Home Gaming Early Access game ARK: Survival Evolved’s Scorched Earth expansion confirmed

Early Access game ARK: Survival Evolved’s Scorched Earth expansion confirmed

3 min read
52

SCorched

ARK: Survival Evolved is a pretty good game about punching trees and riding dinosaurs. But it’s not quite finished. Like most survival games, it’s been in early access for what seems like an eternity. And now (as we told you before) it’s getting a paid-for expansion pack, before the game’s even done.

Seems a bit of a cheek to me – releasing superfluous, extraneous content for a game that’s yet to go gold. I suppose though, that nobody’s forced to buy it, and whatever money it dos earn is likely being funnelled in to completing ARK, but it still seems cheeky. What makes it especially egregious is that according to the developers, this extra content is a complete and finished product.

That all said, the first ARK: Survival Evolved expansion pack, Scorched Earth is now available on both Xbox One Game Preview and Steam Early Access. You can pick it up right now for $20.

As you’d gather from its name, it features a new sandy, desert biome and creatures to go along with it.

“All of us at Wildcard are tremendously excited to see how these new features alter the dynamics of the long-term ARK ‘metagame,’” said Studio Wildcard lead designer and co-founder, Jeremy Stieglitz. “While we’ve had Scorched Earth and future ARKs in the planning stages since the project’s inception, establishing its inter-ARK travel technology was the essential reason for making this content available to players right now. We encourage everyone to grab some trustworthy tribemates, don your safari hats, layer on the SPF-1000 sunscreen, and head into the great blazing desert!”

Here’s what’s new:

  • Where’s the Water?: Players must re-learn what it means to survive and thrive in a harsh desert environment depleted of water resources.
  • Explore a New World: Scorched Earth is an entirely new map, composed of seven unique, desert themed biomes – dunes, high desert, mountains, canyons, badlands, oasis and the ever-dangerous dragon trench – each with their own aesthetics, resources and ecosystems, and littered with ruins, geysers, and intricate ancient cave systems.
  • Craft More Than 50 New Items: Discover new outfits and structures to protect from the heat, and new tools to help survive in the harsh environment. Carry temporary shelter with you using tents, employ whips, boomerangs and flamethrowers for ‘defense,’ wind turbines to generate clean power, and water wells and oil refineries to harvest scarce resources, among many new mechanics!
  • Tame New Creatures: The desert’s biomes are filled with fantastical new creatures, many of which can be tamed. Lead a caravan of the camel-like Morellatops, or rain fire down on your enemies from the back of a Wyvern. Just mind your step in the vast desert, or you might attract a Death Worm!
  • Conquer New Challenges: Prepare yourself for dangerous electrical storms, blinding sand storms, befuddling heat stroke, and unleash the power of the Obelisks to come face-to-face with ARK’s deadliest boss creature to date – the ferocious Manticore!
  • Travel Back to the Island: Take characters, favorite creatures and items from Scorched Earth back to the Island, standing out from the crowd and making your Island-dwelling friends jealous with all of the amazing new goodies and secrets you find in the Desert.
[https://youtu.be/Ot_NIoBE0j8]

Scorched2

Last Updated: September 2, 2016

52 Comments

  1. Ottokie

    September 2, 2016 at 08:06

    I used to be able to say with confidence that indie dev’s are much better than your corporate pigs like EA. But this year it’s getting pretty hard to do so with all this greed suddenly enveloping indie games.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      September 2, 2016 at 08:19

      Sometimes I wonder if it is greed or is it simply because the cost of making a game has grown astronomically?

      Dev time, hardware, audio, score, voice talent… Are those costs not driving the industry into a vastly different direction?

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        September 2, 2016 at 08:29

        No, it’s about money and it’s as simple as that. This is why Deus Ex has microtransactions 🙁

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          September 2, 2016 at 08:51

          Yes well. Money makes the world go round. Or so they say. But can you really hate a guy for trying to make an extra buck? (Referring to the Deus Ex MT’s. This ARK thing does border on the shady side a teensy bit…)

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            September 2, 2016 at 09:15

            When you pay close to R900 for a game and it has MT then yes, yes I can

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 2, 2016 at 09:19

            I hear you. Though I would love to see how much of that R900.00 filters down to the studios. Looking at the financials of a project, say for example a game like, I don’t know, Fallout 4 would be interesting. Not only income, but expenses too.

