Combat System

ARK 2 uses third-person combat with soulslike conventions. Studio Wildcard has publicly described the system as 'blocks, dodges, combos, staggers, special attacks', which is a substantial departure from the first-person shooter-with-dinos framing of ARK: Survival Evolved.

Soulslike Framing

Studio Wildcard has publicly called the combat 'soulslike-influenced' rather than a full Soulslike. The intent is to pull the genre's timing-based, reactive combat into a survival game context, not to clone From Software's structural choices around respawns, punishment, or bonfires.

Modular Weapons

Weapons and tools are built from distinct modules that combine to determine look and function. That gives players meaningful cosmetic and mechanical variety without forcing Studio Wildcard to hand-author every variant of every weapon.

Tested in Legacy of Santiago

New combat systems, including third-person melee and Soulslike-inspired encounters, are being introduced in the Legacy of Santiago expansion before appearing in ARK 2 itself. That is Studio Wildcard's way of testing the redesign publicly, with a live community, before committing to the sequel's release.