ARK: Survival Evolved

**ARK: Survival Evolved** (stylized as **ARK**) is a 2015 action-adventure survival video game developed by Studio Wildcard.

## Synopsis

Stranded on the shores of a mysterious island, you must learn to survive. Use your cunning to kill or tame the primeval creatures roaming the land, and encounter other players to survive, dominate... and escape!

## Plot

Welcome to Ark! You wake up on a strange island with nothing but your underwear and an implant in your arm. Wild dinosaurs roam freely and you must learn to live and survive among them. First thing you need to do is craft some tools. The first tool you need is a stone pick. This will allow you to easily get more thatch from trees and break rocks up for flint. Since you have nothing but your fists at the moment you will need to find the nearest tree and go all Mike Tyson on it. Yes, you need to punch the tree, but not too much because punching things hurts your health. Just punch enough trees to get 10 thatch and 1 wood. Next, you need 1 stone which you can find laying on the ground. Easiest way to do this is to spam the action button while walking around. Once you get all that access your inventory and select the craftables tab, click on the stone pick that should be lit up and hit craft.

By now you should have leveled up for the first time which will give you some Engram Points (EP) to unlock more blueprints. The very next thing you'll want is the stone hatchet which is good for getting more wood from trees and stones from rocks. You also have an ability point that you can put towards any of your attributes. Just hit the + next to whichever one you want (Health, Stamina, or Speed are good places to start) and then you will be taken to the blueprints screen. This is where you unlock all the blueprints to craft things in the game. As mentioned before, the first blueprint you want to unlock should be the stone hatchet. You should have enough points to unlock another one which should be either the campfire so you can cook meat or the spear so you can defend yourself.

Once you are done with using your EP it's time to gather the rest of the materials needed to make the stone hatchet and a torch, both of which require flint which can be mined with the pick from huge boulders. At this point, if you haven't gotten any food you'll want to start stocking up as you might be getting hungry. Easiest way to do this in the beginning is to forage for berries. Walk up to some bushes and with either your bare hands or the torch hit the interact button. Bushes will give you some berries to eat along with fiber to craft more items later. Be careful about eating too many Narcoberries as they will put you to sleep. Likewise, Stimberries will lower your torpidity (stat that puts you to sleep, you want it at 0) but make you thirsty. Eating berries will help you out in a pinch but the real nutrition comes from cooked meat which fills your Hunger bar faster.

Hopefully by now you have leveled up again and unlocked both the campfire and the spear. Each spear will cost you 8 wood, 2 flint, and 12 fiber along with a good chunk of your weight capacity. At most you should have 2-3 spears at any given time in case they break. Once you have a spear crafted you can start killing things with relative ease. Since you are just starting out it's best to stick with attacking Dodos, Dilos, and Coelacanths (fish). After killing an animal you can use either the pick for more meat or hatch for more hide, which is used later. For now, stock up on meat to cook and eat. The next thing you need is a campfire which requires 12 thatch, 1 flint, 16 stones, and 2 wood. You'll also need some extra thatch or wood to light the campfire.

Upon having crafted the campfire place it down and access its inventory by walking up to it and either pressing E when it's out of fuel or holding E and selecting Inventory. Add the wood (preferably) or thatch, drop some raw meat in, and hit Light Fire. After a little bit of time the raw meat will turn into cooked meat. While you can eat raw meat in a pinch it does lower your health so always try to eat cooked meat. You may also be getting thirsty at this point so while your meat is cooking you should fill your thirst meter back up. That is as simple as walking into water deep enough to swim in and submerge your head. Later in the game you will be able to craft items that carry water, but for now it's best to stick close to water sources.

A few other things to keep in mind when starting out is the temperature. When it gets really hot a small fire icon shows in the bottom left corner of your screen. This means your thirst meter will drop faster, especially the more active you are. Try to stay near the water to cool off and drink before dehydration sets in. When it gets cold out a small snowflake or ice cube will show up in the same corner. Being cold lowers your hunger faster which means you need to eat more or you will starve. Again, the more active you are the faster it drains. Also, try and stay near heat sources or inside buildings to stay warm. Dilos will spit at you and blind you for several seconds so if you see one about to spit in your general direction try to avoid it. Some creatures will increase your torpor which is represented by a small stars icon above your EXP meter on the right and a purplish border on your screen. If this increases too much you will be knocked unconscious and unable to do anything. Torpor also rises when you attack when out of stamina. Where there is one Raptor, there is 3 more right behind it.

Now that you have some basic survival knowledge, it’s time to find a nice quiet area, settle down, and build a base. Maybe even find a tribe mate or two to settle in with.