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            September 2, 2016 at 10:03

            Me too, but in the end, it’s not my problem. Games are kak expensive already without them having to gouge us with additional MT not to mention season passes and DLC

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 2, 2016 at 09:19

            Deus Ex, though a brilliant game, gets a thumbs down from me because of the MTs.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 2, 2016 at 09:23

            Not going to go off ranting again, but I do think gamers can be a bit full of shit. Brilliant game but thumbs down on the MT’s.
            At some point, you have to tune out stuff. If the game required micro transactions to win, I would say yes, hate it. But the stuff I read about for Deus Ex was more cheat type stuff…

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 2, 2016 at 09:28

            The way I see it, I have ONE way to express my displeasure in a product I’ve bought from them, and that’s through a review. I’m not going to refund it, because it was my choice to buy it in the first place. So that’s literally all the power we have as consumers. So I will use it.
            There is also no reason for there to be MTs in DX. They’ve cheapened the franchise by adding it, whether you need it or not.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 2, 2016 at 09:42

            The way I see it: You give a game you loved a bad review (stars wise) because of MT’s, that at the end of they day, other than existing, gives you the willies.
            This is what I am talking about, and it’s my fondest wish: Gamers should learn to adapt. Vote with your wallet. But no matter how much online bitching you do, you only make yourself miserable and poison a lot of other people around you.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 2, 2016 at 09:48

            Really no need to get personal here on an opinion, but clearly that gives you the “willies”.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 2, 2016 at 09:52

            If it got personal, it would have involved some family member and a lot of other unpleasant stuff.

            Gamers are still full of shit though…

          • Matthew Holliday

            September 2, 2016 at 09:53

            ofcourse we are, lol, welcome to the internet, where everyone is an expert and the points dont matter.

            But even so, no more full of shit than anyone else.
            People are full of shit.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 2, 2016 at 10:02

            Ha ha ha! I hear you…

          • Veevslav

            September 2, 2016 at 23:57

            You tried to subtly tell him he was a gamer that was full of shit, that is a bit personal. Some people can just be so full of shit when they go after other sub groups.

          • Veevslav

            September 2, 2016 at 23:54

            Nah, he is just negative about people warning others about Devs crappy practices. He is trying to warn them about us and how bad we are for telling them the truth.

          • Veevslav

            September 2, 2016 at 23:53

            There is a reason I am willing to wait to buy a game when it is dirt cheap and that is because so many devs are just releasing crappy games.
            I just gave ARK a thumbs down, we have been waiting on future tech to be released for almost 2 years and they are busy developing this DLC….
            Yea, I got a problem with it. If you don’t like the fact we are willing to let people know that the devs are going to shaft you well that is your negative problem and maybe you should quit bitching about it and making yourself miserable while poisoning those that have made a statement and moved on.

      • Dungeon of JJ

        September 2, 2016 at 08:30

        We’re still talking about an Early Access game wrt ARK, getting a DLC. That’s BS.

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          September 2, 2016 at 08:42

          Not just that… ARK was all about taming dino’s…. Not wyverns, bugs and mythical creatures like the Manticore.

          Reply

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 2, 2016 at 08:59

            Yea, their initial marketing was “Dinosaur Survival Game”. Now it’s not that anymore.
            But, I suppose if people asked for it, that’s that.
            I’ve been playing The Isle, but it’s still very Early Access with little going on, but I think that is going to be the next Dino game to have. The animations and models are amazing. The community used to be great, but as more people got it, it just turned a bit sour. I’ll go PvE instead when it’s released, if it’s released that is.

          • Aries

            September 2, 2016 at 10:27

            I actually like the mythical stuff, always wanted dragons

          • HairyEwok

            September 2, 2016 at 10:53

            That’s why there’s mods like Annunaki. Now people who bought the DLC will be able to transfer these Wyverns to the island and wreak total havoc on people who don’t want to buy the DLC or can’t afford it.

          • Aries

            September 2, 2016 at 14:13

            that mod is abit overboard for me though, I do have it installed though, but prefer normal game but I do want dragons also

        • Dutch Matrix

          September 2, 2016 at 08:48

          I hear you. It doesn’t make sense, but that seems to be what an entreprenurial economy will bring you. You do something, someone throws money atcha and you are all like “Cooooollll…” Then

          Reply

    • Dungeon of JJ

      September 2, 2016 at 08:29

      The problem is, with guys like the devs from ARK, their fame grew so quickly that it turned them greedy.
      The good guys are still out there and I’ll continue to support those. 🙂

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        September 2, 2016 at 08:31

        Stardew Valley!

        and ORI!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          September 2, 2016 at 08:32

          Stardew Valley, I still need to play that…… for the rest of my life

          Reply

          • Ottokie

            September 2, 2016 at 08:34

            Yes. Yes you have to

          • VampyreSquirrel

            September 2, 2016 at 08:42

            You still have to start all over again xD

          • Ottokie

            September 2, 2016 at 08:45

            HUUUUUUUU

            *for future reference people… the save file is in %Appdata% not in Steam or cloud or even My Documents. SO BACK IT UP!

