With newcomers such as Once Human and Soulmask only further stiffening the competition among the best survival games on PC, Ark Survival Ascended is a bold play. It attempts to push its open-world dinosaur-taming adventures to the next level in UE5 and contend with the likes of Valheim and Rust as the team works on building Ark 2. Yet as the remaster struggles to overcome its predecessor, Studio Wildcard is integrating some of its most popular mods into the base game to enhance the experience for all, and its latest is the most downloaded custom dinosaur made by the Ark community.
Ark Survival Ascended was pitched by Studio Wildcard as a way for the team to get used to working in Unreal Engine 5 ahead of Ark 2. While it’s certainly stunning to look at, however, the requirement to rebuy the game combined with notably higher Ark system requirements and more performance issues have left the game’s combined Steam reviews at a mixed 58%, compared to Survival Evolved’s 83% score. The upgraded survival game has also been unable to top the original’s player count on Steam throughout 2024, save for one brief peak at the launch of the Scorched Earth expansion.
Coming to the rescue, then, is the Ark Additions series, a number of custom-designed dinosaurs created by community modder ‘Garuga123.’ Adapted from their creations for Survival Evolved, these are among the best Ark Survival Ascended mods, and now a selection of the most beloved are being adapted by Studio Wildcard for official inclusion in the core game.
The latest such offering is a gargantuan crocodilian, the Deinosuchus. Seen in the video below courtesy of ‘ClickTockClock,’ this giant is the most downloaded creature across all of Survival Ascended, with more than 3.5 million people claiming it since it was introduced in September 2023. Now, it’s going to be included for all players – and just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
Its colossal size and speed makes it both an incredibly rapid way to get around the rivers and oceans of Ark and a capable fighter against just about anything you’re likely to run into on land or under the waves. Capable of crunching down most normal-sized dinos in a single chomp, the Deinosuchus is a fearsome ally to have by your side. If you’re going to attempt to tame one, however, you might want to pop on a ghillie suit first.
The Deinosuchus arrives in Ark Survival Ascended on Wednesday July 17. Studio Wildcard notes that there may be “a few tweaks made to its design” from the original mod creation, but you can expect the prodigious predator to pose quite the threat nevertheless.
With more such additions teased for the future, there should be plenty to keep us busy as we wait on the Ark 2 release date. If you’re looking for somewhere new to play in the meantime, here are the best Ark servers in 2024.
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