Dinosaur-themed games have been making a bit of a comeback, but none have really hit the mark so far. Will ARK: Survival Evolved be the one to break through?
New League Of Legends Champion Ekko Revealed, Watch His Time-Bending Intro Cinematic
The announcement trailer is below, filled with guns, dinosaurs, open jungles, and some pretty impressive vistas. There are plenty of NPCs roaming about, dinosaur riding, and some pterodactyl flight segments amidst some futuristic-looking technology.
Sound crazy enough? Dinosaurs are fun on their own and a survival sim with only simple tools is also a fun concept, but as Turok has shown us, combining modern (or future) weapons with the giant reptiles is even better. Powered by Unreal Engine 4, ARK: Survival Evolved employs survival and RPG mechanics to allow players to build shelters, research technology, harvest and craft, and develop your character's items and skills.
See The Video Game Release Schedule For This Week Starting May 11
There are both cooperative and competitive multiplayer elements in the game, which encourages you to "start a tribe with hundreds of other players to survive and dominate competing tribes...and ultimately discover the ARK's true purpose." You can tame pets from a selection of 60 dinosaurs and other beasts, including rides on a quick Raptor, harnessing an angry T-Rex, or a slower journey on a huge Brontosaurus. Oh, and did I happen to mention there's apparently dragons? Because one of the screenshots (below) clearly shows a dragon.
One of the most recent exciting dino-centric titles was The Stomping Land, which mysteriously halted progress in its early access stage. The creator abruptly jumped ship, and players were left with an unfinished project. ARK: Survival Evolved will more than likely not suffer such a fate, but it is also launching on Steam Early Access first, due out June 2. It is also, however, backed by Microsoft's ID@Xbox indie developer program, and is set for release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in early 2016. The animations still seem a bit wonky, but there's plenty of time left in development to hopefully iron that out. Also, dragons fighting dinosaurs.
"ARK taps into the scale, size, and wildly unpredictable nature of the dinosaur eras like no other game before it, then pairs it with the wonders of exploration and technological discovery," said Jesse Rapczak, co-founder and co-creative director, Studio Wildcard. "We're particularly excited to bring ARK to consoles, as open-world survival gameplay is typically found solely in PC games."
