This is a nostalgia review after 1,200 hours of ARK, 10 years ago.
My story starts alone on the island, where the unforgiving environment quickly forced me to seek out strangers to play with. Something I normally always avoided.
In a thrown-together group of three, we celebrated our first successes. Early on, we formed our first alliance with one of the more prominent tribes on the server. As it would later turn out, those very same newfound friends would have wiped us out had we refused the alliance.
But we found our place in our now five-times-larger, international community. In separate camps, constantly trading, spending 13 hours taming a single overleveled dino together, or going out to retrieve lost tribe mates because someone had once again flown over a turret. For the first time, I learned what it really meant to play an MMO.
Suddenly, a name we had never heard of before declared war on us. A tribe that had seemingly sprouted from the ground like weeds. 25+ active members who, within 2–3 weeks, were capable of threatening the biggest names on the server. Us included. The first days and battles came with heavy losses on both sides, but we lost everything that mattered to us… The other side only lost resources.
The situation forced us to take more drastic measures. If you can even call it drastic to put your pride aside and ask our former server rival for help.
Since they would certainly have been next, we joined forces into a fighting force of 40+ People. Everything was pooled together, and in a 72-hour strategic war of attrition against the enemy, the stronger side would ultimately prevail.
We celebrated our eventual victory, shared the spoils of war with our new friends, and spent the following weeks rebuilding our losses together.
But not everyone was able to cope with the threat we had just experienced. Four of our most active fighters decided that the danger was too great. They took it upon themselves to wipe every other tribe from the server and establish a reign of terror, where no one would be allowed to surpass the milestones they had set.
1,200 hours of fun, an active online friend group, adventures, losses, a war with high stakes, the rise to power, the subsequent descent into madness, and an official server under our control.
No matter the bugs, the bad decisions made by the studio or wherever the game ended up today. Because of my experiences: 10/10, I would recommend this game to anyone.
Best wishes to Magyar, wherever you are today.
*translated with AI
