5. Scorched Earth
Map Tour | ARK: Scorched Earth
Scorched Earth is the first paid DLC expansion pack that was added to ARK. It was released in 2016 at the initial price of $19.99. This map changed almost everything that was originally known.
This map is not set around forests and vegetation, but it is focused around a large desert filled with occasional oases. This expansion brought to life dinosaurs far from what we were used to seeing, dinosaurs that make this experience a lot more challenging.
Another thing that adds to the challenging nature of this map is the way that it has been built around seemingly vast and empty sand-filled places, making you go in expeditions even for water. As difficult as it sounds, some things that have been added especially to make your life a bit easier.
I would recommend going for this map if you got bored of the casual vanilla Ark, as it truly changes things a bit.
What’s great about this map?
- New items have been introduced into Scorched Earth, for example the Adobe building tools, which are useful given the circumstances that you will find yourself in.
- It has a variety of creatures which are ranging from the Jerboa to the Wyverns. These creatures are making up a part of the challenging aspect of the map. P.S. watch out for the Rock Golem.
- One of the most praised things about this map is… well… the music. The music for this expansion pack is very nice and fitting. It helps you get fully immersed in this map.
- The map itself is the highest point. It looks amazing! By having very nice looking caves and locations (for example the world scar and the manticore city), it makes you almost forget that you’re in a huge, almost never-ending desert.
4. The Island
A Survivor's Guide to *The Island* in ARK Survival Evolved
The Island is probably known by everybody, as it is a map that is included with the base game. It is the first known ARK and the first map that follows the storyline.
For the people that are looking for more of a Jurassic Park vibe, this is the map for you. This is in my opinion one of the best-looking jungle-filled available maps. Well… it’s not made only out of jungle, it actually consists of multiple geological regions. For example, you can see five larger mountains in the north and plains in the south.
The Island is a huge landmass with many other smaller islands surrounding the central island. As you travel farther inland, you will see that resources become more common, but so does the danger.
I believe this map is the one that offers exactly the vibe that you expect when playing a dinosaur game. So if you’re searching for that, make sure you’re at least giving it a try.
What’s great about this map?
- Not only does this map have the best amount of caves to farm and explore, but they are also very beautiful. They offer amazing views and experiences.
- Resources are almost everywhere. It’s not thathard for you to find the necessities, making this an amazing map for those that are not seeking extremely complicated stuff.
- The map is really beautiful. As I said, it looks great anywhere you go. The diversity of biomes is also adding to this. If you are walking for long enough, you will find yourself in biomes that didn’t even know exists.
- Nice weather changes. On The Island there are two types of weather: rain and fog. When it rains, you can fill your water containers up, and when the fog rolls in, you won’t be able to see very far. In my opinion this adds even more life to this already life-filled map.
3. Aberration
Ark - NEW ABERRATION MAP TOUR
Aberration is an expansion pack that was released in 2017 for the initial price of $19.99. You can also get it through the season pass. If you think you’ve seen diversity in ARK, wait until you check this map out.
This expansion pack is a complete game-changer. It adds a whole lot to the storyline of the game, while also having a great gameplay. Aberration places survivors on a damaged ARK, which means that its internal atmosphere has leaked away, resulting in huge amounts of radiation. All of these have affected dinosaurs and the nature of the environments, therefore presenting a thrilling new world to explore and master.
These radiations have led to disastrous genetic mutations that are resulting in new creatures with amazing abilities. I have so much to write about this amazing, well-thought-out map, but I’ll leave some mystery for you to find out, I’m not going to spoil everything.
This map is really for everyone. You should give this a try if you think you need some new adventures. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
What’s great about this map?
- You can climb up walls and glide through the air on the back of a camouflaging chameleon-like “Rock Drake”, see in the dark with an absolutely adorable creature named “Bulbdog”, or toss multiple creatures with a massive “Karkinos”. This map adds a bunch of new specific dinosaurs with amazing abilities which you have to try out. Also, I’m not going to say much, but check out “The Reaper” and how to tame it. Trust me, you’ll be amazed and horrified simultaneously.