        • HairyEwok

          September 2, 2016 at 08:35

          Stardew was a nostalgia trip from Harvest moon.
          The guy did everything correctly to the dot and for that I’m truly thankful and happy i bought the game.
          But this. I can’t support what’s happening with ARK now.

          Reply

          • Ottokie

            September 2, 2016 at 09:05

            I loved Harvest Moon on my gameboy colour so much

        • Dungeon of JJ

          September 2, 2016 at 08:59

          I need to get Stardew Valley

          Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        September 2, 2016 at 09:57

        If they could stick to release dates with their Ark content, Id be okay with it.
        But yesterdays patch came and went and we only got one of the three promised updates.

        Reply

        • Dungeon of JJ

          September 2, 2016 at 10:04

          Yea, very true.

          Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      September 2, 2016 at 09:47

      Not entirely sure greed is to blame when it comes to studio wildcard.
      Scorched Earth is essentially a whole new game, its Ark 2.0, and studio wildcard released it as an expansion pack for R219.

      Only reasons I get salty about this DLC, are because its taking dev time away from the vanilla game, which they cant keep to release schedules with already.
      And whether you buy it or not, you have to download the 8.2gb update.

      Reply

    • Spy Master Tokashi

      September 2, 2016 at 11:51

      Software Inc – 1 man dev team, awesome game.
      Don’t Starve – awesome game
      Stonehearth – still supported by the dev and it looks better and better.

      There are a few indie devs that keep doing it right… but it is the same with AAA. You get brilliant AAA titles that are not plagued by this corporate bullshit greed.

      Sad to see it happens to Indie devs too…

      Reply

  2. HairyEwok

    September 2, 2016 at 08:10

    I guess there’s a reason why the studio is called Wildcard.
    But honestly this is UTTER BULLSHIT. How do you release DLC for a game that’s still in early alpha access. That 40 million lawsuit has to be paid somehow. Just a shame most of the people playing ARK aren’t idiots.

    Reply

  3. VampyreSquirrel

    September 2, 2016 at 08:11

    Shouldn’t a game come out of early access before expansions come out?

    Just wondering.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      September 2, 2016 at 08:17

      REWRITE ALL THE LAWS!!!!

      Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        September 2, 2016 at 08:37

        AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          September 2, 2016 at 08:53

          Is that an acknowledgement of what I said to be true or is that a scream of terror for me talking to you???

          Reply

          • VampyreSquirrel

            September 2, 2016 at 09:51

            Scream of terror that they’re rewriting acceptable practice and screwing us over.

  4. Pariah ???

    September 2, 2016 at 08:51

    That giant tick of NOPE.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      September 2, 2016 at 08:53

      Thought you were gonna go with Giant Tick of Hope.

      Reply

  5. Sageville

    September 2, 2016 at 09:42

    Madness!

    So wrong to release DLCs for an unfinished game, are their 2 sets of developers or something?

    Still, I’ve been tempted by this title…

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      September 2, 2016 at 09:47

      When i saw the huge update on ark I was amped thinking wow they added more stuff and fixed a lot of bugs, then i looked at the news and saw it was actually DLC which you have to pay for….. My initial response….
      https://giant.gfycat.com/BlandDescriptiveAdder.gif
      Then I remembered they were sued for $40 million and it all made sense why they did this.
      So to keep the company from going “bankrupt” the alpha players need to throw more money their way for THEIR mistake.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        September 2, 2016 at 09:52

        yeah patches over the past 6 months havent exactly been reliable on release dates and getting all the promised content out. Wondering how on earth it can be so hard to take months on a damned ceiling door.
        Now that theyv released this it makes sense, cant keep up with release schedule, BUILD NEW GAME

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          September 2, 2016 at 10:14

          My problem sits with them using development money given to them to complete the base game to make this DLC and then asking money for it, while the base game is still suffering. Their priorities aren’t right.
          Finish the base game then release DLC. Stop releasing more dino’s and work on the bugs so the game can be released officially.
          I would’ve been more than happy to pay for this DLC if the game was complete and officially released.

          Reply

          • Veevslav

            September 3, 2016 at 00:09

            I agree 100% it sounds like a great DLC, but I am still waiting on future tech and bug fixes/optimizations. It has not happened, but we got a new DINO!!:(

  6. Phillip Lamb

    September 4, 2016 at 23:10

    It violates Valve’s terms of service for Early Access games, and I’m sure that something will be done about it. Whether that is to remove the DLC from sale, or to make it free, I couldn’t tell you.

    Reply

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