Ark: Survival Ascended Aberration Brings Back One Of Its Weirdest Mechanics (2024)

Ark: Survival Ascended has finally added the Aberration DLC, which returns an awesome but weird mechanic. Ascended has had one roller coaster of an existence. Though it fulfills its goal of being an upgraded version of Evolved, it has had a myriad of issues. The most major is the high requirements needed to run the game, which excludes many potential users. Others include questionable microtransaction features and crossovers with missed opportunities that have made the upgrade feel like a cash grab to buy time for the sequel.

Ark: Survival Ascended's Aberration map takes place on a damaged ARK that, due to massive amounts of radiation, forces all life underground. All this life has also been extremely mutated and is highly dangerous to players. Due to the harsh environment, players need to have proper gear to survive the radiation and scale the hazardous terrain. This DLC provided a unique challenge to the franchise while also being one of its first steps toward embracing its Sci-Fi features.

Ark: Survival Ascended's Reaper & Its Weird Taming Mechanic

A Xenomorph-Inspired Dino

The Reaper is one of the new creatures from Aberration, and despite how amazing it is, it also comes with a weird mechanic. The Reaper is one of the strongest battle mounts in the game. This is due to its strong armor, high damage, and good mobility. Though they are not the easiest to get en masse, their strength more than makes up for this lack of quantity. However, the process of acquiring Reapers is what causes the odd reception.

To get a tamed Reaper, players must be impregnated by a Reaper Queen and give birth to a baby Reaper that can be imprinted on. This process was inspired by the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, which the Reapers are loosely inspired by. This has brought up problems with how eager some get for this mechanic and how detailed the process is. The only thing that can be compared to it is the breeding process for the Rhyniognatha, which is similar but done on another dinosaur rather than on the player.

Overall, this process isn't overly graphic or revealing, so the bulk of the argument is between fans. In this regard, it likely speaks more towards how creative the development team is for making a unique process like this. Along with finding the perfect balance so it is not pushed too far, but it is still a process detailed enough to be remembered.

How To Tame A Reaper In Ark: Survival Ascended

Earning The Power

Taming a Reaper in Ascended is a process that requires patience but can be done quite efficiently once mastered. The first step is to find a Reaper Queen while wearing a hazard suit to survive the intense radiation. To begin the breeding process, players will have to weaken the Reaper Queen to the brink of death, where it starts glowing red. The best way to do this is by trapping it, which can be done in many ways, and hitting it with charged light to debuff it.

Once the Reaper Queen is glowing red, it will pick up the player with its tail and stab it. This will inject the future Reaper offspring into the target before the Reaper Queen burrows into the ground and despawns. The baby Reaper will take 12 hours to birth and during that time it will absorb half of the experience earned by the host. This will determine how strong the Reaper is at birth. It is important to not die or take any radiation damage while pregnant as it has a chance to kill the Reaper.

Once the baby is ready to be born, players need to consume a Reaper Queen's pheromone gland, so the baby will acknowledge them. After birth, the process is the same as most baby tames, keeping it healthy and feeding it till it is fully tamed. For this part, it is best to keep it in an enclosed room for its safety and the safety of other dinosaurs. Once tamed, it is simply a matter of leveling the Reaper like any other tame until it becomes a mighty Reaper King and one of the best dinosaurs in Ark: Survival Ascended​​​​​​.

Overall, despite the weirdness, the process of acquiring Reapers is one of the most novel experiences in Ark. The controversy comes from the eagerness of fans, so it is not exactly a situation the studio can intervene in. Thus, the addition of the Reapers in Ark: Survival Ascended will be a weird addition for some and an amazing one for others.

Ark: Survival Ascended

ARK: Survival Ascended is a reimagined version of the 2017 action-adventure survival MMORPG by the developers at Studio Wildcard and Grove Street Games. Built in Unreal Engine 5, players will return to ARK to build tribes, fight and tame dinosaurs, and brave the elements as they battle to survive in a unique sandbox where crafting and resource management is essential.

Survival

Open-World

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

October 26, 2023

Developer(s)

Studio Wildcard

Publisher(s)

Studio Wildcard

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Blood, Crude Humor, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Use of Alcohol, Violence