“ARK: Survival Evolved” Is Bringing Dinosaurs Back

Along with ... Other Things

By Andrew Dodson on May 11, 2015 at 4:20pm

I was a super supporter of "The Stomping Land" when that was first announced. It had survival mechanics, dinosaurs, a huge island to explore, a crafting system and, oh yeah, you could ride the dinosaurs. The formula seemed so perfect, but it did not come to pass.Needless to say, I felt betrayed ... like I would never learn to trust another dinosaur-survival game again.

My faith may have been restored by this announcement trailer for "ARK: Survival Evolved" by Studio Wildcard:

Let's check the list that I had made from "The Stomping Land:"

• Survival mechanics? Check.
.

• Dinosaurs? Check.
.

• Explorable area? Check.
.

• Crafting system? Check.
.

• Riding the dinosaurs!? Check!!


• Freakin' giant scorpions and DRAGONS?! Check! And Check!

"ARK: Survival Evolved," even at this early stage, looks absolutely gorgeous and it is promising a lot - over 70 creatures to inhabit the land once it's released, large-world persistence, RPG elements and full-on Steam Workshop mod support. But, a lot of people are shifty about dinosaur-survival games since "The Stomping Land" stomped on everyone's hopes and ran off with whatever money was left from their Kickstarter. Studio Wildcard developers addressed that very fear in a post on Reddit:

We understand that the track record on Early Access games in general and in particular, Dinosaur games, isn't great. However we're set on being an exception. We want to be the team that does it right. The developers and the team behind "ARK" actually have quite a bit of veteran experience creating various well-known titles, so we're fully aware and committed as to what we're getting into!

We plan to bring the game not only to PCs, but also to the console world. The expected release is Summer of 2016 and we'll definitely make sure to take advantage and use Early Access to the best of our ability to prepare for this. This coupled with the support we receive from our partners, we plan to make a great game.
Hopefully you'll stick around and give us a shot and we can construct a fantastic world together.

They also addressed the issue on the game's community hub on Steam, in a thread titled Remember "The Stomping Land:"

We remember it too, and so we are set on being the opposite of "The Stomping Land!" And to salve the hurt of "The Stomping Land" a bit, we have something rather special planned for "The Stomping Land" players as well ;)

Maybe I'm just getting my hopes up too high again, but I am an optimistic person at heart and even after the utter failure that was "The Stomping Land," I am willing to give "ARK: Survival Evolved" a chance.

Because, lets face it, dinosaurs are awesome and they deserve another chance.

"ARK: Survival Evolved" is set to enter Steam Early Access on June 2nd and will be available for $25. The game is set for a full, official release at the same time next year.