LogInThe expansion has turned out to be just like its AI-generated trailer – utter rubbish.
In case you missed it, back in March, the developers of ARK: Survival Evolved Studio Wildcard and Snail Games were ripped to shreds by the gaming community for promoting the then-upcoming DLC ARK: Aquatica with an AI-generated trailer, with the backlash being so intense that not only was the trailer deleted, but Studio Wildcard even had to publicly clarify that the expansion was entirely the work of Snail Games and that they had no involvement.
Several months later, ARK: Aquatica has finally been released, and unfortunately for many fans, the "how you do anything is how you do everything" rule has once again held true, with the DLC turning out to be just like its AI trailer – complete and utter rubbish.
Described by the community as "digital terrorism," "the worst DLC in the history of games," "a corrosive patch of corporate negligence," and a variety of other colorful epithets, the expansion currently sits at just a 13% positivity rating on Steam, making it by far the worst-rated product associated with the ARK franchise.
Among the many criticisms from players are Aquatica's dismal performance, unappealing UI, its tendency to crash server setups and break most mods, the price, frequent crashes, creature animations, terrible textures, and a general lack of interesting content.
As some reviewers have pointed out, what takes the DLC's awfulness to the next level is that, besides being horrible in and of itself, it also actively degrades the rest of the game. As one Steam user put it, Aquatica is a "$15 poison pill that doesn't just ruin the Aquatica map, but damages the core game whether you play the DLC or not."
In response to the backlash, Snail Games released several updates apologizing for the state of the expansion and pushing out various fixes and improvements which, judging by player reviews and comments, can be best described as putting lipstick on a pig.
Additionally, the developers enabled a public branch of the game called "preaquatica," available for both clients and dedicated servers, allowing players to continue playing Survival Evolved as it was before the release of Aquatica. To access the branch: Right-click ARK: Survival Evolved in your Steam Library > click Properties > Betas > Beta participation > select "preaquatica".
Check out players' reviews here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.