With many years of stunning success under its belt as a survival game, ARK: Survival Evolved continues to impress gamers even to this day, despite its constant delays. Who doesn't love the unique blend of dinosaurs, fantasy creatures, and sci-fi elements packaged together into this unique gaming experience?
Even though this blend of fact and fiction is both coherent and exciting in context, when taken out of context there are some things in ARK: Survival Evolved that just don't make any sense, free or not. While they aren't game-breakers for the most part, they are distracting from the best that ARK: Survival Evolved has to offer in terms of immersion and survival gameplay.
10 The Tech Tree
While the tech tree of ARK: Survival Evolved is primarily designed to create a feeling of progression, there are some things that just don't line up. For instance, the fact that many saddles are unlocked before the bow. A bow can have any level of simplicity and still function, whereas a saddle requires complex and thorough leatherwork that must be accomplished by a professional, and takes almost as much effort as it does to run ARK: Survival Evolved on current-gen consoles. The tech tree is riddled with such inaccuracies and makes progression an incredibly non-immersive experience, even if it does make the game easier.
9 The Gunpowder Recipe
Most of the recipes in ARK: Survival Evolved make sense. Even though there are some, such as the cooking pot, that require some imagination, the most egregious of these errors is the gunpowder recipe. In its simplest form, gunpowder in the real world requires at least sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal to create. Gunpowder in ARK: Survival Evolved is a combination of spark powder (flint and rock) and charcoal. This leaves a lot to the imagination, basically requiring that the rock and flint contain these necessary ingredients.
8 Few Feathered Dinosaurs
The dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved are a key part of progressing forward in the game. It's too bad that most of the dinosaurs in the game are not nearly feathered enough compared to their real-world counterparts. The dreaded raptor and rex, in particular, aren't nearly feathered enough to claim their titles, and combined they make a mockery of the scientific consensus regarding their origins. It is worth mentioning that ARK: Survival Evolved does get a few right in this way, but many, many more wrong, and its roots in science and not fantasy make this much more confusing.
7 Dinosaur Sizes
Dinosaur sizes are a touchy topic since, in the case of the raptor, it isn't actually specified what type of raptor they are, but those scary fast-moving predators aren't the only incorrectly sized dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved. Many of the underwater dinosaurs, in particular, are incorrectly sized and are either much smaller or much bigger than their original correct real-life version. Other versions of dinosaurs have incorrect proportions or are just odd-looking compared to their real counterparts, who often are slower, smaller, and more docile than the game would have players believe.
6 Simple Bullets
Simple bullets are the equivalent of musket balls but used in forged pistols. Despite their crafting recipes, however, the simple bullet does not use any gunpowder in its reload animation. This begs the question of how the bullet is propelled, given that the musket ball is essentially solid metal of some kind.
There is no charge to ignite, no flintlock ignition mechanism, and the entire pistol is just silly compared to its later versions in the game. Even so, it is a step towards more advanced firearms that do contain the proper mechanisms to fire.
5 Metal
Metal appears in ARK: Survival Evolved as a means of progressing in the game, and by the end of the game players will have collected a lot of it. But, what is metal? It appears in-game as a shiny silver or steel ingot. But, in order to do the things that it does in-game, it would need to be a collection of various different metals, that are all found in a single rock. There would at least need to be lead, iron, and copper, but the game makes no mention of metal other than iron, and the presence of the sci-fi endings makes this all the more confusing.
4 The Raft
The raft might not seem to be the worst culprit for utter lack of believability, but players who pay attention might notice that it always goes at the same speed despite the lack of wind or possible changes in wind direction. There is also no means of rowing it. This fact, as well as the presence of the sail, seems to imply that the raft is wind-powered, but without any wind, this seems improbable. Also, the addition of more weight should, in theory, make the raft sink or change in buoyancy, but players can build as much as they want, where they want.
3 Rifle Bullets
Rifle bullets are probably fine when placed under scrutiny, but what isn't fine is the mechanism that both shoots gunpowder bullets, as well as darts. Darts are normally fired out of air guns, which use pressurized air to propel the dart into an animal.
But, the presence of the ability to shoot gunpowder bullets seems to call into question the entire mechanism of the rifle. In other words, the rifle just doesn't make much sense when looked at in any depth, and the presence of the multiple ammo types makes this fact even worse.
2 Herbivorous Diets
Herbivores in ARK: Survival Evolved seem to eat berries when being tamed, which is alright, but the upgrade to berries is kibble. Kibble is made out of eggs, which are classified not as herbivorous foods, but as ovivorous foods. This is closer to carnivorous than it is herbivorous, as herbivores eat strictly plant-based diets. In other words, eggs should not be a recipe ingredient in kibble for an herbivore. Even so, and even with the nutrients that the eggs might provide, it is unlikely that an herbivore could digest such a protein-rich substance very quickly.
1 Spoiled Meat
Spoiled meat is an odd recipe ingredient in ARK: Survival Evolved. Spoiled meat in real life is often thrown out because of the presence of harmful or unknown bacteria and other microorganisms. The fact that it is used for narcotics is irrelevant, as the primary issue here is that there is no way to tell what is infecting a particular piece of spoiled meat without a microscope or training, so using these pieces of meat for anything without incident is unlikely, and highly impractical considering that in Ark; Survival Evolved, they stack together.