Enter a dinosaur-infested world in ARK: Survival Evolved, a new PvPvE (Player vs. Player vs. Environment) online open-world survival game developed by indie game company, Studio Wildcard. It’s still under development, but Steam has recently released early access to the game for steam account users last June 2, 2015.

Walk with Dinosaurs on your Steam Account in ARK: Survival Evolved
The first several hours in ARK: Survival Evolved is going to be a bloody trial and error, no kidding. Its game mechanics are just like any other online open-world survival game’s, with the basic objectives including crafting, harvesting, and building your safe zone to protect your character stats from beasts and humans alike. Other than that, you can capture, train, and mount dinosaurs too! How cool is that? But that’s not all Ark: Survival Evolved has to offer, as it is powerfully immersive, challenging, and several different games packed into one. Find out more about ARK below.
A Living Ecosystem on your Steam Account in ARK: Survival Evolved
The open world in ARK is geographically huge: filled with uncharted dark caves, beautiful beaches, and lush jungles, your vision of the map extends gradually as you explore, and you can chart out the locations you have discovered for reference and fast travelling. You can navigate with a compass or with GPS coordinates along with other players in the game. You can also leave signs to guide other players, or mislead them, much like in the Souls franchise. Different weather patterns may affect your character in terms of their health and physiological state. You also have to be very mindful of how you utilize your time in ARK, as even the day and night cycle affects your character and the harshness of the game’s breathing ecosystem. As expected of a survival game, you have to eat and drink—as well as defecate—in order to improve your health stats. Almost everything has a use in ARK, so yes, even your feces can be stored in your inventory as fertilizers for your crops when you start a garden in the future.
Solo / PvPvE Survival on your Steam Account in ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK will have you rage quitting if you don’t plan for how you survive for the day.
It’s hard to stay alive in a harsh and unforgiving environment where creature spawns and weather conditions are fundamentally randomized for a fuller realistic experience, because you never really know when a carnivorous beast is preying on you, or when someone will hack you to death as you sleep. That’s right; it is virtually possible for other ARK players to take advantage of you for their own motives by knocking you unconscious, or by mercilessly killing you after looting all of your hard-earned resources, whether you are online or offline—so you have to tread very carefully and choose which decisions are worth the go sign. Take note that death is permanent in this game! You wouldn’t want to go back to square one after several hours of item farming and brutal gameplay. For players who don’t actually plan on soloing ARK, you can form tribes for a better chance of survival, and you can also raid other tribes together for large quantities of loot, and also for your personal enjoyment if you’re that type of heartless player. Anyway, do what you can to survive. You have the freedom to build your own fortress, because the game does not limit you in terms of acquiring the resources you need. It’s recognized as a Minecraft-with-dinosaurs game, as it was heavily influenced by it. You can mine rocks, chop wood, collect herbs and berries, and customize your items and improve your settlements.
Dinosaurs are actually the least of your problems in ARK: Survival Evolved.
Jurassic World Meets Minecraft on your Steam Account in ARK: Survival Evolved
Now, on to the fun part—dinosaurs. ARK features a living environment with dinosaurs who have diverse traits, personalities, and behaviors. Some dinosaurs kill on sight, while some are not aggressive by default. At launch, there are about 30 different types of dinosaurs—70 on the full game. Dinosaurs, like your character, can be leveled up once captured through a challenging Capture & Affinity process, and can learn new commands as they progress. There are a variety of dinosaur types that are mountable, from the nimble Raptors to the flying Pterodactyls to the sluggish but tanky Stegosaurus. Other mountable primeval creatures are also available for taming, like the Sabertooth and the Pulmonoscorpius.
There are also Obelisk towers to watch out for. Obelisks are massive, floating alien towers (yes, this game even has aliens), and you can activate these Obelisks to transmit your data from one server to another. Other than that, by offering a certain number of materials to the Obelisks, you can summon bigger, more ferocious bosses—like a dragon—if you’re high leveled enough.
Summary – ARK: Survival Evolved Alpha Access for Steam Account Value
In retrospect, the game looks visually appealing overall based on the trailer and seems like a promising game, but since it’s currently in its alpha, the features available are still very much limited. Steam currently has a special promotion for steam account holders who want to try out ARK: Survival Evolved, though! You can get 20% off on your purchase until August 3.