Major ‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Biome Changes Inbound, Start Prepping Now [Update]

Studio Wildcard is readying major biome changes to The Island in ARK: Survival Evolved. Owners of the Xbox One and PC versions of the open-world dinosaur survival game may want to begin planning any necessary moves ahead of the planned update.

The most significant change is going to affect the Deep Island area of the map, which holds Grand Peak. This is the inland island just to the south of the Volcano. The entire area (highlighted in orange in the map below) is going to be converted to the new Redwood biome, and this will result in “substantial terrain changes,” according to the developer.

Tribes and individual survivors who currently call the Deep Island home will want to begin moving their base before patch 241.0 hits the PC version of the game. The patch is currently targeting a May 30 release date, per the official release notes. Xbox One owners will see the biome changes two to four weeks afterward based on the schedule of previous updates.

Another significant biome change is coming with this update that. The snow biome in is now going to be extended across the entire northern coast of The Island, and Far’s Peak will gain snow too. The blue area in the above image notes the new snow biome.

Studio Wildcard states, “The extended snow area should not have any major terrain changes, but there is a possibility of new rocks and trees that have the potential to destroy parts of bases, or spawn on top of tames and destroy them.”

Meanwhile, the small green area of the map is where the current swamp biome is being converted to the redwood biome. The rest of the swamp will remain unchanged from how it is currently.

The reason why players will want to move their bases and any tamed animals is due to the fact a previous biome change in the game destroyed bases and animals. Any new rocks, trees, or other objects added with the new biome will essentially overwrite any player structure or tamed animal in the same spot.

Unfortunately, moving an entire base can be a tedious and time-consuming affair. This is why Studio Wildcard has given players a three-week-plus warning.

Studio Wildcard originally extended the snow area biome all the way across to the northern coast to overtake the very popular “Hidden Lake” area located in the northeast part of The Island. The developers decided against stretching the winter wonderland area that far and it now stops just to the west of the “Hidden Lake.”

ARK: Survival Evolved on the PC may have noticed several small updates have hit the game over the past few days. Studio Wildcard has been busy fixing lingering issues from the 240.0 release. This includes adding the ability to teleport tamed T-Rexes into the boss arenas, the ability for Giganotosaurus to knock down trees, and a 10-second timer on being affected by the Bola a second time after being hit by it once. There are some performance improvements as well, but you should check out the official patch notes for the full details.

The Xbox One version of ARK is still targeting May 16 to receive all the content from the 240 and 239 patches. This will also add new servers to the game featuring the custom-made Center map.

Looking ahead, here is what Studio Wildcard is targeting for the ARK: Survival Evolved 241 patch for the PC.

• New Creature: Diplodocus!
• New Creature: Leech!
• New Mechanic: Permanent Diseases & Cures
• Biome Update: Snow Extension & New Redwood Forests (this is a major environmental overhaul!)
• Tribe Groups Phase 2: Support for Limited Non-Admin Invites & Promotions per Group!
• Dragon Arena
• Ruins & Explorer Notes
• Added server option to override per-Item Crafting costs
• Added server option to override the loot tables for each kind of supply crate
• Added server option to limit number of members in Tribes. Default: no limit.
• Breeding Mechanics Phase 2 (Random Mutations, Family Trees, & Interactive Baby Raising)

[Image via Studio Wildcard]

[Update: Studio Wildcard released a new version of the map showing the biome changes. This article has been updated to reflect the new map.]