Ark: Survival Ascended, the controversial upgrade of the 2015 survival game, is getting a major expansion in November titled ‘Lost Colony’. It’s the first expansion designed specifically for the evolved version of the game, and it’s laying the foundations for the eventual release of Ark 2, which still doesn’t have a date.
It was mentioned by Studio Wildcard, the developer behind the Ark ecosystem, that Lost Colony will ‘connect the storylines of Ark’s Extinction and Genesis expansions and lead into the events of Ark 2.’
Connections
The link between Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2 is front and centre in Lost Colony, which features the vocal talents of Auli’i Cravalho, of Moana fame. She represents Meeka, a character revealed in the 2022 trailer for Ark 2, which also starred Vin Diesel.
To kick off 2025, Studio Wildcard revealed a two-year roadmap for Ark: Survival Ascended that runs until December 2026. It’s relatively safe to assume that Ark 2 won’t be released before then, but if the later updates for Survival Ascended aren’t all that meaningful, perhaps Studio Wildcard could manage with a skeleton crew working on the ‘old game’.
Lost Colony looks like a unique expansion at first blush. It’s fused with anime-style cutscene pieced together by MAPPA, a Japanese studio famed for the likes of Attack on Titan and Chainsaw Man. It’s being dubbed a ‘massive canonical expansion pack’ that’ll ease players into the impending world of Ark 2.
Players will get to explore Arat Prime, a frozen wasteland while battling their way through new enemies, exclusive ability trees, and fresh building systems.
Are you looking forward to Lost Colony and the release of Ark 2? Let me know in the comments.
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