After months of waiting and in typical Studio Wildcard fashion, delays, Ark’s much-anticipated Genesis Part 2 is finally out and available for those of you with the Genesis Season pass.
What's New In Genesis Part 2?
You may have seen our post last month, showing some of the new features of Ark Genesis 2, but before we go into too much detail in our Ark Genesis 2 review, let’s first take a look at what’s new in the latest Ark expansion.
New Ark Genesis Part 2 Creatures
- Maewing: A duck-billed platypus that can glide across the map with ease, as well as acting as a nanny for your babies
- Tek Stryder: A new robotic deer like creature, which much like the Mek’s can benefit from additional attachments
- Noglin: A cute new creature with the ability to take over the mind of your enemies, noglin is a play on the words noggin and goblin
- Shadowmane: A fast swimming, lion-like predator, which can warp, making it a hard creature to escape once you’re in its sights
- Summoner: An extremely aggressive creature that also has the ability to teleport, approach these with extreme caution
- Voidwyrm: The Voidwyrm look much like wyverns, but with the added ability to be able to knock survivors off their tames
Every time a new Ark DLC comes out, I personally find that the creatures are very hit or miss, with some of them being extremely cool and a great addition, but sadly others being a bit pointless.
for me personally, this is the first expansion in a while, where I have genuinely loved all of the creatures to come out with the Ark DLC and can’t wait to get familiar with all of them.
New Ark Genesis Part 2 Buildings
If like me, you love building in Ark, you will be pleased to know that there have been some great new additions on that front too.
- Ammo Box: Once built, this amazing structure will automatically fill up your turrets and weapons, a QOL features that till need required Ark mods to achieve
- Canoe: Not the most exciting of the new Ark structures, but still I do look forward to a gentle paddle along the lakes
- Egg Incubator: Again, this is one that required mods before, so it’s nice to have a way to regulate egg temperatures built into the base game now
- Loadout Mannequin: By far my favorite thing in Genesis 2, the loadout mannequin allows us to have load-outs for raids, taming and base defense
- Tek Crop Plot: Grow plants quicker and without the need for any sunlight at all now
- Tek Hoversail: Get around the Genesis Simulation with style, doing tricks on the new hoversail actually makes you go faster and look awesome at the same time
- Tek Surveillance Console: Take spying on your neighbors to the next level, use the surveillance cameras to spy on other survivors, or just freak them out by talking remotely over them
Genesis 2 Map: A Giant Spaceship Teeming With Life
After playing Genesis Part 1, the new map was my biggest concern, although I doubt you will all agree with me, I found myself getting very frustrated with the original Genesis map, I felt it was poorly designed and in honesty, just not fun to play on.
Genesis Part 2’s map feels the polar opposite to me, each area feels extremely well thought out, with biomes blending into each other very nicely.Â
As with many of Ark’s maps, there are plenty of hidden caves, underwater cave systems and perfect hiding spots to place a hidden base or FOB.
It’s clear to see that the developers have put a lot of time and effort into making sure that the final map gives Ark the proper send-off it deserves after all these years.
Intricate details, such as updating the look of the supply drops, make sense considering were now stranded on a spaceship.
Getting around the map is now much easier too, as each player now starts with a federation tek suite, which allows us to enjoy all the benefits of having tek gear, including a jetpack, right from the start of the game.
Many of the frustrations I have when first starting Ark on a new expansion, were not present this time round, for example, finding a base location or my tribe mates in a map which I don’t know, these we’re much easier, as now I could just fly up high and get my bearings.
Unlike the Tek Armor, which requires Element to run, the new federation armor doesn’t, meaning you can fly constantly without the need of stopping.
Ark Genesis 2 Missions
Ark’s missions are a popular feature that was added into the game in Genesis, for one I am glad to see them back into Ark with Genesis 2, in-fact I spent most of my time trying to do missions, instead of finding content for the Genesis 2 review, whoops! guess they’re a bit too fun.
We also created a guide to show you the missions in a bit more detail, click the button bellow to take a detailed look at the Genesis 2 missions.
Summary
Ark’s latest installment Genesis 2 has definitely won me over, after not being so impressed by the first Genesis, I had expected to be equally disappointed with Genesis part 2, thankfully that’s not been the case.
The map, new creatures, and QOL improving structures have all been an impressive addition to the game in my eyes and lead the game into a direction that fills me with hope for Ark 2.
If you’re an owner of the Genesis season pass, you do not need to pay for Genesis 2, so with that in mind, I highly recommend jumping onto your favorite server and giving it a try.
