‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Halloween Event Inbound, Procedurally Generated Maps Delayed A Week

ARK: Survival Evolved players have a Halloween event to look forward to along with a new patch. Fear Evolved 2 is coming soon for the PC version of the open-world survival game, Studio Wildcard announced late Monday. Meanwhile, the patch to bring procedurally-generated ARKs and a host of other features has been delayed.

Fear Evolved 2 will launch on October 27 with the release of the 249.0 patch and run through November 6. This Halloween-themed event will give players the chance to collect new items, fight a new monster, or even turn into monsters themselves. Players on the Scorched Earth expansion will have the opportunity to face the ferocious DodoWyvern.

Meanwhile, those on The Island (and presumably The Center) can encounter Vampire Bats and Rabid Dire Wolves. Being bit by the former will give you Vampirism while the latter grants Lycanthropy. The benefits are “superhuman sight, speed, strength, and gliding” while a Vampire and morphing into a Werewolf when the moon is out. The downside includes an aversion to sunlight and the need for a supply of blood.

The DodoRex will, of course, return to The Island as part of the event. Additionally, Titanboas will be both tameable and rideable for the first time.

New cosmetic items and costumes were mentioned in the Studio Wildcard announcement as well. However, it is not clear if these are only gained from killing DodoWyverns on Scorched Earth or if they will be available through other methods in vanilla ARK: Survival Evolved.

While Fear Evolved 2 appears to be set for the PC version of ARK: Survival Evolved, there is no confirmation it will be ready in time for the Xbox One. Lead developer Jeremy Stieglitz previously stated, “There will be ARK Xbox Halloween event” on Twitter. However, the Fear Evolved 2 announcement leaves out any platform mentions, and the official Xbox patch notes have not been updated to reflect any upcoming releases.

Before Fear Evolved 2 kicks off, though, patch 248 will be released for the PC version of ARK: Survival Evolved on October 18. This was originally scheduled to be released Monday, but certain new features require extra time to test.

The big addition with ARK: Survival Evolved patch 248 is the addition of procedurally generated ARKs. This is similar to Minecraft and will allow players to create their own randomly made maps.

“We’re doing a lot of work to ensure that this first pass is really up to par to make sure you get a fulfilling experience and also creating a friendly user interface to make looking after your maps (multiple saves), and customizing & randomizing them much easier. Also, you’ll have the ability to share your maps very easily with others,” Studio Wildcard explained.

Other new features include the long in development Breeding Phase 3, Explorer Notes, and Dynamic-Length Bridges. Four new dinosaurs are also being added with this patch: Kaprosuchus, Diplocalus, Chalicotherium, and Megalosaurus. One of the big surprises is the game will finally allow weapons to be used while riding tamed dinosaurs.

It’s not uncommon for items listed in the upcoming official patch notes to be pulled at the last second before an ARK: Survival Evolved patch. It will be interesting to see if so many big ticket items will make it into this release, but it appears to be why Studio Wildcard elected to delay patch 248 another week.

Here are the current patch notes for the ARK: Survival Evolved 248 update. The Xbox One version of the game will receive the same changes and additions sometime afterward.

• You can now wield your weapons when mount-riding certain Dinos. The ARK Box Art is for reals
• New Feature: Procedurally Generated ARKs! EXPERIMENTAL INITIAL TEST!
• New Mechanic: Breeding Phase 3: Random Mutations and Family Trees
• New Mechanic: Explorer Notes
• New Structure: Dynamic-Length Bridges
• New Dino: Kaprosuchus!
• New Dino: Diplocalus!
• New Dino: Chalicotherium!
• New Dino: Megalosaurus!
• Render batching optimization for ~20% perf in structure-heavy areas
• Tree Platforms now have +70% HP and +50% resistance to explosive damage
• Neuter/Spay option for Tamed Dinos (irreversible!)
• Radial Wheel Menu text size now scales with number of entries (to avoid Diplodocus overload, etc.)

[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard]