As much as I would like to recommend this game, I sadly cannot right now. There are may good features added to the game which make some really janky and rather tedious things, such as construction, far more enjoyable. The time for loading in and out of thee island takes mere seconds to happen instead of 1 minute+. I can go on on how much is improved on the game, even many little things that honestly make it so much nicer to play.

However I do have to point out the massive elephant in the room. This thing we call Ark Survival Ascended. It should be called Ark Survival Devolved, because the devs took some very important things and evolved them backwards. Multiplayer right now has turned into a Nitrado monopoly. Snail Games has made it so you cannot hos your own games on your own machine. You must buy a licence from Nitrado and get their server hosting, which is not known for stability nor performance despite supposedly being the number 1 server hosting platform. This monopoly has allowed Nitrado to massively spike their prices, making it extremely predatory.

What about non-dedicated hosting with insane tether distance? Sadly, half the game and world settings do not function at all. Tether distance is one of these things. it is locked at 180 meters from the host. As much as i love my friends, I don't think having a dozen of us in the same place at all times is going to work out, especially with Ark being Ark, you generally need to split the party to really make rapid progress in multiplayer.

The other big thing is absolutely broken promises, Wildcard is known for not meeting deadlines. That I can overlook. What I cannot overlook is that there were multiple promises that were made for this game that were broke. People who were already owners of ASE were supposed to get ASA as a free upgrade. After they broke that promise they said it would be bundled with a pre-order of ARK 2. Notice we have not even had the opportunity to do anything but wishlist ARK 2, and suddenly we get ASA dropped on our heads but not bundled with ARK 2 pre-order. It's sadly becoming harder to trust game companies, and Wildcard is no exception here. Even back in the early days of ASE, they stated there would not be any paid DLC then months later Scorched Earth appeared. I stress again do not buy this game. Maybe if they fix their issues and allow server hosting I may possibly change my review of ASA.

As much as I would like to recommend this game, I sadly cannot right now. There are may good features added to the game which make some really janky and rather tedious things, such as construction, far more enjoyable. The time for loading in and out of thee island takes mere seconds to happen instead of 1 minute+. I can go on on how much is improved on the game, even many little things that honestly make it so much nicer to play. However I do have to point out the massive elephant in the room. This thing we call Ark Survival Ascended. It should be called Ark Survival Devolved, because the devs took some very important things and evolved them backwards. Multiplayer right now has turned into a Nitrado monopoly. Snail Games has made it so you cannot hos your own games on your own machine. You must buy a licence from Nitrado and get their server hosting, which is not known for stability nor performance despite supposedly being the number 1 server hosting platform. This monopoly has allowed Nitrado to massively spike their prices, making it extremely predatory. What about non-dedicated hosting with insane tether distance? Sadly, half the game and world settings do not function at all. Tether distance is one of these things. it is locked at 180 meters from the host. As much as i love my friends, I don't think having a dozen of us in the same place at all times is going to work out, especially with Ark being Ark, you generally need to split the party to really make rapid progress in multiplayer. The other big thing is absolutely broken promises, Wildcard is known for not meeting deadlines. That I can overlook. What I cannot overlook is that there were multiple promises that were made for this game that were broke. People who were already owners of ASE were supposed to get ASA as a free upgrade. After they broke that promise they said it would be bundled with a pre-order of ARK 2. Notice we have not even had the opportunity to do anything but wishlist ARK 2, and suddenly we get ASA dropped on our heads but not bundled with ARK 2 pre-order. It's sadly becoming harder to trust game companies, and Wildcard is no exception here. Even back in the early days of ASE, they stated there would not be any paid DLC then months later Scorched Earth appeared. I stress again do not buy this game. Maybe if they fix their issues and allow server hosting I may possibly change my review of ASA.