Aberration Expansion For ‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Delayed, Structures Plus Mod Being Built Into Main Game

ARK: Survival Evolved players looking ahead to the release of the Aberration expansion pack will have to wait a little longer. Studio Wildcard announced that the second expansion to the open-world survival game will be delayed for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC during a Twitch livestream from TwitchCon. However, the developers did have some exciting news to share about both the new map and the planned integration of the hugely popular Structures Plus mod.

The Aberration expansion was originally scheduled to be released October 31 for all platforms. Studio Wildcard states it needs additional time to complete work and polish the map, which results in a delay of “some weeks,” according to community manager Jat during the Twitch live stream. A new release date has not been set yet, but the studio hopes to have an announcement on that in the next week or so.

What was shown of the Aberration mod during the Friday live stream showed many exciting new changes and features to ARK: Survival Evolved with the expansion. As previously covered, the map is set on a derelict ARK primarily below ground in caves and caverns due to the atmosphere on the surface being toxic with both gas and radiation from the nearby sun. The map will continue with the story established by the current end-game added to the title when it was officially released in August.

Aberration will feature four different biomes including the deadly surface biome, a habitable forest biome, a bioluminescent biome similar to James Cameron’s Avatar, and a fourth Element biome where the “Nameless”, goblin-like humanoids infused with Element, reside. Since there is no weather inside the caves the ARK: Survival Evolved expansion will utilize environmental events instead. An earthquake was shown during the stream complete with shaking ground and rocks and gem resources falling from the ceiling.

Studio Wildcard will not allow players to bring creatures from other ARKs into Aberration. This is due to a simple no-flyer rule, as the developers want players to get around using gliding mechanics, zip lines, and climbing axes. The Rock Drake will be an invaluable creature to tame because of its gliding mechanics and special abilities like rock climbing, going invisible, and acting as an early warning system to the Nameless.

There will still be classic creatures from ARK: Survival Evolved in Aberration such as the Parasaur, Triceratops, and Megalosaurus. These “Aberrant” versions of the creatures will have glow-in-the-dark patterns to help players in darker areas of the maps. There are also four lantern creatures including the Bulbdog shown in the trailer.

Structures Plus Coming to ARK: Survival Evolved Base Game

Perhaps the most exciting announcement for ARK: Survival Evolved players from the stream is that Studio Wildcard has struck a deal with the creators of the Structures Plus mod, Orionsun, to bring it into the base game. This will make the mod available for both PS4 and Xbox One players without the need to load it separately like PrimitivePlus. The mod is one of the most popular Steam Workshop mods available for the PC version as it fixes many of the complaints players have with the current building system, from awkward snap points to not being able to create even fences.

Structures Plus also adds dozens of new building items like triangle-shaped foundations, ceilings, and roofs, plus a full glass structure tier. It also does a much better job of hiding water pipes and electrical wires.

There is no timeframe yet on when Structures Plus will be officially integrated into ARK: Survival Evolved. The work to bring it in is at the beginning stages, and it is possible that not all items and features from the mod will be added.

[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard]