A game I desperately wanted to 100% .... but literally can’t
I’ve spent a *lot* of time with ARK, working my way through the story mode and progressing through the maps in order. I made it all the way to Extinction with virtually no major issues. I had a goal I’d never had with a game before: 100% ARK, including the achievements. I was genuinely determined to see it through and I only had 2 achievements left.
I put countless hours into breeding, raising my dinos, progressing my bases, levelling my character, and preparing for what came next. I looked past the little bugs and glitches because, honestly, that’s ARK. You learn to live with some of it because the game is worth it.
But Lost Colony has completely changed that experience.
Since the fall when the lost colony update came out, the game has become increasingly buggy for me, to the point where it is now literally unplayable. I cannot open a terminal/spire without the entire game crashing. Not occasionally. Not after hours of gameplay. Simply trying to use one of the most basic mechanics required for progression causes a full crash.
So how exactly am I supposed to continue the story when I can't upload or download anything including my character and dinosaurs I've worked so dang hard on?
I'm now completely stuck. All of the hours I put into breeding and preparing my creatures are essentially sitting there, unusable. I worked so hard to get to this point, and after making it through four maps without this issue, being stopped dead in my tracks because I can't access a terminal is incredibly frustrating. I've tried many fixes, and nothing works. Even on private servers, paid servers, anything. This happens to everyone in our server group as well and looking online, it seems to be a MAJOR issue.
I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game multiple times. I've tried coming back every couple of months hoping that an update would finally fix it. I've submitted multiple bug reports about this specific issue. And yet, almost a year later, I'm still in the exact same position.
What makes this especially upsetting is that ARK wasn't just a game for me. It was something my brother, my friends, and I used to bond over. There are a lot of good memories tied to this game. Now it feels like that part of the game has simply been taken away from us. Not because the servers shut down, but because the game has become so broken that none of us can actually play it.
And that's what makes it so hard to accept. My PC can run the game. Performance isn't the issue. I'm willing to tolerate the enormous install size, the occasional glitches, the weird ARK moments, and all the other quirks that come with the game. What I can't tolerate is a game being essentially unplayable for nearly a year while update after update continues to come out.
I'm not expecting a completely bug free game. I understand that ARK is ARK. But when a game-breaking bug prevents progression and has persisted for this long despite repeated reports, it's incredibly disappointing.
I'm not writing this review because I hate ARK. Quite the opposite.
I'm writing it because I absolutely love this game, I've invested hundreds of hours into it, and I desperately wanted to finish what I started. I was determined to make ARK my first ever game that I truly 100% completed. I made it through four maps. I was so close to continuing that journey.
Now I can't even open a terminal without crashing. I'm sad, angry, and incredibly frustrated. Not just with the bug, but with the feeling that all of that time and progress has been taken away from me by an issue that should have been fixed a long time ago.
