I wasn’t expecting this one — ARK: Survival Evolved is coming to the Nintendo Switch. I… don’t really know what to say. Every time a new game is announced, I repeat myself by saying, “Switch is having the best year ever.”
According to the announcement from the devs, ARK on the Switch will have all of the same features as the other console versions — including the multiplayer! That alleviates any concern of a dumbed-down version.
My concern is performance. The Switch, though an amazing piece of hardware, is not as powerful as a PC or other current-generation consoles. I can’t get ARK to run well on my PC at all, so how is it going to run on my Switch? 480p 15fps?
We’ll just have to see how it turns out. If they manage to pull off a smooth running, feature rich version of ARK on the Switch, then that will be a remarkable accomplishment and a major step forward for the console. This type of multiplayer sandbox, on a mobile handheld console, would be a huge win.
I just have my doubts.
ARK: Survival Evolved - Nintendo Switch announcement at GDC 2018.​
Could be a big win for the Switch, but man I just can’t wrap my head around the game. I’ve tried multiple times (even with friends) and for some reason it doesn’t hook me. It literally has EVERYTHING (dinosaurs, survival, exploration) I want in a game.
Keep in mind there are many different ways to play the game, and they result in an experience that’s as different as, say, ranked play is from gun game in CS:GO. Just because you don’t like gun game doesn’t mean you wouldn’t like ranked play.
I have put in hundreds of hours to Ark in a private server with 1-4 friends, and anticipate putting in hundreds more. I don’t think it would keep my interest if I played it the way a lot of people do though, which is on an official server with hundreds of strangers.
Can the game be played and enjoyed to its fullest with 2 people on a server?
Yes, just need to turn up some of the timers so it doesn’t take 8hrs to tame a dino, but beyond that ARK can be awesome with just two people. You won’t have the PvP aspect of course, but IMO the PvP in ARK is perhaps the worst part anyway.
[…] I'm fairly interested in trying out ARK: Survival Evolved on the Nintendo Switch in the Fall, I have to admit that ARK has always been a disappointment for me when I try to […]