ARK 2

 Survival Evolved even further?

Have you ever had a piece of media effect you so very deeply that it bought you to tears? That you couldn't help but shed some of your emotional expenditure in wake of it's brilliance? Ark 2 is one such product for me, for even in the trailer, there was enough material to move me. Although, it must be said, that might have been because I was literally crying with laughter from the moment I saw Vin Diesel's face onwards. I couldn't help it, I know it's mean, but just the sheer shock of the exact second we saw his mug was enough to send me over the edge, and from there everything just built. The way this almost looked like it was going for a 'Horizon' vibe with it's concept, only coupled with hilariously stiff animation which didn't match the gravity of that pedigree at all. The way that Vin seemed to be the de facto hero of this trailer, fighting everything off one-handed like this was some kid's Fast and Furious Fan fic. And then a Dinosaur turned up and I lost it all over again. Vin Diesel and Dinosaurs? Are you literally freakin' kidding me?

Of course, the absolute magic of this moment was shattered into something all the more darker once the name of the project flashed up. Ark 2, huh? For a moment there I'd fooled myself into thinking this was some wanderstruck indie project that had managed to drum up enough investor capital to score Vin Diesel in their trailer, (Although apparently not enough to secure a decent animator) but in reality this was Studio Wildcard and what we were seeing was the fruits of their long tumultuous relationship with a community that's so lukewarm to them that merely reading a page worth of community reviews was enough to talk me right out of a purchasing decision. (For which I did not look back) But hey, maybe this is an opportunity to write all the wrongs of the past on a fresh playing field with a leading man to head things off in Vin Diesel. (That still sounds funny just to say in my head.) Huh? He's not just starring but helping to produce it too? Okay... I'll choose to see that as a portend of good things too... somehow...

Although I feel there are a great many questions ahead of us, I think the most genial would be what could possible await us in an ARK 2 sequel. More specifically, why is a sequel even needed for a game that's a live service and thus has existed on the merit of updates up until just now? Well, keeping friendly, I would go so far as to say this is likely an issue with the structure of the game, from the networking to the base code. We saw this from Among Us which was on the verge of a sequel before the surprise success, because the base game was apparently a little messy to work with on the codebase and the team thought it prudent to start fresh. At least, that was until they secured an audience so huge that it would be literally stupid to split them up right now and thus they opted to bite the bullet and frustration for the time being. The cynical side of me does wonder if the reason for ARK 2's existence might be the exact opposite of Among Us 2's nonexistence. As in, ARK has been waning in popularity with a gameplay cycle that's notoriously tough to get started on and many veterans leaving for some reason or another, and so a big new trailer was what they needed to set things off again. But that's just speculation, I couldn't say for certain.

Whatever the purpose I will remain cordial as I suggest that this could ultimately end up being a good thing for the ARK experience given that it provides an opportunity for the game to 'catch up with the times' as it were. 'ARK: Survival Evolved' launched at a time when survival games were a dime a dozen and each title existed on the exact same core premise with a wild card (see what I did there) gimmick thrown in. ARK's was dinosaurs and that proved well enough for the time, but I feel that as the years went by and the meta for popular games shifted, the rough survival routes of ARK grew so unruly that in today's age most guides specifically tell new players to heavily toggle down half the settings in order to get a halfway decent experience. Maybe a new start from the getgo will allow for more palatable systems that play better to the heart of the ARK experience and is more welcoming to newcomers. Or maybe even the suggestion of that will alienate longtime fans who roughed out the base ARK experience and see any streamlining as traitorous. I guess only time will tell.

We would be amiss, however, not to mention that ARK 2 wasn't the only thing which was shown off by Studio Wildcard and their partners during the Game Awards, oh no. There was also a brief look at an anime series which, to be honest, looked fine. Just fine. I get the feeling that the footage we saw was a purposefully streamlined teaser, which is why it seemed a little passionless and focused on showing raw action. Although the animation quality was certainly who worlds better than what we saw in the game trailer, but then we are comparing the worlds of 2D and 3D animation and I'm not nearly qualified enough to reliably go there. What really got my attention was simply the amount of names attached to this animated series. Gerard Butler, David Tennant, Karl Urban, Malcom McDowell, Russel Crowe and Vin Diesel? Just what in heck is going on where everyone signed up for ARK 2 in the same moment?

I do wonder when it comes to these 'catch all' sort of game launches, which come accompanied with all this fluff and extra content which the primary customer doesn't really care all that much about but which requires all this effort anyway. I mean even the big studios, your Ubisoft's, Bethesda's and Square Enix's, struggle to maintain such unwieldly grasps of content when they shoot for several mediums at once, but here's Wildcard out of nowhere saying that they can do it no problem. And you know what? Some part of me wants them to pull it off, and that might come from my newfound hatred for all AAA studios as much as my desire to see an underdog succeed, but there it pretty much is. If this ARK Animated series is halfway good, and it looks to maybe be, then I see no reason why the game itself can't be quite a bit of fun. (Especially learning from all the misteps that the first game went through over the course of many expansions.)

But now I'll let out the cynical side and admit that this all seems a bit much from a team who's first game was honestly a bit of a mess for a good long chunk of it's life cycle. And don't get me wrong, I know just as well as anybody how difficult it is to make something from scratch, (I've even got experience with amateur coding) but it takes a special kind of brave to jump from a single messy game's lifespan into what looks like a multimillion dollar cross-media effort. I can't say if Wildcard has appropriately grown enough to take on that sort of responsibility. I mean, at one point the community was straight at odds with these developers over conduct and decisions made, you'd think they'd have to cut their teeth a little before getting put in a position this important. But then again, who ever got anywhere without taking risks, right? If they can put all this together and secure a decent game in the mix, then I'll clap the fellows over there as sure as I would anyone else. 

Ultimately, I have to come clean and admit that I not really the target audience for this game at all, so my opinion on it all doesn't really matter. Sure, my gamer brain might be saying that this much footage without any gameplay is suspect, but as someone who literally only played 30 minutes of the original (with 20 of those being in the cue to get into the game) I don't really have the right to say anything or point any fingers. I'm just happy that Vin Diesel, a man who genuinely seems interested in the gaming world, gets the chance to be in a video game that might not be total garbage like the last one he was in, the man deserves that much. Also, I guess I'll watch the series once it hits Netflix, I'm a sucker for these sorts of shows afterall.