Overview
ARK 2 is Studio Wildcard and Grove Street Games' Unreal Engine 5 sequel to ARK: Survival Evolved, starring Vin Diesel as Santiago da Costa on the alien planet Arat. It pivots the series to locked third-person Souls-like primitive melee combat, smaller-tribe survival, and modular crafting, and is currently targeted for a 2028 launch after multiple delays.
On This Page
ARK 2 is an upcoming open-world survival action RPG and the sequel to ARK: Survival Evolved (2017). It is being built by Studio Wildcard with co-developer Grove Street Games on Unreal Engine 5, and stars Vin Diesel reprising Santiago da Costa, a clone of the Terran Federation freedom fighter introduced in the first game's Genesis: Part 2 expansion. After multiple slips, the title is currently aimed at a 2028 launch, a target confirmed by parent company Snail Games at its December 2025 Investor Day.
Quick Facts
Field | Detail |
|---|---|
Developer | |
Co-Developer | Grove Street Games |
Publisher | Studio Wildcard (Snail Games parent) |
Engine | Unreal Engine 5 |
Platforms | Xbox Series X|S (launch console exclusive), PC via Steam Early Access, Day-1 Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass; PS4 ruled out, PS5 unannounced |
Genre | Open-world survival action RPG with PvP and PvE |
Perspective | Locked third-person |
Lead Cast | Vin Diesel as Santiago da Costa, Auli'i Cravalho as Meeka |
Antagonist Faction | |
Reveal | The Game Awards, December 10, 2020 |
Release Window | |
Steam App ID | 2050420 |
Premise
The game is set on Arat, an alien planet (sometimes called the alien moon Arat) far outside the simulated ARK rings of the first game. ARK 2 is the direct narrative successor to Genesis: Part 2: after the Genesis Colony Ship is destroyed at the close of that storyline, Eden ring escape pods deposit a small group of survivors on Arat's surface. Among them is the player character, a clone of Santiago, fighting to keep his daughter Meeka alive in a world that turns out to already be inhabited.
Arat is home to the Aratai, a sentient species described as orc-like or goblin-like in silhouette. They tame their own dinosaurs, fight in organized warbands, and wear primitive metal-and-bone armor with a sharp, asymmetric aesthetic. They are the principal antagonist faction of the campaign and contest the survivors' tribes for territory across the world.
Major Departures From ARK 1
ARK 2 is not a graphical refresh of the first game. It is a structural rebuild of the formula, and several original mechanics will not return.
Change | What It Means |
|---|---|
Locked Third-Person | First-person mode is removed entirely. The camera sits permanently behind the character, framing action for cinematic readability over tactical sightlines. |
Souls-Like Primitive Melee | Weighty primitive melee with timed dodges, blocks, light and heavy attacks, combos, target-lock, and stagger windows, plus parkour, mantling, free-climbing, sliding, and swinging. See Combat System. |
Smaller Tribe Focus | The intended power band is squad-sized cooperative survival rather than mega-tribe industrial empires. PvP and PvE remain in scope, tuned for smaller groups. |
Modular Crafting | Weapons and tools are assembled from interchangeable parts, with millions of possible component combinations changing both look and behavior. |
Sense-Based Creature AI | Wildlife reacts to sight, sound, and scent rather than the radar-style detection of the first game. Stealth, wind direction, and noise discipline matter. |
Very Serious Tone | Launch loadout is primitive-only. No Tek-tier sci-fi gear at the start, and the writing leans toward grounded survival drama. |
Vin Diesel's Role
Vin Diesel's involvement extends well beyond a voice credit. He is attached as the on-screen lead playing Santiago da Costa, and he also is President of Creative Convergence at Studio Wildcard, a senior creative-leadership role across the franchise. He is credited as executive producer on ARK 2 and on the related animated series. His daughter character Meeka is voiced by Auli'i Cravalho (Moana), officially announced to the cast in June 2022 alongside the second cinematic trailer.
Studio and Co-Developer
Studio Wildcard was founded in October 2014 by Doug Kennedy, Jeremy Stieglitz, Jesse Rapczak, and Susan Browning Stieglitz, with offices in Redmond, Washington and Gainesville, Florida. It was acquired in late 2015 by SDE Inc., a US affiliate of Snail Games, which remains the corporate parent. The Unreal Engine 5 remaster ARK: Survival Ascended released in October 2023 and is running in parallel with ARK 2 development.
Grove Street Games is the credited co-developer on ARK 2. Their director Thomas Williamson is ARK 2 Development and Technical Director, and the partnership is the structural reason the project can run alongside continued live-ops on the UE5 remaster.
Release Path
The release window has moved several times since reveal. The full timeline is broken out on the Release History and Delays page.
Date | Window Communicated |
|---|---|
December 2020 reveal | Vague 2022 launch |
June 2022 show | Slipped to 2023 |
2023 update | Slipped to end of 2024, with the UE5 remaster announced as a stopgap |
June 2025 | Studio targeting hopefully within the next two years (mid-2027 at the latest) |
December 2025 Investor Day | Confirmed 2028 target window |
A separate paid expansion called Legacy of Santiago is scheduled for Q4 2027 for the UE5 remaster of the first game. It is not ARK 2 itself. It is positioned as a public test bed for ARK 2's combat and traversal mechanics so the studio can ship the new systems to a live audience and iterate before the full sequel arrives. It will not include ARK 2's main campaign narrative.
What Has Not Been Shown
In 2026, no public gameplay footage of ARK 2 has been released. Both aired trailers (the December 2020 reveal and the June 2022 cinematic) are pre-rendered pieces showing in-engine assets rather than playable systems. The Steam store page lists forward-looking features rather than verified mechanics. Anything circulating online advertised as ARK 2 gameplay is fan-made, AI-generated, or repurposed footage from the UE5 remaster. Treat all gameplay-screenshot claims with skepticism until the studio shows a hands-on build.
Where to Begin
If this is the first ARK 2 page being read, Getting Started is the natural next stop. From there, character readers should visit Santiago da Costa and Meeka, world readers should visit Arat and the Aratai, systems readers should visit the Combat System page, and readers tracking the schedule should follow Release History and Delays and Legacy of Santiago.
This article will be updated as the studio confirms additional systems, characters, platform announcements, and a specific release date inside the 2028 window.