Ark: Survival Ascended DLC Roadmap - All Planned Expansions & Updates (2024)

Ark: Survival Ascended is a remaster of 2015's Ark: Survival Evolved, but the newer version does not contain all the content released over the lifetime of the original. Enjoying regular support since its release, Survival Evolved received both paid and free expansions after its release. Though Survival Ascended includes a number of quality-of-life improvements in addition to its superior visuals, it is notably light on content compared to the original. This will, however, be rectified over the next two years, according to a roadmap laid out for the game's DLC.

From 2016 to 2022, the original Ark: Survival Evolved received 12 official DLCs - five Expansion Packs, six Expansion Maps, and a Total Conversion. Expansion Packs brought the most content, including new maps, creatures, and items. Expansion Maps were generally much smaller additions, giving players a new locale to explore, but not always introducing unique creatures or items. The one official Total Conversion, known as Primitive+, overhauled primitive servers, and has so far not been confirmed to be returning in Survival Ascended. The 11 other DLCs, however, do appear on Ark: Survival Ascended's DLC roadmap, and the first few have already been released.

Ark: Survival Ascended DLC Released In 2023 & Early 2024

Cryopods, Survival Of The Fittest, Scorched Earth, Bob's Tall Tales, Pyromane, & The Center

The first major content additions to Ark: Survival Ascended weren't actually any of Survival Evolved's DLCs, but rather a major mechanic that wasn't ready for ASA's launch, and a battle royale game mode. Both released in December 2023, these were Cryopods and Survival of the Fittest. Cryopods let players put dinos on ice, effectivelyturning them into an item that can be carried in one's inventory - an invaluable item when trying to relocate herds of creatures.

Survival of the Fittest was a battle royale spin-off of ASE, which never reached any platform other than Steam. Taking place on special servers, the objective in SOTF is to be the last player (or tribe, in the case of team matches) standing, having eliminated all other competitors. It originally came fairly early in ASE's life cycle, releasing while it was still in early access on PC, though development support for the game mode ended shortly after. The remaster's version of SOTF was similarly one of the first additions to the game, and came to Ark: Survival Ascended's console versions as well.

Ark: Survival Ascended received its first proper DLC expansions in the first half of 2024. First, in May 2024, there was Scorched Earth. Introducing a desert map, a far cry from the original tropical island map, Scorched Earth makes collecting drinking water much more difficult, and introduces new weather patterns like sandstorms, superheat, and electrical storms. Scorched Earth also brings a large variety of desert-themed creatures and items.

Scorched Earth was followed two months later by The Center in May 2024. The Center began as a custom map, before being added to ASE in a free, official update. Much like The Island (the original map), ASA's take on The Center features a handful of different biomes on islands surrounded by the ocean. Its main features are a large, floating island, and an expansive network of underground caves worthy of a map all their own. It includes several new dinosaurs, and it's also an excellent place to spot a Giganotosaurus.

Also released in the first half of 2024 were two expansions totally unique to ASA: Bob's Tall Tales and Fantastic Tames - Pyromane. Bob's Tall Tales is a full Expansion Pack with a world of its own, featuring genre-defying elements that completely change the game: steampunk gadgets, Mad Max-inspired cars, and a wide variety of unique creatures. Bob's Tall Tales features voice acting from Karl Urban and Auliʻi Cravalho in an original story that spans several familiar ASA maps.

Purchase of Fantastic Tames - Pyromane entitles players to find and tame a new creature: the titular Pyromane. A cat that grows from the size of a kitten to that of a mountain lion, the Pyromane is a formidable ally. It can also help players with cooking, or be ridden across lava-soaked fields for a quick and reliable mode of transportation.

Ark: Survival Ascended DLC Scheduled For Release In Late 2024

Aberration, Ragnarok, Extinction, & Valguero

Aberration is expected to release in July 2024 for Ark: Survival Ascended, being its third major DLC expansion. Aberration's new map forces players underground due to intense radiation on the ARK's surface. It therefore features new biomes, creatures, items, and environmental hazards typically associated with subterranean locales, like a mushroom forest, gems, and frequent earthquakes. There's still no exact release date yet, but further details on Aberration can be expected soon.

Aberration will be followed by another Expansion Map, Ragnarok, in September 2024. With a Norse theme, Ragnarok adds a number of wintry creatures, like Ice Wyverns, Iceworms, Dire Polar Bears, and Direwolves. It also features an active volcano, which causes lava flows and falling rock upon eruption.

