During Studio Wildcard’s PAX West livestream, the ARK developer revealed a new kid-friendly mode coming to ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition on Nintendo Switch ($49.99).

The relevant information on ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition starts around the 32:00 minute mark of the Twitch stream. The bit on Dinosaur Discovery starts around 39:30.

Dinosaur Discovery is a streamlined mode guided by the friendly robot HLNA. Kids (and adults!) can wander the worlds and learn dinosaur facts.

More about Dinosaur Discovery will be revealed throughout the month.

During the same stream, Studio Wildcard announced the newest dino to join the island: Carcharodontosaurus, a massive carnivore coming to ARK later this year.

Ultimate Survivor Edition will include all previously released ARK content and expansions, including Scorched Earth, Aberration, and Genesis.

Slight fine print, however: the expansions will be added over the next six months after release, Extinction, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 will be added in 2023.

ARK is an open world survival-crafting adventure in worlds where dinosaurs and other beasts roam wild. Players can join servers that included dozens of other players, or play the entire experience alone.

ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition will release on October 25 on Nintendo Switch. If you already own the base version on Switch, a patch will release on the same day which adds all the technical improvements.

ARK is also available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and mobile devices.


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Eric has been writing for over nine years with bylines at Dicebreaker, Pixelkin, Polygon, PC Gamer, Tabletop Gaming magazine, and more covering movies, TV shows, video games, tabletop games, and tech. He reviews and live streams D&D adventures every week on his YouTube channel. He also makes a mean tuna quesadilla.