarement vu aussi bâclé à cet égard. De toute manière, rien n'est expliqué, ni de près ni de loin : t'as qu'à "survivre"... Et effectivement, le jeu ne va pas survivre bien longtemps dans ces conditions et finir dans les affres de la désinstallation.

    Graphiquement, le jeu n'est pas bien beau malgré une optimisation pour la X mais tourne à peu près correctement. On s'ennuie donc rapidement à refaire la même chose sans arrêt et ce n'est pas l'idée de grinder ces merdes avec des kévins qui va nous rassurer, bien au contraire.

    Voilà, Ark survival n'a pas survécu et comme il est aussi disponible sur galette, c'est chouette : on peut caler des tas de trucs avec. La musique du menu était sympa.    … Expand
  30. JKing04
    Jun 7, 2018
    3
    I really tried to enjoy this game, but the constant bugs, lags, grind and pure **** put me off quick.

    Me and my friends bought this game about a month or 2 ago and at first we were optimistic about it, although the first thing i noticed was the horribles framerate and picture quality. This was the first thing that put me off. After learning the basics, dying and failing many times, we    I really tried to enjoy this game, but the constant bugs, lags, grind and pure **** put me off quick.

    Me and my friends bought this game about a month or 2 ago and at first we were optimistic about it, although the first thing i noticed was the horribles framerate and picture quality. This was the first thing that put me off. After learning the basics, dying and failing many times, we got a small stone base set up near a metal deposit. After a short while we were soon greeted by a naked man with only a club (keep in mind we had metal armour and guns) The first thing i noticed was that the guns feel awful to play with on this game, so hard to aim and hit someone. One of the naked men took 2 shotgun headshots, 3 pistol shots and a longneck rifle shot which on any other game should kill you. But no. The naked man managed to take on 2 fully geared men with rifles with just a club.

    After days of playing, we got into a constant cycle. We would play all day long and build up a medium-sized metal base, and then the next morning wake up to it all gone-nothing left. At first it was frustrating but after this happened a couple times we just got used to it and just dealt with it as best as possible. The game just made us mad and usually causing arguments amongst each other as we kept losing everything after grinding all day. I wanted to love this game so much it made me stay inside day in day out just to try and find a good moment in this game, but there never was. What im getting at is that it became to much of a grind for very little reward or fun.

    The game has been out for just short of a year and bugs and exploits haven't been fixed, the developers are so greedy they would rather put their time into making more dlc than fixing the core game and making it worth the staggering price that it is. I think the skill points system should be completely removed as it makes the game stupid and frustrating. For instance, as i was talking about before, the naked man with a club upgraded nothing but his strength, movement speed and health, which basically meant he ran super quick and was just a bullet sponge and his strength made him kill us or knock us out easily and making it way unfair on us who spent days grinding for the gear that we had. The guns in this game are literally useless.

    The community is SO CANCEROUS. Constant griefers and mic spammers make this game even more annoying, someone can just knock you out and lock you in a cage for HOURS. Or just swing by your base and kill all your pets for NO REASON. Or you would have the alpha tribe sitting outside some poor noobs base all day just door camping him cos they had nothing else better to do.

    The lack of servers on this game make it really unplayable. Here are your choices:
    -Play on official servers where everything is 100 levels above you and kills you instantly
    -Play on 1000x modded servers were everyone has everything and they run around at 90 mph
    All other servers are completely dead which makes it an effort just to find a good server with a decent population.

    One thing that also annoyed me was how difficult the game was to learn. To have to learn how to craft, tame or survive you needed to search around youtube for some crappy tutorial that some 10 yr old made. The game tells you literally nothing on how to survive. You join a server and you are plonked naked on a beach wondering what to do.

