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. Emilio200
    Aug 17, 2023
    4
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  2. 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.
  3. Gavin77
    Dec 14, 2022
    10
    It was perfect, perfect. Everything down to the last minute details. Could not be better
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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
  7. 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...
  8. Bump4
    Jul 24, 2021
    7
    Not as good of a run as on PC, but still enjoyable beautiful soundtrack is retained.
  9. 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.
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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.
  15. Spartanecho
    Jan 12, 2021
    10
    Improved over the years in performance and spectacle, this remains one of the best survival games of all time.
  16. 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
  17. 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.
  18. 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
  19. 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.
  20. 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
  21. Caldan
    Nov 14, 2020
    9
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. Mrman69
    Jul 27, 2020
    9
  25. 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.
  26. 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
  27. 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.
  28. 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
  29. 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.
  30. 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
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Critic Reviews

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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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