Is Ark Survival a Hard Game?

Ark Survival is indeed a challenging game that requires strategy, patience, and practice to master, with a steep learning curve that can be overwhelming for new players, but once you get to know it, it’s not that bad. The game’s difficulty level is adjustable, but even on the easiest setting, players will still face hurdles such as managing resources, building shelter, and fending off hostile creatures.

Understanding the Game’s Difficulty

The game’s effective Difficulty value establishes the size of a “step” in wild dino levels, with a standard Difficulty of 5.0 corresponding to 5-level increments for most dinos. Tek Creatures have a 20% bonus applied to this step size, meaning they will appear in 6-level increments in the same 5.0 Difficulty environment.

Frequently Asked Questions

General Information

1. What is the point of ARK: Survival Evolved?: In the game, players must survive being stranded on one of several maps filled with roaming dinosaurs, fictional fantasy monsters, and other prehistoric animals, natural hazards, and potentially hostile human players.
2. Is ARK Survival okay for kids?: The game is fine for children 7+ to have fun, but parental guidance is recommended, especially in multiplayer mode, to avoid stranger interactions.
3. Is ARK Survival a demanding game?: Yes, ARK is a RAM-intensive game that requires at least 8 GB of RAM to run smoothly, and meeting the recommended system requirements is necessary for a lag-free experience.

Game Mechanics

4. Is Ark very grindy?: Yes, the game can be very grindy, with tasks such as gathering resources and crafting items requiring a significant amount of time and effort.
5. How long is 1 day in ARK to real time?: By default, a day in ARK takes around 40 minutes in real-time, while the night is 20 minutes, with the full day cycle lasting 60 minutes.
6. What skills should I level in Ark?: The most important skills to level up are Weight, Health, Stamina, Movement Speed, Melee Damage, Torpidity, Fortitude, and Food.

Multiplayer and Safety

7. Can a 9 year old play Ark?: Ark is a good game for kids as long as it’s single/family play, not on multiplayer, and with parental guidance to ensure online safety.
8. Is there an easy mode in Ark?: Yes, ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile offers four levels of Difficulty, including Easy Difficulty, where Creatures spawn at a level range of 1-30, excluding cave dwelling Creatures.

Game Content and Ratings

9. How violent is ARK: Survival Evolved?: The game is extremely violent, with blood-splatter effects, and players can kill animals and other human characters using spears, bows and arrows, and other weapons.
10. Is Ark older than Rust?: No, Rust is a more recent game than ARK, but not by a huge margin, with both games offering unique survival experiences.
11. Why is ARK rated M?: The game is rated M due to blood and gore, violence, and mature themes, making it unsuitable for younger players.

Performance and Optimization

12. Is Ark a laggy game?: The game can be laggy if the player’s computer does not meet the system requirements, resulting in a poor gaming experience.
13. Why is Ark survival so slow?: The game can be slow due to loading lag, which occurs when the game is rendering in items and structures as the player approaches.

Additional Information

14. What is Ragnarok Ark?: Ragnarok is a free, official, non-canonical DLC expansion map for ARK: Survival Evolved, released on June 12, 2017, for PC, Mac, and Linux, and on August 29, 2017, for consoles.
15. Can you turn off the blood in Ark?: Sadly, there’s no in-game way to remove the blood splatter, but players can adjust the texture files on PC to reduce it considerably, although this requires manual editing and may need to be redone after updates.