    However, the game, on some maps, does take us to some quite unique locations with some nice graphics (on PC) and offers some enjoyment in fighting dinos and the music is pretty fitting and cool for the game that its in aswell as the tribe system, which it does really well unlike other games such as rust ( although rust is way better in my opinion)

    In conclusion, the game is a great concept but excecuted so poorly with bugs, B.S, and because of the fact that you need to play it 24/7. I think the game could be amazing if the devs just put time into fixing the game and not being money whores, but frankly the game has been out for almost a year and nothing about the game has been fixed. I was so dissappointed realising that I had just wasted my money on a game that fooled me with its trailers.
    DONT BUY THIS GAME UNTIL IT IS FIXED    … Expand
  31. hoohoo
    Dec 26, 2020
    1
    Gee. What a waste of bandwidth was this download. No wonder it is available for free. Game started, the sun set immediately and it was pitch black. The menu system is so clearly made for mouse it is horrible to use with xbox controller. This game is a waste of global resources.
  32. Tom1357
    Aug 24, 2020
    1
    How bad is this game? I created this account just to talk about it (lol). The situation: I wanted another split-screen game to play with my eight-year-old son; I read Ark: Survival Evolved, and I had already downloaded it through the Gamepass because it looked cool, I just hadn't played it yet.

    So picture this: we're eager to play, full of excitement, okay, start up the game. First    How bad is this game? I created this account just to talk about it (lol). The situation: I wanted another split-screen game to play with my eight-year-old son; I read Ark: Survival Evolved, and I had already downloaded it through the Gamepass because it looked cool, I just hadn't played it yet.

    So picture this: we're eager to play, full of excitement, okay, start up the game. First problem: how do we play split-screen? Not a huge problem. Split-screen is often a kind of throw-away feature for games that actually do include it, so I don't blame them if it's not a prominent option...But the UI screen just to start a game seems unnecessarily complex, as if they tried to shove 100 options into one screen for no particular reason. I'm a programmer, btw, so this poor starting design already seems unimpressive. Even if a game is complex, there's no reason to overwhelm first-time users with needless options. You want new users to have a clear, quick path to starting the game and learning how to play. Anyway, it turns that to start a split-screen game, you...need to select Single Player. Um, yeah, that's intuitive, right? I select single player to play multiplayer, okay...

    A character creation screen: cool. Except for some reason I can't change any of the options except my name and gender. Well, whatever, we start the game. Great graphics, for the most part. We're on an island, there's dinosaurs, awesome. Now what? I punch some trees and get thatch/wood. If I can find stone, I can craft an axe. How do I get stone? I'm trying to punch small rocks on the ground but nothing happens. Then my son is killed by a dinosaur and respawns at a random location...which, umm, makes me respawn at a random location too. Wtf? But okay. At the top of the screen it says "You are freezing, find warmth immediately." Awesome, how do we do that? I look through crafting options, or at least I try to, but it's as if the devs said to themselves: "Hey, let's figure out the most intuitive way to move through menus and pick options, and then let's do the total ****ing opposite!" I'm still trying to figure out how to craft things and looking for stone to craft a pickaxe when I realize my character is freezing to death. But I can't make a fire, and I don't have clothes, and the warm area of the island is nowhere to be seen. Death #2.

    Life 3: We spawn next to a level 26 dinosaur, which immediately kills us. It doesn't help that my guy seems to be stuck in the ground on spawning, so I can't run or attempt to move before dying.

    Life 4: We spawn in the cold again and decide to run for a warmer area, since we can't make a fire without flint and I assume you get flint with a pickaxe, which I can't make because I can't find any stone. A dinosaur runs after my son and kills him, causing us to both respawn again.

    Life 5: I watch my son spawn between a mammoth and an alligator. He turns around and dies. We start laughing, because this game is starting to get funny.

    Life 6: I end up with a pickaxe after leveling up, and I'm chipping away some stone, but then a raptor kills us. Pickaxe gone.

