First of all, I want to say that the actual base game is really good. I have spent around 300 hours in it already playing on just one server/map and there is still plenty more stuff for me to do. The game also has lovely looking graphics and some amazing scenery. The game has also been fairly regularly updated with fixes, optimisations and additional features/content and hopefully this will continue since the last update.

Now, on to my mixed part of the review which is about the performance. The performance of the game sucks. I am running a 5930K, 32GB of 2666MHz memory I believe and a titan X on an Intel 750 NVME SSD and the game still stutters even when playing at 1080P with reduced settings. Personally I find that large player made structures cause most of the problems for me personally. The official ARK servers also suffer from some performance issues as well. This is however understandable as this is an early access game.
Now, onto my real issue with this game which is DLC. PAID DLC. I personally don't mind DLC being released after a game has been completed as bonus content however, releasing DLC before the actual base game is completed is just unbelievable. Next time, finishing your game that people have PAID for before releasing more content you expect people to pay even more for.
My concern is that we could have players bringing DLC items into a world which other players cannot get without buying the DLC making ARK slightly less fair and also introducing a pay to win system......
I also fear that this DLC will take away additional development time away from the base game as developers will start patching this DLC as well resulting in less fixes and updates for a game that isn't even finished yet.

early access seems like a great idea but it is just being abused by everyone know. Even developers that until this update I thought I could trust.

First of all, I want to say that the actual base game is really good. I have spent around 300 hours in it already playing on just one server/map and there is still plenty more stuff for me to do. The game also has lovely looking graphics and some amazing scenery. The game has also been fairly regularly updated with fixes, optimisations and additional features/content and hopefully this will continue since the last update. Now, on to my mixed part of the review which is about the performance. The performance of the game sucks. I am running a 5930K, 32GB of 2666MHz memory I believe and a titan X on an Intel 750 NVME SSD and the game still stutters even when playing at 1080P with reduced settings. Personally I find that large player made structures cause most of the problems for me personally. The official ARK servers also suffer from some performance issues as well. This is however understandable as this is an early access game. Now, onto my real issue with this game which is DLC. PAID DLC. I personally don't mind DLC being released after a game has been completed as bonus content however, releasing DLC before the actual base game is completed is just unbelievable. Next time, finishing your game that people have PAID for before releasing more content you expect people to pay even more for. My concern is that we could have players bringing DLC items into a world which other players cannot get without buying the DLC making ARK slightly less fair and also introducing a pay to win system...... I also fear that this DLC will take away additional development time away from the base game as developers will start patching this DLC as well resulting in less fixes and updates for a game that isn't even finished yet. early access seems like a great idea but it is just being abused by everyone know. Even developers that until this update I thought I could trust.