ARK Fantastic Tames Season 1 Was Set for May 19 With Burrowbuck and Araneo TLC

By ZeroCool | August 18, 2026 | Comments Off on ARK Fantastic Tames Season 1 Was Set for May 19 With Burrowbuck and Araneo TLC
Official ARK: Survival Ascended artwork of the Araneo
Image: Studio Wildcard

Studio Wildcard’s May 16 Community Crunch established the then-current schedule for Fantastic Tames: Season 1: the pack was planned to arrive on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. That timing superseded the broader summer-window language used in the earlier April 18 Burrowbuck reveal. The update positioned the Burrowbuck as the first new creature in the paid Fantastic Tames lineup and paired its arrival with a community-voted Araneo TLC overhaul.

The May 16 post was a pre-launch announcement, not a complete mechanical breakdown or platform-availability notice. Its clearest message was about the kind of tactical utility players could expect from the opening creature: temporary underground cover, rapid movement through tunnel links, and escape tools intended to disrupt a pursuer. It also provided the first official look at the other two creatures planned for the season later in 2026.

Burrowbuck’s role centers on concealment and mobility

The Burrowbuck is presented as a highly evasive, horned hare-like creature built around terrain control rather than direct confrontation. Studio Wildcard described it as able to create concealed, bunker-like underground dens and temporary tunnels that can link entrances for quick travel. Its dust-blinding escape option gives the animal a clear defensive role when a survivor is chased or needs to break line of sight.

The earlier April 18 dossier supplies important additional context for those systems. A tamed Burrowbuck’s underground shelters are not permanent structures: they require maintenance and will eventually collapse without it. The tunnel network is also intended for suitably sized travelers, rather than large mounts. The same dossier says the creature can create deceptive entrances; an unauthorized predator or enemy attempting to use one can be dropped into a collapsing pitfall. Players looking to tame one were told to use patience and food, since the wild creature responds to danger by kicking up dirt and burrowing away.

That combination makes the Burrowbuck a potential fit for scouting, retreat routes and short-lived defensive positions. It is not simply a cosmetic companion: Studio Wildcard confirmed that it is rideable and uses a saddle. The April announcement listed Fantastic Tames: Season 1 at $9.99, while the later May announcement supplied the firmer May 19 release plan.

Two future Fantastic Tames were previewed, not fully detailed

Fantastic Tames: Season 1 was described as a three-creature release program. After Burrowbuck, Studio Wildcard previewed Cerberax for Q3 2026 and Enigmasaur for Q4 2026. Cerberax was introduced as a three-headed frontline threat, while Enigmasaur was framed as a shadowy creature associated with disguise and changing forms.

Those descriptions establish their broad themes and release windows, but the announcement did not provide a complete ability list, taming process, saddle information, statistics, or final combat mechanics for either creature. Survivors planning future tribe roles can reasonably treat Cerberax as the season’s apparent front-line prospect and Enigmasaur as its deception-focused prospect, but should wait for their dedicated official reveals before making detailed breeding, combat, or base-defense plans around them.

The May 16 update also said that the Araneo TLC would arrive alongside Burrowbuck in the same Tuesday update. The overhaul had been selected by the community vote and was described as a major refresh for ARK’s spider. However, the announcement did not outline its individual attacks, revised statistics, taming changes, or other specific mechanics. For players interested in Araneo, the confirmed takeaway from this post was the timing and the existence of the overhaul—not a finalized guide to how the refreshed creature would play.

Inactive official servers faced a June sunset process

Outside the creature news, Studio Wildcard announced plans to sunset a selection of inactive official servers. The studio said that servers were initially opened in greater numbers to handle player demand around major launches, but that some later became sparsely populated. The affected servers were to receive a SUNSET prefix before their scheduled removal on June 19, 2026.

That renaming carried a practical consequence: servers marked SUNSET would no longer appear in the in-game Favorites list, requiring players to search for them manually to reconnect while they remained available. Studio Wildcard also said it was working with Nitrado on making saves available through Nitrado’s interface after the scheduled sunset, with further instructions to follow. Survivors on potentially affected official servers needed to treat the notice as a prompt to identify their server manually and prepare for the removal timeline.

Weekend rates and the ASA Mod Jam rounded out the update

The official-network bonus period announced in the post ran through Monday, May 18, 2026. PvP and PvE received 2x harvesting, taming, experience and breeding; Small Tribes received 4.5x harvesting, taming and experience plus 4x breeding; and ARKpocalypse received 5x across those categories. Those limited-time rates were part of the May announcement window and were separate from the Fantastic Tames launch plan.

The update also highlighted the independently run ASA Mod Jam 2026: Build the Future, organized by Sandi Studios and CurseForge. The eight-week event began on May 15 and challenged solo developers and two-person teams to create new mods with the official ARK DevKit. For mod creators, it represented a defined development competition with prizes; for players, it pointed toward another source of future community-made content rather than an official game-content release.

Sources

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'Araneo TLC' & Fantastic Tames Season 1 'Burrowbuck' Trailer — Studio Wildcard

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