Troubled times at Ark: Survival Evolved. Since the latest DLC was released, long-time fans in particular have been up in arms.
Ironically, it is the most loyal fans of the survival game Ark: Survival Evolved who are currently quite upset. Exemplary of this discontent in the community is a Steam review by user Lacenes, which is currently at the top of the review page.
According to Steam, Lacenes has spent a whopping 35,200 hours playing the game. Yes, you read that right. This brave soul has spent four whole years of his life exclusively in the dinosaur world of Ark (or at least left his PC running for a very long time).
You’d think this person must really like the game. But his review is less of a final verdict and more of a status report. Because he and many others are currently very disappointed with Ark and the new DLC.
What users currently dislike about Ark
Lacenes finds very clear words in his review and expresses his disappointment above all. Of course, with 35,000 hours of playtime, Ark is one of his favorite games. But he feels that the gaming experience is currently being ruined. He writes:
I’ve played Ark for 35,000 hours, it’s one of my favorite games that I enjoy playing with friends and family. I’ve been running an ASM server with mods for years, until today. NOTHING works anymore. The server doesn’t fit, the mods don’t work, and all this just to force us to ASA [Ark: Survival Ascended].
I have this game too, and it’s terrible. That’s why we went back to ASE, and now you’ve managed to ruin that too.
As many comments under the review point out, a refund after 35,000 hours seems rather unlikely. One user even points out that at this point, he should rather ask if he can have his life back.
However, Lacenes is not the only player with a long playing time who is now giving a negative rating. The recent reviews are only balanced, and since July 16, there has been a barrage of negative reviews every day. Some people have played 400 hours, some 600, and some even over 1,000.
And the reasons are hinted at in Lacenes’ review. With the latest update and the Aquatica DLC from July 15, performance took a serious hit and, above all, mods became incompatible in droves. It is precisely the latter that keeps long-time players sticking with the game.
Developer responds
The development studio responded quickly to the tirades of its players and released a statement. In addition, a branch has been introduced that allows people to revert to the state before the DLC.
In the meantime, regular updates are being released to fix many of the issues with the new DLC. However, this has not yet stemmed the flood of negative reviews on Steam.
