ARK Ascended Extinction DLC Release Date, Content, New Dinos And More

While the current content available in ARK Survival Ascended has kept players engaged since the game's release, curiosity has grown about the arrival of previously released Evolved DLCs in Ascended. We are assured that DLCs are in the pipeline, and among them, the fan-favorite Extinction is highly anticipated.

This guide will cover the expected release date, content additions, introduction of new dinosaurs, mechanics, and more for the upcoming Extinction DLC in ARK Survival Ascended, offering insight into what players can expect once it finally becomes available.

Latest News

If there's any news, leaks or updates on the state of ARK Survival Ascended's upcoming 'Extinction' DLC, we'll drop it just below:

18 March 2024 - Studio Wildcard Reveal 'Bob's ARK Tall Tales'

Studio Wildcard's latest Community Crunch blogpost has announced 'Bob's ARK Tall Tales' which looks like it's going to act as some type of new content intended to tease the upcoming ARK 2 game.

According to the blog post: 

"Legendary ARK veteran Bob -- voiced by Karl Urban -- is ready to share his incredibly true adventures with you for the first time! Nothing can prepare you for the wonder and two-fisted action of Bob's Tall Tales!

"Piece together Bob's larger-than-life ARK saga by recovering his animated Explorer Notes! You’ll feel like you were right there with Bob from the beginning, as he describes his pivotal role in ARK’s history to young Meeka -- voiced by Auliʻi Cravalho."

Meeka, is the young girl seen in the ARK 2 trailers, but the artwork for Bob's Tall Tales' appears to be related to the upcoming map expansions in ARK Survival Ascended. 

As you can see from the artwork below, there are references to ARK Scorched Earth, Aberration, and Extinction.

So it's possible we're going to see new content - intended to tease ARK 2 - in these upcoming map expansions. For now, it's still quite unclear what this is and how it will work. That said, perhaps we'll learn more once the first animated Explorers Notes are released on March 31 (pending certification).

When Will The Extinction DLC Release in ARK Survival Ascended?

None of the DLCs beyond the upcoming Scorched Earth have been given release dates, and Extinction is sadly no exception, but we can take a guess at when it will arrive, thanks to the roadmap provided by the developers. Based on this, it's likely that we can expect the Extinction DLC to arrive in early Q4 or September of 2024, but this is just an estimate, and we'll need to wait for confirmation from the developers before making any positive claims.

This date might be quite some time away, but there are tons to look forward to in this exciting and popular DLC. Extinction sees players head back to Earth, where the entire ARK story began, but instead of a lush green paradise, Earth is now an Element-infested wasteland filled with fantastical creatures, both organic and technological, as well as new mechanics to master if you want to survive (but more on that later).

Will The Extinction Map Be Free For ARK Survival Ascended?

Yes, the Extinction map will be free for all ARK Survival Ascended owners upon its release. The developers have made their intentions clear that all future DLCs from Scorched Earth and The Center up to Genesis and Extinction will be made free the moment they are released.

However, there will be some paid-for features that extend only to cosmetic changes and won't affect the gameplay. This makes it far more likely that each DLC, including Extinction, will see some new and exciting cosmetic updates as well as cosmetic packs, such as the Frontier Adventure pack coming to Scorched Earth.

What to Expect from Extinction in ARK Survival Ascended

As we previously mentioned, Extinction sees players on a brand new map that's set on the Element-corrupted Earth with various locations to explore, as dangerous as they are. These map locations range from a large city in the center of the map called Sanctuary, where the creators of all the ARKs once resided, to snowy and desert domes that are proto-ARKs that still have life (though now corrupted) roaming inside.

In between, there's a wasteland area, sulfur fields to the southwest, and what's known as the forbidden zone to the north, which houses the King Titan, one of the most powerful bosses in the game. The creatures on this map are also nothing to scoff at as they have been corrupted by the Element on the map, turning them into what's known as "Corrupted" variants of other map creatures such as the Corrupted Wyvern from Scorched Earth, the Corrupted Rock Drake from Aberration and others from the Island and more.

Finally, the map also features a unique PVE raid mechanic where you discover Orbital Drops and Element Nodes, which, once activated, waves of Corrupted creatures will swarm you and your tames and only allow you to unlock these resources once all the waves have been defeated. And finally, three large creatures known as Titans roam the map, which all need to be defeated to take on the final boss of the game, the King Titan.

Of course, this is all we know from the previous iteration of this DLC, and some features might change when it arrives on ARK Survival Ascended. There may even be some new additions to come, so we'll have to wait and see.

ARK Survival Ascended Extinction Creature Vote Winner

It seems that taking on the Titans will require a titan in this iteration of Extinction, as the creature vote winner for the Extinction DLC has been confirmed to be the Dreadnoughtus. This massive creature will have some unique abilities from what the dossier has disclosed so far in the form of a TEK disrupting below, the ability to swallow boulders and cannonballs to spit them back out as acid-coated ammo, and finally a carry weight, and platform saddle large enough to garner the title of a walking war-machine.

Will Extinction's New Dinos Come To The Island?

Based on how previous DLCs have worked in the past, it appears that Exclusive DLC creatures to Extinction won't be available on The Island, while some other base creatures might make their way over either via TEK Transmitters, Obelisks, or through the use of console commands. For now, however, we'll have to wait until we know more about how the new DLCs will work before we make any definitive statements on which Extinction dinos could come to The Island.

So there you have everything we know so far regarding the Extinction DLC, including when it will arrive on ARK Survival Ascended and what we expect to see when it does. As always, this information is still in its early speculative stage, so take it with a grain of salt, and be sure to bookmark this page, as we will keep you updated with more official news as soon as it becomes available in the future.