Set on an island where dinosaurs and mythical creatures roam freely, ARK: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival role-playing game where you get to build shelters, explore unknown territories, and fend off hostile creatures and other human players.
There are no real objectives in this game, however, surviving the elements is the goal. As soon as you spawn at the starting point, you are vulnerable to all the elements. Things can get pretty tough from the moment you arrive on the island and death can happen with just one wrong move.
With that in mind, here's how you can survive the first few days as a beginner in ARK: Survival Evolved.
- Gathering Resources
- Building and Crafting
- Surviving the Night
- Leveling Up Your Stats
- Joining a Tribe
Gathering Resources
In a game where survival is the ultimate objective, identifying the important resources and gathering them is vital to your overall success. There are different resources used at the start of the game. Some of these resources are easily found on the ground or by punching trees.
These resources include thatch, wood, flint, fiber, and stone. All of these resources can be gathered immediately at the start of the game. Thatch and wood can be sourced from trees which can be done by cutting or punching them down.
Use the pickaxe to gather flint and stone. The ax will help you gather more flint. Fiber can be collected through the bushes that line the forest and the nearby beach.
These are just the basic resources that are crucial to start your journey right in ARK: Survival Evolved.
Dealing with Food
Food is another precious resource that many players seem to underestimate. There are a lot of things that you need to manage in ARK and a key one is hunger. You can collect berries from different plants surrounding the spawning area that you can then eat.
This will help you sustain for quite some time. However, there will come a time that you will need to start learning how to hunt. Hunting can be done by crafting a spear.
You can hunt dodos as they are the most vulnerable and easiest to kill. They are a much better source of food and healing for you as a player than the vegetation and berries that you find nearby. Plus, they also provide hide and raw meat which is another vital resource needed in the next phase of the game.
Building and Crafting
From the moment you land inside the game, you'll be building and crafting different items to help you progress. Building a house assures that you can have a safe shelter while crafting allows you to create different items that you can use in the game.
Make building a shelter your top priority during your first day in the game.
Crafting an item will need an Engram or Blueprint. These act as recipes that will turn the resources that you've gathered into an item.
Engrams are commonly used earlier in the game and are usually unlocked as you level up. There aren't enough Engrams to craft all the items in the game so you should choose wisely before using them all up.
Upgrading Items
Not only are Engrams integral to crafting new items, but they are also used to upgrade them into better items. These include armor, weapons, accessories, and other gears that you own.
Once you can craft and upgrade items and weapons, you can upgrade how it works and create a base that can withstand damage from other players. As previously mentioned, you won't be able to unlock all items in the game.
There are far more useful items that you should focus on such as weapons and armor so you can explore further areas without immediately getting killed.
Surviving the Night
You might be so busy gathering resources, hunting for food, and exploring the nearby areas that you forget to notice that the day is about to end. Nighttime in ARK is a whole different game.
The entire landscape becomes dark and everything surrounding you is more dangerous. One of the most important things that you need to take care of is heating yourself. You need to know how to keep yourself warm during cold nights.
Make sure that before nighttime comes, you already know how to make a campfire and that you have already learned how to make clothes using the clothing Engram. You may also make a torch so you can explore your surroundings and continue gathering resources even at night.
This way, you'll get your shelter up before sunrise and you'll be more protected from the harsh climate the following night.
Make Your Bed
Nighttime in ARK can be very terrifying. You don't know what lurks in the dark and sometimes, it can kill you. You will need all the help that you can get to survive the night or at least respawn immediately. You might think it is a joke but beds are very important in ARK.
Beds serve as a respawn point in the game and they also allow you to travel faster when you have one built in different locations. It is always best that you try to set up beds in key areas surrounding your shelter. This way, you can respawn at various points if you get killed at night while exploring.
Speaking of death, dying will drop all of your items on the ground which means other players can loot them if you are not careful. When you have a bed nearby, you can easily respawn back and collect them before other players can do so. Make sure to choose a respawn point first before you set off on your nightly adventures.
Leveling Up Your Stats
Let's say you survived the previous night unscathed and continued to build your shelter. Soon after, you'll notice that you leveled up in the game and received points apart from the Engram points that you receive.
These points can be used to level up your stats and increase your quality of life in the game. You can see all the stats on the right side of the screen. You'll notice that there are also minor stats found in the character panel on the inventory option.
There are several important character stats to choose from and each of them will dictate your life in this game.
It is important that you understand how each attribute affects your character in numerous ways.
Learning the Important Character Stats
These are just some of the most important character stats that you should focus on. Oxygen helps you hold your breath longer when underwater by increasing your lung capacity as well as affects your swimming speed. This enables you to explore underwater areas much further.
Increasing your weight allows you to carry more items as it expands your inventory even further and avoids being encumbered. Encumberment means your inventory is full and you begin to feel the load of all the items that you're carrying. This makes you vulnerable to other players.
Water and Food are self-explanatory and equally important to level up as well. Lastly, Stamina and Health are two very important character stats that help you perform activities better and longer.
Joining a Tribe
Life in ARK can be very brutal. Every path you take and every turn you make can be your last. The best way to increase your chances of survival is to get help from others.
It is always a great idea to join a tribe the moment you land on the beach. If not, you can always create your tribe and let others join.
Having a tribe means security in numbers.
You also get the job done more quickly when you have someone to help you with and in return, can help them as well.
Building Relationships
Everything you do in this game has an impact on either your character or other players. Joining a tribe helps you build relationships with other players. While that may not be apparent early in the game, it will bear fruit later on as you begin to explore and meet other players.
Having an existing tribe to back you up will surely make your experience a lot easier. Your tribemates can help you succeed in this very harsh world so you'll need each other to achieve your goals.
Make strong bonds and build connections. You'll be thanking yourself down the line.
Conclusion
If there is one thing that you'll do a lot in this game, it's dying. However, these beginner tips will surely help you reduce the number of times you'll spend lying on the ground and give you strategies for success.
ARK: Survival Evolved is currently available for download on Steam for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices such as Android and iOS.
