Studio Wildcard says the new Ark Survival Ascended expansion Lost Colony will bring some long-awaited features.
But the biggest and most exciting surprise is still to come. It’s a brand-new expansion called Lost Colony and it will be the first completely new content made just for ASA. It’s scheduled to release in December, and many fans are eagerly waiting for it. In an exclusive talk with PCGAMESN Studio Wildcard’s co-founders, Jesse Rapczak and Jeremy Stieglitz shared how excited they are to finally bring fresh original content to the game. They also talked about the cool new features and ideas that will be included in Lost Colony.
Right now Ark Survival Ascended already has several updated maps from the old game and Ragnarok is the newest one to be added. This map is one of the largest and most beautiful in Ark history. It also includes many popular creatures that fans love. After Ragnarok came to ASA a lot of players returned to the game. But even though it’s impressive many players have already seen this map before which is why they’re looking for something new and different.
This is exactly why Lost Colony is getting so much attention. When asked why many players still haven’t moved from ASE to the new ASA Jeremy Stieglitz gave three main reasons some players have technical issues some have already put a lot of time into ASE and don’t want to start over and others are waiting for something truly new to make the switch worth it. They actually want a reason creatively to reinvest their time he explained.
Lost Colony might be that reason. With new content new systems and completely fresh experiences it could be the turning point that brings thousands of players into Ark Survival Ascended for good.
People are just starting to see a small part of what’s coming with the Lost Colony Expansion Pass says Rapczak. We released it along with Ragnarok and it brings in a few new gameplay features and creatures. But this is only the beginning. It’s just a small preview. The full map and all the new content that’s coming later will be much bigger and more exciting. We believe it will really surprise players and take the Ark story further. It will also connect with the story and characters we plan to use in Ark 2 and future content.
Before this the only new content made just for Ark Survival Ascended was called Bob’s Tall Tales. Steiglitz explains That was more about adding fun gameplay features like new items and creatures. It wasn’t really about creating a brand-new world or telling a fresh story.
Because this is such a big change from remastering old things to building completely new content I asked if it’s been a tough shift for the team or if they’ve enjoyed the process. Rapczak replies It’s actually been great. For a while the team was focused on smaller updates and improvements. Now we’re able to think big again creating a whole new world a new map new characters and telling new stories. That’s something the team has been excited about for a long time. It’s been a very rewarding experience.
The developers of Ark Survival Ascended are working on new ways to tell stories inside the game. They recently built a new motion capture (mocap) studio at their office in Seattle. This lets them create more realistic character movements and animations. They're also using a powerful new tool called Metahuman from Unreal Engine which helps them make detailed and lifelike characters.
One of the game’s creators Jeremy Stieglitz is bringing back many voice actors from Ark: The Animated Series and even some from other places. These actors are coming back to play their characters again in the game. The actors are excited to return and record new voice lines for the upcoming expansion Lost Colony. The game team is also enjoying the creative process starting from fresh ideas and building the new expansion without being limited by what they did in the older game Ark Survival Evolved.
We already know quite a bit about Lost Colony. As the team hinted it will include well-known characters and famous voice actors from the animated show. The story will happen on Arat Prime a cold icy planet that fans who follow the game’s lore might recognize. This expansion will also help set up the story for Ark 2 the next big game in the series which might still be a few years away from release.
Also with the Lost Colony Expansion Pass players get early access to some new features because it's launching together with the Ragnarok update. Right now players can already try out things like the Drakelings small dragon-like creatures that give passive bonuses the Veilwyn a creature you can tame, and a powerful new building tool that lets you save parts of your base to use again later. On top of all that the game is also adding something totally new Ark's first-ever player skill tree giving players more ways to improve and customize their gameplay.
The new Lost Colony update in Ark Survival Ascended is bringing some big changes and one of the biggest is a skill tree system. This kind of system has never been part of Ark before but it’s common in other games like Path of Exile. According to Stieglitz one of the developers adding a skill tree to Ark is a big deal. It could change how the game is played in the long term. He says that doing it properly means going in a completely new direction for the game which is a bold move.
In addition to that Stieglitz also hints at another new feature coming in December that hasn’t been officially announced yet. He says it’s something that many players have been asking for over the years. This feature is also a big part of another survival game called Conan Exiles so some players might already be familiar with how it works.
One of the most exciting new ideas in Lost Colony is the addition of NPC thralls. These are computer-controlled characters that you can convince to join your side. You can build a team or even an army of them. This kind of mechanic has never really been tried in Ark before so it’s a big step forward. Stieglitz says they also want to explore the idea of hostile human NPCs enemies that can challenge you in new ways. They admit this is an experimental feature but it’s one they’re excited about. In fact some of the features they’re testing in Lost Colony may also appear in Ark 2 so this update gives them a chance to try new things without risking the entire sequel. It’s like a testing ground for bigger ideas they want to perfect later.
Rapczak explains that the world of Arat Prime in the Lost Colony expansion is designed to include new types of gameplay that have never been seen in Ark before. These new features are meant to make the game feel fresh and exciting for players.
Even though Studio Wildcard is adding a lot of new things to improve the gameplay and attract more players to Ark Survival Ascended co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz says the team still wants to stay true to the original feel of Ark.
He reminds us that Ark is a creature survival game at its core. That means taming creatures must always be a big part of the game. Tames should still matter for exploring the map surviving in dangerous environments, and overall gameplay. According to him no matter what new features are added taming creatures should always remain a key part of the experience.
However within that core idea the team is thinking hard about how to add more layers and depth to the gameplay. They want the game to feel richer and more interesting without taking away what makes Ark special in the first place.
The Lost Colony expansion for Ark Survival Ascended is expected to release in December 2025. This update is a big deal for Studio Wildcard not just because of how it may change ASA but also because it gives players a first real taste of what Ark 2 might look like both in story and gameplay.
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