The game is played from either a third-person or first-person perspective and its open world is navigated by foot or by riding a prehistoric animal.

The development team conducted research into the physical appearance of the animals but took a creative license for gameplay purposes.

Ark: Survival Evolved received generally mixed reviews, with criticism for its "punishing" difficulty and excruciatingly time consuming activities, reliance on grinding, and performance issues, particularly on the original Nintendo Switch version.

In November 2023, remaster Ark: Survival Ascended, was released in early access for Windows on October 25, 2023, and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

To survive, players must establish a base, with a fire and weapons; additional activities, such as taming and feeding dinosaurs, require more resources.

[4] Some of the larger creatures, such as a Brontosaurus or Mosasaurus, can have a building platform placed on their back, giving players a mobile, though small, base.

[5]: 36:27  The game also features various other animals, such as the dodo, saber-toothed tiger, woolly mammoth, Meganeura, Giganotosaurus, and Doedicurus.

There are specific varieties of creatures, for instance, the Rock Drake, or the Wyvern variants, which are able to spawn up to level 190, but they are untameable in the wild, and instead must be hatched from their respective egg.

To build a base, players must acquire structure components—such as floors, doors, and windows built with the resources littered throughout the world—which are earned as they progress and gain levels, then collect the necessary materials to make them.

Players start out by creating thatch structures, then moving on to wood, stone, metal, and finally tek, a futuristic and late-game material.

[5]: 31:31  In addition, players can craft and attach accessories to their weapons, such as a scope or flashlight for a pistol or assault rifle.

[2] When researching for information about the game's prehistoric species, the development team read "general audience books" and online articles, and sought assistance from friends who studied in the fields in biological sciences.

They wanted to "provide a depth and scope that allows for the world to not just be a means to an end [...] but also a place to explore", said creative director Jesse Rapczak.

[13][14] The final game launched on August 29, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One;[14] it was originally intended for release in June 2016,[8] but was delayed in April.

[8] The standard version was released alongside an "Explorer's Edition", which included a season pass with three expansions, and the "Collector's Edition", which included a season pass as well as, a necklace, a map, a notebook, a development team poster, a wooden chest packaging, and the game's official soundtrack.

[21] Following the poor reception of the original Nintendo Switch release, Ark: Ultimate Survivor Edition was announced as a new port rebuilt from the ground up, developed by Grove Street Games.

The update aims to revert the PVP meta back to the younger days of Ark via clustered servers with limitations such as: no official tribe alliances, limits to tribe size, lack of evolution events, un-tame-able Tek dinos, no access to Aberration and Extinction content, no Tek Engrams and reduced scaling of weapon damage.

Some of the new creatures are not tameable, such as the Jug Bug, a fictional grasshopper-like insect equipped with a fluid-storing pouch on its back that stores water or oil.

Scorched Earth has three unique weather patterns: Sandstorms radically reduce visibility and drain stamina, Superheat will drain your water at a much faster rate than normal heat and induce Heat Stroke fairly quickly, while electrical storms will temporarily shut down electrical devices and prevent firearms (and Tek Saddles) from firing.

New creatures are also introduced, both organic and technological, such as the Gasbags; an evolved tardigrade that can inflate itself and blast gas, or take flight.

On February 25, 2020, the fourth paid DLC expansion, Genesis Part 1 was published by Snail Games USA.

[37] The map is set aboard the massive Genesis-Ship, a colony ship that is traveling through deep space looking for a new habitable planet for humanity.

The Noglin, a small, alien like-creature that has a split jaw that is capable of controlling the minds of survivors and other creatures.

Having to repeat so much work after failing an attempt at a boss feels far too punishing, and some really dumb dinosaurs can take a lot of the challenge and sense of danger out of the many primal locations.

"[45] The Switch version was panned by critics for being notably downgraded in order for it to adequately run on the console, being criticized for its low resolution and frame rate, minimal level of detail, blurry texturing, low poly models, stability issues, and loading times.

[46] John Linneman of Eurogamer likened the port to a "poorly compressed JPEG version of an impressionist painting".

[51][52] An educational spin-off developed by Grove Street Games, Ark: Dinosaur Discovery, was released in November 2021 for the Nintendo Switch.

Even though the official servers shut down for the original game, ARK survival evolved still has a higher player count than its remaster.

Co-developed with Grove Street Games, and originally planned for a 2023 launch,[23] it was rescheduled to enter early access on Windows and Xbox Series X/S in late 2024.

[59] An animated series based on the game was announced at The Game Awards 2020 and features Madeleine Madden, Michelle Yeoh, Gerard Butler, Jeffrey Wright, David Tennant, Zahn McClarnon, Devery Jacobs, Ragga Ragnars, Elliot Page, Karl Urban, Malcolm McDowell, Deborah Mailman, Juliet Mills, Alan Tudyk, Ron Yuan, Russell Crowe and Vin Diesel.