- There’s a lot of new tools which will help you survive. These tools are offering you new unique ways of doing stuff like transportation. You can now use cave-climbing picks, gliding wingsuits, or even ziplines.
- This map adds a bunch of new hazards and unique environmental features which makes things more interesting: earthquakes, radiation exposures, gas leaks or even element chambers, extreme temperatures, seasons that affect the lengths of daytime and night time, dangerous elemental liquid and many more which you’ll have to discover.
2. Extinction
ARK EXTINCTION Full Map Tour
Extinction is the third paid expansion pack for ARK. It was released in 2018 and it’s available for purchase through the season pass.
Get ready for the following: extinction places survivors on an element-infested, ravaged planet filled with fantastical creatures both organic and technological. How cool does that sound?
There’s so much new stuff added to this map, and a bunch of new features which makes this a whole more complex and nonetheless, really fun.
This map is filled with things to explore and easter eggs to find. It forces players to survive an Earth unfamiliar to us, with strange features and stranger creatures. Throughout the map you can find things like the abandoned city, which is set in the center of the map, and it’s usually referred to as the Great City. This part of the map showsthe remains of some great technologically advanced civilizations. There’s so much to the story that you’ll have to find out for yourself
I once again recommend giving this map a try, as it changed a bunch of stuff and diversifies everything that you’ve seen before in ARK.
What’s great about this map?
- It has a bunch of new resources. Corrupted earth features several new resources like Blue Crystalized Sap and Silicate, which serves as substitutes for other resources
- New features like several interactive structure drop known as Orbital Supply Drops and Element Nodes. These things are basically mini-games that are giving huge rewards to the winners. You have to defend the element nodes with your tamed creatures against waves of corrupted creatures. If you have successfully defended it, you will be rewarded.
- This map also offers a bunch of new creatures. Most of the creatures were turned into a variant known as “Corrupted”, because of the corruption of the element. These dinosaurs have a different kind of mentality. They will attack anything non-corrupt in their way, their minds moving in a hive-mentality state.
- Enormous creatures, known as Titans are roaming across sections of the map. They are extremely aggressive, but the cool part is that they are tamable!
1. Ragnarok
Ark: Ragnarok Map Tour
Ragnarok is a free, official DLC expansion map for ARK. It was released in 2017 and since then it was recognized as the best overall map available.
I personally love this map, most of my time playing this game being spent on it. I believe it has everything to offer, having stuff from almost every other map, you can experience everything at once. It is also filled with lore, and you will see that when exploring. Amazing castles and ruins can be found throughout the map.
This DLC offers a little of everything and is the most varied, with the most secret little caves and fun stuff to do. It is not as challenging as Aberration or other maps, but for sure it is going to offer you the best experience.
Depending on the part of the map that you’re on, you will find yourself on a whole different map. Diversity is the word that best describes this map.
I do believe that every single ARK player should have some time played on this map, so better get yourself started.
What’s great about this map?
- Unique environmental features like:
- An active volcano that will erupt, creating lava flows and cause meteors to rain down
- Basilosaurus corpses scattered along the beaches
- Massive Beaver dams
- Ruins and sunken Viking boats
- Occasional wind storms
- Various easter eggs such as a Shrek hut and Jats face scattered around the map
- The size of the map is huge! It is approximately 2.5x the size of The Island, in terms of land mass, and roughly 4x in total size. Because of the size, it offers endless build possibilities, and a very long exploring time.
- This map also adds several new creatures such as the Ice Wyvern, Iceworm Male, Dire Polar Bear, and Griffin, as well as 4 new dungeon bosses: Spirit Dire Bear, Spirit Direwolf, Iceworm Queen, and Lava Elemental.
- The diversity of the map is almost unimaginable. You will always find something to do. There’s always going to be a little task for you to get accomplished.
