Ark: Survival Evolved Reviews
Ark: Survival Evolved is not a reliable game. It crashes more often than you are able to save your progress. It provides a vast area for gameplay, but most of it is not accessible unless you are a god-like. It can be used a creative tool for your mind, but you need to endure tediousness of the grind. It's like Minecraft, but less fun in single player, more deadly and without as much content.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Scoring ARK: Survival Evolved is tough because while it has a substantial number of strikes against it I’m well aware that the unique experience it has to offer can help some people overlook its issues. There really is no game out there quite like it, and I do applaud the ambition the developers had in this undertaking to both initially create and then stick with trying to step by step get this title closer to being all it set out to be. All that said at the same time there’s no denying that the Switch implementation of this game has some very serious flaws and issues, and based on observing this game’s development over time there’s absolutely no guarantee that all or even any of it may be addressed satisfactorily. If you’re in love with the premise and have pretty abundant patience there’s no doubt it’s the only game of its kind, and I wish you luck with it. For everyone else though it just has too many issues from the fundamentals to the specifics of the Switch implementation to recommend with any enthusiasm.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Unless portable ARK is the number one reason for picking it up, I would recommend getting it on something other than the Switch. PC is really the best way to play it, but the Switch does offer portability, which the PC would only give you with an expensive laptop. I did have fun playing on the Switch and taking it with me when I left. But wherever you do go, remember it's an online game so you will need a decent connection to the web should you want to play on the official servers.
It can be frustrating at times, the game isn't always fair and a lot of its mechanics are downright frustrating. Yet after all the time I've put in, the bugs, and the horse crap. I still want to play it, because it is so much fun. I under no circumstances recommend you so just blindly buy the game, but I think you should try it. Catch it on sale or play the base game through Xbox game pass, if you like it, the rabbit hole is a deep one. I have over a thousand hours in and I'm still going strong.
This has got to be one of the most fun survival/crafting games since Minecraft. With the dinosaurs, diverse crafting options and detailed graphics, Ark truly delivers an immersive experience. Taming time, limited player space and a HUGE (too big) open world are things that Studio Wildcard could look to change, without altering server settings.
If you are willing to put the time in and overlook the flaws, This is a great game.
Ark: Survival Evolved on the Switch is absolutely the worst version there is, you are better off with another version.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Overall, Ark: Survival Evolved gets an 8/10, it was and still is a great game, with the new additions to the game and changes it has seen a vast improvement. However, it still has a big problem, glitches, and optimisation, with many claiming it has not improved since day one. Early Access, Alphas, and Betas are meant to be the time you make a game stable, not add more stuff to break it.
Its pricey to be sure, but if you’re a fan of the genre Ark is worth picking up. The hours of gameplay it offers pays for itself already. Also: dinosaurs.
Ark: Survival Evolved was first launched on Steam Early Access in June 2015. Ark: Survival Evolved spent about a year on early access for consoles and now the open-world survival crafting game has been officially released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One & PC. As the title says the main aim of the game is to survive, and you will be put through your paces when it comes to crafting and building yourself a future in the Ark universe.
The survival game ARK: Survival Evolved released recently with a bunch of interesting and fun features. The survival crafting game does a lot more than other games in this genre, having actual end game, and reason to be doing the things you are. Ark boasts a huge diverse roster of dinosaurs, and biomes with multiple “Arks” to play on for free and more coming via DLC.
Ark: Survival Evolved is very interesting case study of a game, with fascinating history due to its prolonged time in Early Access / Game Preview. At the same time, it's undeniably one of the biggest success stories for Early Access as a whole, a program flooded with survival titles. No, there really isn't much of a story, which is a shame given the few cryptic hints of lore that are present. Yes, there are still glitches, bugs and server issues that need to be addressed. All of that in mind, if you are fan of survival games, this is undeniably THE definitive survival game to play. Taming dinosaurs and exploring an island that defies time is wondrous, doubly so if you have friends to play it with. At a full retail price of $60, if you are both a fan of survival games and are intent on forming a tribe with people you play games with, it's definitely worth a go.
ARK: Survival Evolved is an interesting game that spent a great deal of time in Early Access / Beta. The developers used this time to try and polish a title that has long had a lot of potential - but the question I had was this: did they polish it up enough? The answer is kind of a mixed bag.
Ark is an incredibly fun game to play through and explore. As with the best survival games in the genre, it has that “just one more time” aspect going for it.
In a way, ARK lost itself during its development. What started as an interesting survival with dinosaurs experience turned into a PVP wasteland, uninteresting and grindy mechanics. There are some cool ideas under the hood, but not worth the time invested.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
There are many resource gathering and survival based games on the market and ARK: Survival Evolved almost feels like it has officially jumped in a little too late after finally leaving Early Access. If you don’t mind spending hour after hour of doing repetitive and tedious tasks, you may find some fun in the later stages of the game. However, if that doesn’t sound worth it, ARK: Survival Evolved likely isn’t going to be for you.
Ark is not one of those game to start playing it and just leave it on your shelf after a short time. If you really want to be good in this game you should have a team of real-life friends that you trust. Your team's players should have lots of free time too. Ark Survival Evolved can easily be one of the best experiences you've had over the years.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Is a Switch game that can realistically only be played in docked mode actually playable? The entire point of this system is to be able to take your games with you, but ARK can't really offer that. It draws into question the sanctity of the Nintendo seal of quality. The fact that it is not only available to the public, but costs money is an insult. Don't buy ARK on Switch.