‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Officially Launches On PC And Consoles, How To Unlock Ragnarok Map
ARK: Survival Evolved officially launched for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC Tuesday after two years of early access. Studio Wildcard’s ever expanding open-world playground filled with dinosaurs and danger is now considered a full game and it comes with a new map called Ragnarok that will need to be unlocked in single-player.
New Servers
As previously covered, Studio Wildcard is launching free new servers now that ARK: Survival Evolved is out of an Early Access state. New servers for the PS4 and Xbox One platforms are still in the process of being deployed as of the time this article was published. They are currently expected to launch around 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.
Servers that existed prior to the official launch have either been wiped and repurposed or branded as Legacy servers. It is also important to note that Legacy servers will not receive any customer support going forward as Studio Wildcard does not have the ability to deal with the massive backlog of support tickets from early access plus new tickets for the new servers.
Ragnarok and How to Unlock
The official release of ARK: Survival Evolved also marks the launch of the free Ragnarok map to the PS4 and Xbox One. This is a massive map created by a mod team picked up by Studio Wildcard as part of their Sponsored Mod program.
The Ragnarok map was originally released to PC in June as a work in progress. The rush to get ARK: Survival Evolved ready for official release put the launch of the map behind, but it is finally here.
New official servers have been setup to support the Ragnarok map. Additionally, surviving Legacy server clusters will also receive a fourth cluster server to support the map. Player-run dedicated servers can also decide to run the map.
Ragnarok won’t be available immediately to single-players, however, without a cheat. Studio Wildcard is requiring players ascend their single-player character once to unlock the free map. This can be done by loading up The Island map, pressing the “Start” button and going to the Admin Console by holding down LB+RB+X+Y on the Xbox controller or R1+L1+Triangle+Square on the PS4 controller. Then enter the command: “Cheat playercommand Ascend2”. Note that this is case sensitive.
The new map will now be available to select when starting a new single-player game. The Island, The Center, and Scorched Earth (if purchased) are all available by default.
New Content
The patch released on all three platforms for the ARK: Survival Evolved official launch introduces new content. There is one new tamable animal, the otter. This is a companion creature that can ride on a Survivor’s shoulders and be sent to fetch silica pearls. The Phoenix plus the new Tek Sword and Tek Shield apparently did not make the cut.
The end-game content is also now available. Survivors can enter the Tek Cave today to fight the final boss and discover the secrets of the ARK.
Windows 10 Release with Xbox One Cross-Play
The Windows 10 version of ARK: Survival Evolved will not be released until mid-September now, per Studio Wildcard. This will eventually allow the ability for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC owners to play together or use their Windows 10 PC to serve as a host.
PS4 owners can rent PC servers today to host ARK: Survival Evolved matches. This will also arrive for Xbox One owners at the same time as the Windows 10 version.
[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard]
[Correction: It looks like the Phoenix, Tek Sword, and Tek Shield were pulled from the launch day patch at the last minute.]
