I sat down with Ark co-founders Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak and wound up talking about pirates instead of Vin Diesel. The punchline is that ideas and tech from the chaotic pirate game Atlas are being folded into Ark: Survival Ascended's next DLC, Tides of Fortune.

What Tides of Fortune will add

Ark players can expect a proper ocean experience, not the flat, boring water Ark currently has. The headline items are:

  • Buildable pirate ships you can sail across network-simulated ocean physics.
  • Better water visuals with waves, foamy wakes, and sunlight scattering off the surface.
  • Ship customization including attachments, cannons, and regular structures you can place on your vessel.
  • Improved player experience compared to Atlas: ships will be easier to get, maintain, and replace if they sink.
  • Modder support as the networking and physics systems will be available for creative uses.

Studio Wildcard on the tech

Jesse Rapczak put it plainly: Ark's water is famously flat and uninteresting, and having network simulated ocean physics is cool. He also flagged the benefit to modders and the engine's general capabilities. Jeremy Stieglitz added that the team already knows how to work the water, physics, and networking systems, and that they are building on their Atlas experience. He said they hope to distill that work into a more accessible form than Atlas ever had.

Why Atlas matters here

Atlas launched in December 2018 and stumbled out of the gates with performance and stability issues that left a lot of players unhappy. It never really recovered the way Ark did. Still, Atlas was ambitious about simulated oceans and large player ships. That engineering and design know-how is exactly what Wildcard is repurposing for Ark, but with a friendlier approach so players do not have to deal with Atlas-level pain.

How it looked in the demo

I was shown a work-in-progress video that I cannot share, but here are the impressions. The ocean is not as artful as Sea of Thieves, but it is a marked upgrade for Ark. Waves look realistic, wakes foam properly, and light plays on the ripples. The ship shown in the footage is an Atlas asset, so final Ark ships will likely look different, but the gameplay changes are clear: fewer tedious steps to recover after a ship sinks, and faster crafting for replacements.

Customization will still be deep. You can attach components where you want, mount cannons, and build standard structures on your ship. Also, yes, you can bring your dinosaurs aboard. You may choose a pirate life, but it will still be very much Ark.

Tides of Fortune is planned for release this summer. Expect the oceans to finally feel like part of the game rather than a decorative tablecloth.