From As soon as Human, to Palworld, to Enshrouded, it’s been a fairly superior 12 months for brand new survival video games. Whereas current juggernauts of the style additionally stay well-liked, the category of 2024 is a powerful one however there appears to be one pupil that’s flunking. Nonetheless technically billed to be launching by the top of this 12 months, Ark 2 isn’t just a sequel to one of many largest survival video games round, however a transformational sequel at that – so the place the heck is it?
First revealed all the best way again in 2020, there was fervent pleasure that one of many best survival games ever could be getting a sequel. Nevertheless, within the time since, we’ve obtained two cinematic trailers starring Vin Diesel, a 2022 weblog publish laying out an bold gameplay imaginative and prescient, and an announcement that the Ark 2 release date could be delayed till “late 2024,” largely resulting from its swap to Unreal Engine 5. Effectively, I’m my calendar proper now, and it’s trying fairly late in 2024 to me. Actually, Ark 2‘s received simply eight weeks to look earlier than it’s formally overdue.
The optimists on the market could hope for some form of shock shadow drop of Ark 2, however I simply need to hone in on that aforementioned weblog publish for a second, as a result of its contents recommend to me that most likely gained’t be the case. It’s a prolonged publish on Xbox Wire that goes over a number of the radical gameplay modifications being made in Ark 2. And after I say radical, I imply it.
A swap from first-person to third-person. Fight that “attracts closely from Soulslike motion for its human-scale fight.” Traversal impressed by Murderer’s Creed’s seamless parkour. “World occasions” involving stampeding herds of dinosaurs or situations the place it can save you injured creatures. Huge overhauls to key programs like crafting. All of this, plus far more I’m positive, goes to make Ark 2 a massively completely different and extra bold sport than its predecessor. The co-founders of Studio Wildcard who wrote the blog post even describe it as “the way forward for survival video games” – this isn’t the kind of mission you simply shadow drop. This wants gameplay trailers, deep dives, and extra to promote each current Ark followers and newcomers on its huge transformation.
Given we’ve heard no extra particulars since that weblog over two years in the past, and we’ve seen no gameplay footage in any respect, it appears virtually inevitable to me that Ark 2 goes to get pushed again and miss its late 2024 window. That’s probably not a difficulty – disappointing, positive, nevertheless it’s unsurprising to see initiatives of this dimension getting delayed. What’s peculiar is that Snail Video games and Studio Wildcard have made no bulletins about its progress and have left it tremendous late to substantiate a delay.
There’s a slim probability I’m completely incorrect and that the optimists win this time round. Perhaps there’s a world the place Vin Diesel struts out at The Sport Awards, tells Geoff Keighley he’s received one thing cool to point out him, and the phrases ‘Ark 2, out now’ seem on a display behind him. I’d eat all of the hats I personal if it did occur.
As a substitute, the chances are we’ll be ready somewhat longer. A fast look on the Steam stats present that there’s nonetheless effectively over 30,000 individuals enjoying Ark Survival Advanced and Survival Ascended collectively proper now, so it’s not like there’s a dire want for Ark 2. Like I stated, a delay isn’t an issue – the weird radio silence positively is although.
Remember to try much more nice dinosaur games whilst you await Ark 2, or dive into our listing of the best co-op games to see what else you might be enjoying along with your buddies.
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