Ark: Survival Ascended, the Unreal Engine remake of Ark: Survival Evolved, already packs in a lot. Dinosaurs, dragons, aliens, robots... now we're getting fierce horned demons and even the voice of Michelle Yeoh in the first original expansion pack Ark: Lost Colony.
At the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2025), developer Studio Wildcard dropped a teaser revealing an anime-style story sequence that gives Saturday morning cartoon vibes. It feels a bit like a connection with Ark: The Animated Series, and fans are hyped (see our pick of the best game consoles if you're shopping).
The two-minute teaser above features anime from the Japanese Studio MAPPA, known for Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan and Chainsaw Man. More such sequences will feature in the upcoming downloadable content, which follows Ark survivor Mei Yin as she searches for answers to long-hidden secrets of Ark's past in a frozen world.
The DLC connects the storylines of Ark’s Extinction and Genesis expansions and leads into the events of Ark 2. Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) will reprise her role as Mei Yin from ARK: The Animated Series role, while Madeleine Madden (Wheel of Time) will star as Helena Walker and Auli'i Cravalho (Moana) as Meeka.
The reactions from fans have been postive. "About time we got some Arat Prime lore," one person commented on the video above. "Love we have Castlevania in Ark now, love how this game just has everything."
"I’m really hoping that they introduce a lot of new gameplay and creature mechanics that push the boundaries of the game like Aberration did way back when," one fan added. "The new engine should really increase their creative ceiling."
Ark: Survival Ascended is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and Steam. Ark: Lost Colony will be available for pre-order in June 2025 with a full release to come in November. It will be priced at $29.99 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC and can be wishlisted on Steam now.
For more news from GDC 2025, see the announcement of Roblox Cube 3D AI tools, highlights of the Unity Gaming Report and the addition of the new Filled Path tool in Adobe Substance 3D Painter.