ASA's third Expansion Pack, Extinction, is scheduled for release in October 2024. Extinction deviates from previous Ark DLCs in that it's set on a planet, rather than the series' signature ARK space station environments. Extinction does, however, still take some cues from Aberration, with the maps surface rather hostile, a wasteland surrounding a crumbling city seemingly built by an advanced species. Unique, corrupted creatures are the biggest threat to players hoping to survive on Extinction. Following, in December 2024, is Valguero, another Expansion Map with a wide variety of biomes, including glacial plateaus and a subaqueous cave network known as The Abyss.

The final - and perhaps most exciting - update of 2024, according to the DLC roadmap, is "some surprise" expected to come in November. There's no indication of what the surprise DLC for Ark: Survival Ascended could be, but it may be something entirely new that's not yet ready to be revealed, considering every other planned expansion is a known quantity from ASE. Although it would be a strange inclusion on a roadmap for ASA's DLC, it's conceivable that this surprise could be connected to Ark 2, which has yet to receive a release date.

Ark: Survival Ascended DLC Scheduled For Release In 2025

Genesis Parts 1 & 2, Crystal Isles, Lost Island, & Fjordur

Much like 2024, Ark: Survival Ascended DLC is planned for regular releases throughout 2025, with the final two Expansion Packs and three Expansion Maps making their return. Both Expansion Packs, Genesis: Part 1 and Part 2, are rather distinct from previous ones. Part 1, scheduled for February 2025, essentially offers five maps in one, separating its biomes into smaller-than-usual maps that players must teleport between. Part 2, expected to arrive in May 2025, takes place aboard a colony ship with two distinct sections, one lush and the other corrupted. Players are able to travel between the two regions while the ship travels through space.

The final three Expansion Maps for Ark: Survival Ascended are Crystal Isles, Lost Island, and Fjordur, set to be released in April 2025, August 2025, and October 2025 respectively. Crystal Isles is likely the largest map by surface area (rivaled in size only by Ragnarok), and is covered by large crystal formations across its many biomes. Lost Island is littered with the ruins of some civilization, both on land and in the sea, and its primary landmass bears a striking resemblance to the map of Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls. Fjordur is another Norse-inspired map, with realms named after Jotunheim, Vanaheim, and Asgard.

Ark Survival Ascended DLC Release Schedule & Price

All DLC Included At No Additional Cost

All together, Ark: Survival Ascended has six months of regular DLC releases behind it, and is set to keep up that momentum for another year and a half. While it's helpful to know the plans of the developer, Studio Wildcard, players likely shouldn't put an incredible amount of stock in this DLC roadmap.

Remastering ASE's expansion content is conceivably much easier than creating brand-new content, but laying out expansions with usually only two or three months between each is rather ambitious. ASA may have kept a pretty steady pace up until now, but that could change as the game's files get bigger and more complicated. At a glance, late 2024, with Ragnarok, Extinction, the unrevealed surprise, and Valguero all coming in the span of four months, the roadmap seems ripe for delays.

However, most of theDLC seems to be included with the purchase of Ark: Survival Ascended. According to the game's Steam page, "Ark: Survival Ascended includes access to all of Ark's worlds," with "expansion worlds to be added at no additional cost." There has been some paid DLC (Bob's Tall Tales cost $29.99, and Pyromane $4.99), and some have pointed to the sale of premium creatures as a disturbing trend for Ark 2. But paid DLC is the exception, not the rule.

ASA was originally announced as a free upgrade, since it is more-or-less an engine transfer to Unreal Engine 5 (with some added quality-of-life improvements), but this was walked back, and the game now costs $45 on Steam. The DLCs previously ranged from $20 to $35, so this should at least be some consolation to those miffed by Ark: Survival Ascended turning out to be a paid upgrade.

Sources: Steam

Ark: Survival Ascended

ARK: Survival Ascended is a reimagined version of the 2017 action-adventure survival MMORPG by the developers at Studio Wildcard and Grove Street Games. Built in Unreal Engine 5, players will return to ARK to build tribes, fight and tame dinosaurs, and brave the elements as they battle to survive in a unique sandbox where crafting and resource management is essential.

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

October 26, 2023

Developer(s)

Studio Wildcard

Publisher(s)

Studio Wildcard

Genre(s)

Survival , Open-World

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Blood, Crude Humor, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Use of Alcohol, Violence