    Life 7 through ~20 through uninstall: we spawn so many times next to dinosaurs that kill us, or are killed while experimentally attacking a lvl 2 creature that kills us in two hits, that the game is now unintentionally hilarious. I don't care enough to decipher the arcane menus or the control scheme anymore. The game has already shown me that it doesn't try hard enough for anything to matter. If you're not going to invest enough time to prevent players from spawning next to something that will immediately kill you, I'm not going to invest any time at all learning any more about how to play. And although funny, the game is also a huge disappointment. I tend to like survival games, but I can't see any point in this one. How hard would it be to give some timely info or directions for starting players other than "You're freezing, find warmth immediately." And I'm not talking about linear missions and hand-holding for newbs, I'm talking about a "You can pick up stones by pressing B" type message. Making something arbitrarily difficult by withholding information, creating un-intuitive menus, or giving the player a lack of any directive is just idiotic, and I can't believe they released this game with so many poor design choices. This game is just terrible.    … Expand
  33. SammyHauguth
    Jan 29, 2021
    1
    Worst game I've ever played. Constantly lagging, even when playing in singleplayer. Played with Gamepass, so I'm lucky not wasted money on this dump.
  34. El_Arquitecto
    Dec 17, 2020
    0
    The game FAILS EVERYDAY from day one,the game is crap,the devolopers never fix the bugs,its a joke
  35. mork69
    Aug 5, 2020
    0
    el juego tiene un buen buen concepto, aunque llega ser tedioso o absoleto en cierto punto no se discute la infinidad de cosas que puedes hacer y la gente con la que puedes jugar es asombroso
  36. umark15
    May 14, 2020
    0
    Visually is stunning but the mechanics are awful. I had this games since it was in the Preview stage and all I can say is that it should have never been released the way it is now. Button mechanics do not work, whistle literally does nothing and you have to spam for an action to work properly. The game lags every 5 seconds and can also freeze your game and you will still take damage andVisually is stunning but the mechanics are awful. I had this games since it was in the Preview stage and all I can say is that it should have never been released the way it is now. Button mechanics do not work, whistle literally does nothing and you have to spam for an action to work properly. The game lags every 5 seconds and can also freeze your game and you will still take damage and lose everything and won't be able to do anything. This game is not worth $40 the way it is now and should definitely be worked on. After 2 hours of playing this game you are going to wish you played something else.… Expand
  37. SafeEmpress8079
    Jan 5, 2021
    1
    looks awful does not help new players and it is so boring i would say get it if it is on sale
  38. Pouvior
    Nov 16, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game itself, is fun. Its a well build survival game that lets you and friends build, create, ride dinos, and goof around. The only limmits are your imagination. Unless you're playing on the switch. Then, it's a nightmare where new players are griefed, harassed, bullied, and targeted constantly by strangers for 'fun' with no way to secure a server, or any say of who's allowed in the world you created. If you like being stuck in a respawn screen 24/7 because the password only affects the person who set it, and turning off cheats does nothing, that this is the game for you!

    You too can spend 10 minutes at a time staring at a skull while waiting to respawn, only to be killed the second you do!

    Save yourself $60 and just get the app for free on the phone. They at least have private servers, and updates.    … Expand
  39. Dustin13
    Feb 21, 2021
    0
    Game is honestly **** garbage. **** whoever made this game I hope you **** choke on water and puke everywhere on yourself while you’re at dinner with your family and then your wife leaves you because you’re nothing but a **** game creator. Next time you make a game make sure you at least **** code it right. **** worse then any other game on the market
  40. A_Wafflle
    May 23, 2021
    2
    Wow. Just wow. It’s been about 2 years since I played it and I had thought to give it another chance as there bas been multiple updates. My dissapointment is beyond words. 1. The menus. Navigating in this game is quite literally more difficult than the excrutiating grind Ark provides you. When you load in, extremely loud music will blast into your ears and are greeted with a PC designedWow. Just wow. It’s been about 2 years since I played it and I had thought to give it another chance as there bas been multiple updates. My dissapointment is beyond words. 1. The menus. Navigating in this game is quite literally more difficult than the excrutiating grind Ark provides you. When you load in, extremely loud music will blast into your ears and are greeted with a PC designed menu. There’s also a glitch where if you switch the type of public servers you will not be able to change it again. There’s some weird thing you have to do by going into a differnet mode. Anyways, it’ horribly designed and takes very long. Split screen players have tk go into single player to play alone.

