ARK: Survival Ascended: Maps, Platforms, Mods and Servers Explained

By ZeroCool | August 7, 2026 | Comments Off on ARK: Survival Ascended: Maps, Platforms, Mods and Servers Explained
ARK: Survival Ascended: Maps, Platforms, Mods and Servers Explained

ARK: Survival Ascended — usually shortened to ASA, and often searched as ARK ASA or ARK Ascended — is Studio Wildcard’s Unreal Engine 5 remaster of ARK: Survival Evolved. It is not a sequel and it is not ARK 2. It is the original game rebuilt on a modern engine, still receiving new maps and content updates.

This page is the plain-English reference: what ASA actually is, how it differs from the game it replaced and from the sequel still in development, which maps people are playing right now, and how to find a server worth joining.

What is ARK: Survival Ascended?

ASA is a ground-up remaster. Studio Wildcard rebuilt ARK: Survival Evolved in Unreal Engine 5, bringing significantly upgraded lighting, terrain, water and foliage, an overhauled interface, and cross-platform play and modding. The core loop is unchanged: you wake up on a mysterious island, gather resources, tame dinosaurs, build a base, and try not to die doing it.

It launched on PC in October 2023, with console versions following later that year. Rather than shipping every map at once, Wildcard has released them steadily over time, which is why the map roster has kept growing since launch.

ASA vs ARK: Survival Evolved

The two games share a design but not a codebase. The practical differences that matter:

  • Engine. Survival Evolved runs on Unreal Engine 4; Ascended runs on Unreal Engine 5.
  • Hardware. ASA is noticeably more demanding. A machine that ran Survival Evolved comfortably may struggle with Ascended.
  • Mods. ASA uses a curated cross-platform mod system via CurseForge, so console players can use mods — something Survival Evolved never offered.
  • Content. ASA includes remastered versions of the original DLC maps, plus maps that never existed in Survival Evolved at all.
  • Saves. Progress does not carry over. ASA is a separate game with separate servers and separate characters.

ASA vs ARK 2

This is the single most common point of confusion, so to be direct: they are different games, and only one of them exists.

  • ARK: Survival Ascended is out now and actively updated.
  • ARK 2 is a separate, third-person sequel starring Vin Diesel, built in Unreal Engine 5, currently targeting 2028 with no confirmed release date.

If you want to play ARK today, ASA is the game. If you are tracking the sequel, see our ARK 2 Fact Tracker, which labels every claim as confirmed, targeted, unknown or superseded, and the ARK 2 hub.

Platforms and crossplay

ARK: Survival Ascended is available on PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. It is not available on last-generation consoles — the engine requirements rule out Xbox One and PS4.

Crossplay is supported, though exactly who can play together depends on the server and its configuration, and some unofficial hosts restrict it deliberately. Mod availability also varies by platform. Our ASA crossplay and mods guide covers the specifics, including how to check whether a given server allows your platform before you commit to a character.

Maps

ASA has both official maps from Studio Wildcard and community-made maps distributed through the mod system. Rather than list what is theoretically available, here are the maps that actually have live servers right now, which is a more useful signal of where people are playing:

Official and DLC maps

The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Ragnarok, Valguero, Genesis, Astraeos, Lost Colony, and Club ARK.

Community and mod maps

Svartalfheim, Forglar, Amissa, Bjarnheim, Nyrandil, The Volcano, Lost City, Taenia Stella, Emerald Isles and a long tail of others. Map availability shifts as mods are updated, so the live count is the honest answer.

You can see current player counts per map, and filter servers by any of them, on the ASA server list. For which maps are most populated at any given moment, the player stats and trends page breaks it down by map, by PvP/PvE split, and over time.

Official servers vs unofficial servers

ASA has roughly 3,000 official servers run by Studio Wildcard, and well over 55,000 unofficial servers run by communities, hosting companies and individuals. Which you should pick depends on what you want:

  • Official servers use vanilla rates and rules. Progress is slow by design, wipes are rare, and you are subject to the official code of conduct. This is the intended experience.
  • Unofficial servers set their own rates, mods, tribe limits and wipe schedules. Boosted rates are common, which makes progression far faster. Quality varies enormously — an unofficial server is only as reliable as the person paying for it.

If you are choosing an unofficial server, the things worth checking before you invest time are the rates, whether it is PvP or PvE, the mod list, how many players are actually online rather than the advertised slot count, and — critically — when it last wiped and when it wipes next.

We track all of this. The server list covers every public ASA server with live player counts, and the wipe calendar shows upcoming and recent wipes with countdowns, so you do not spend a week building on a server that resets on Friday.

Mods

ASA’s mod system runs through CurseForge and works across PC and console, which was one of the headline changes from Survival Evolved. Mods range from quality-of-life tweaks and stack-size adjustments through to entirely new maps and creature overhauls.

Two practical caveats. Mods are downloaded when you join a modded server, so first connections can be slow. And when a mod updates mid-season, servers occasionally break until the host catches up — one reason well-run unofficial servers are worth finding.

Running your own server

Hosting your own ASA server gives you full control over rates, rules and mods, at the cost of having to configure it. The settings live in two files, GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini, and the syntax is unforgiving — a misplaced line is usually the reason a setting appears to do nothing.

Our ASA server settings guide walks through the settings that actually matter, and the server settings generator will build both files for you from a set of choices, which avoids most of the common syntax mistakes.

Staying current

ASA updates frequently, and patches routinely change rates, fix exploits or adjust creatures. Three pages worth bookmarking:

  • Patch notes tracker — current build versions across Steam, Xbox, Windows and PlayStation, with recent notes.
  • ASA roadmap — what Wildcard has announced for the coming releases.
  • Live status and rates — whether official servers are up, and what rate multipliers are currently active.

Common questions

Is ARK: Survival Ascended worth buying?

If you want to play ARK now and your hardware can handle it, yes — it is the actively supported version, and it is where the players are. If your machine is older, check the requirements carefully before buying, because ASA is meaningfully heavier than Survival Evolved.

Do I still need ARK: Survival Evolved?

No. They are separate purchases and separate games. Survival Evolved still works and still has players, but new content goes to Ascended.

Is ARK: Survival Ascended free?

No, it is a paid game. Some maps have released as free additions to owners, and some community mod maps are free to use, but the base game is a purchase.

Will my ARK 2 purchase include ASA, or vice versa?

They are unrelated products. Owning one grants nothing in the other.

How many people still play ASA?

Tens of thousands concurrently across official and unofficial servers. Rather than quote a number that ages badly, the live stats page shows the current count and the trend over time.

Keep reading

For ongoing ASA news, creature reveals, patch coverage and map announcements, see the ARK: Survival Ascended news hub. For everything about the sequel, see the ARK 2 hub.

🔴 Live server browser: Find and filter every ARK: Survival Ascended server with real-time player counts, maps, PvP/PvE and votes — updated continuously.

Keep surviving

Posted in Ark ASA