ARK: Survival Evolved was one of the worst ports many of us have seen on the Nintendo Switch and the worst thing was that plenty of Switch owners purchased the game when it was initially released without knowing just how poor the performance and visuals were. Thankfully the team has now released a new version which has been built from the ground up on the Nintendo Switch and is available as a free update to those who purchased the original. Digital Foundry has since been on the case and they are very impressed by what they have played of ARK Ultimate Survivor Edition stating that “One of the worst ports ever is now a good-looking, playable experience.” even going so far as to say that it is now “One of the more impressive Unreal Engine 4 titles we’ve seen on Nintendo Switch.” Here’s a few snippets from the article:
“The new version of the game is completely transformative. It’s one of the biggest improvements we’ve ever seen, turning the game from a hideous, unplayable mess into one of the more impressive Unreal Engine 4 titles we’ve seen on Nintendo Switch. It’s been rebuilt from the ground up and addresses virtually every criticism we had of the original game.”
“First impressions are very positive: the extremely low resolution of the original release gives way to a pleasing presentation. Developer Grove Street Games targets 1080p and 720p for docked and portable play respectively, with dynamic resolution working in combination with TAA upscaling to deliver a clean look. The DRS window varies from 55 percent to 100 percent of output resolution, but typically what I saw seemed to operate at around the 70 percent mid-point. Either way, it holds up well.”
“That being the case, expect fairly complex areas to hover in the 24-27fps area, with only less stressful environments hitting the game’s 30fps cap. It looks like frame-rates can reduce further during online modes but ultimately, while far from perfect, it is at least playable – and falls into line with general expectations.”