    2. Game drawbacks for xbox.
    (Ignore the section of where it says: This is) Overall, there are many things you cannot do due to technical issues. Multiplayer is unstable when too many bright lighting and buildings are placed, you cant use creative mode flying properly, there isn’t actually a creative mode even though it lets you fly,(MOST ANNOYING) While playing with a friend in a private world, you are stuck within a small radius of the host meaning you can’t really spread out to do your own thing. If the host dies and respawns, you’re teleported. In that period if they spawn on any deadly dinosaur you’ll be frozen for a small time. Lag, sensitivity, lack of tutorial or guidance/statistics on items. It’s all **** broken.

    3. Gameplay
    I don’t mind when games have complex features that you may have to look up on youtube for a small tutorial. My biggest problem is that it’s hard to not look up **** everything. Some dinos can’t be trapped, some can, some only take certain berries, some are aggressive in weird ways. Graphicly pleasing, mechanically overcomplex. I had to literally look up where to find certain things. My friend and I were at level 33 characters and couldn’t even figure out how to get into the **** forest without dying. You’re so limited without extensive knowledge that i was considering just watching a playthrough before trying it.

    4. THE GODDAMN LAG/Graphics overview
    Never have i seen a game so laggy. Bugs may have been patched but optimization may as well be nonexistent. This is    … Expand
  41. Gilgamesh
    Feb 19, 2022
    10
    If you have two Xboxes make one a private, dedicated server and play with your friends on it. This way you can experience the best parts of the game without being bothered and control settings you want to adjust. Single-player mode won’t appeal to everyone and not everyone wants to play with strangers online all the time so for me this saved what I initially disregarded. Amazing gameIf you have two Xboxes make one a private, dedicated server and play with your friends on it. This way you can experience the best parts of the game without being bothered and control settings you want to adjust. Single-player mode won’t appeal to everyone and not everyone wants to play with strangers online all the time so for me this saved what I initially disregarded. Amazing game I’m still playing with my friend on a private server to this day.… Expand
  42. RockHobbit
    Apr 7, 2023
    2
    This is a really great game ruined by a slew of technical issues and scum bag developers. Servers being shut off in August 2023, so probably not a good idea to buy it.
  43. Timinator2911
    Jan 4, 2022
    7
    This Game is not finished yet. There are still so many bugs, but it is possible to play it. Another problem is that the game is not running well on XBOX One. I tried it on Series X and it runs without lags.
  44. Gavin77
    Dec 14, 2022
    10
    It was perfect, perfect. Everything down to the last minute details. Could not be better
  45. Emilio200
    Aug 17, 2023
    4
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Oct 21, 2017
    60
    Performance issues and progression complaints compromise this survival fantasy. [Nov 2017, p.86]
  2. M3
    Oct 17, 2017
    70
    Ark: Survivor Evolved is not a game for everyone. But if you have patience, and are willing to learn the basics the hard way the payoff is huge. A bit clumsy control on the consoles aside, this is one of the most addictive games this year.
    Read full review
  3. TrueAchievements
    Sep 8, 2017
    70
    Amazing things are possible in the ARK — the gun-wielding soldier set high atop the most badass predator of all time comes to mind — but the experience is clouded by the best ones being locked behind excessive grinding, boring farming and the need for a large group. System commands and customizable settings can ease some of the pain, but the base concept remains a chore. A messy UI and the lack of a tutorial leave you alone in the dark, forced to spend hours researching on your own in order to figure out what's what. But there's no denying that if you're willing to put in the time, you will be rewarded with some incredible gameplay moments, especially if your friends join you on the ARK.
    Read full review
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