I did know of the ARK: Survival series before I found it in the Apple Playstore. Though my knowledge of it was pretty generic; the game is a survival game on an island of dinosaurs. That’s it. That’s all I knew. I did know it was a pretty big game though, so it was a huge surprise to find ARK: Survival Evolved for FREE in the Apple Playstore.
At this time, I didn’t have a PC, so I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the game in first place, so I took the shot. I downloaded the game onto my phone and began to play. Let me tell you, it was a rollercoaster of a ride.
In hindsight, I got really lucky with my spawn. I died the first time to a Dilophosaurus (Dilo) while gathering some wood from a tree but then spawned on the edge of the Southern Coast with a nice bay connected to the ocean.
I got the bright idea to make my thatch hut between these two large rocks. With that, I had a larger, open area enclosed from most creatures entering and a bit of water to refresh my character. It felt perfect! And it worked. In fact, it stayed as my main base for the whole rest of my playthrough, growing and expanding across the bay to the other side of land in a large bridge.
It was also a great spot in that a Sarcosuchus (Sarco) would routinely spawn and swim in the bay. The first time was a huge scare, loading into the game and hearing crunching on my base. Thankfully, I had tamed several dinosaurs and was able to handle the Sarco.
By the time I was pretty settled in the game, I had a whole horde of dinosaurs trailing after me including a pack of Dilos (who I liked to use better than Velociraptors for no particular reason), a quartet of Brontosaurus that took a long time to tame, some Triceratops, and a Pterandon to check out flying.
I never did enjoy flying much in the game for the sole fact that I am not great with the actual surviving on an island of dinosaurs. I am terrible with horror and found myself absolutely terrified of being killed by a dinosaur and then losing progress. While flying, I was anxious about of finding good places to land without predators when my stamina fell, so I avoided it entirely by traveling with my pack of dinosaurs.
I did try a cave dungeon on mobile. The combat was a bit finicky with mobile controls, so I often left fighting to the dinosaurs and added some additional shots where I could. The dungeon was an instant nope. I screamed when the swarm of Titanoboas came after me and instantly exited the cave. I didn’t even know what the cave was when I first entered and was just trying to explore more of the island. I only tried two more times before I gave up on attempting to clear the cave.
I actually greatly enjoyed playing ARK: Survival Evolved on mobile. It felt more like a long demo of the game itself. With more rudimentary controls, less fleshed out content, but maintaining the main gameplay, it was a great introduction to the actual ARK: Survival series.
I have had the chance since to play the game on PC with added mods. It definitely felt smoother than the mobile version but felt less dangerous too. The mobile version really felt like I was surviving with the crossbow for a long time, myself against the world. The PC version, with the added mods, made it feel more like survival games nowadays that pushes progression quickly, losing the fear aspect of the world.
If you are a player who doesn’t mind mobile controls and is interested in the ARK: Survival series, I would definitely recommend checking it out. The series is a more pricey game, especially with the added maps, so the free mobile version would be a great demo for what to expect at its base gameplay and see if you want more!
What are your thoughts about larger game series like ARK: Survival being made onto mobile platforms? Would you be willing to try out the game completely vanilla on mobile controls? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below or in our Boss Rush Discord!
Featured Image Source: Studio Wildcard
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