izigame.me

TL;DR:
I do recommend but with caveats. Wait for a sale if you're not interested in Official Server Play. The only benefit to buying full price at this point is early access to materials as they drop (and thus official servers for early land claim) or supporting the developers if you're really into them.
Long Version
I would give this game not really a thumbs up but not really a thumbs down and there's several reasons that go into this. I've played both ARK Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended enough time that I feel able to give this sort of review at this point.
Let's start with the Good:

Unreal Engine 5.5 is the current engine of the game as of this review. (I may update this in the future but unlikely.) It has resulted in a gorgeous game visually.
The developers are releasing all of the maps and content that were originally DLC (paid and free) for ARK SE as free updates to ARK SA, meaning for the box price you are getting everything that came with ARK Survival Evolved (eventually, they have just dropped Ragnarok as of this review, with Gen 1/2, Fjordur, Crystal Isles, and Valguero still to come among a few others.
There is new content being added to ASA that is not going to be added to ASE, including new gameplay benefits, creatures, and cross-platform mod support.
Development is active, with a pretty active community and a healthy unofficial community as well.
Crossplatform mods also give rise to Premium mods, are very easy to install from within the game and tend to work... most of the time, with some whitelisted to work on Official Servers!
The developers do maintain an active official network where those who can't afford to rent their own servers or prefer to play with others outside of SP can do so.

Now to the Bad:

There are still bugs present in the base game that have existed since ASE, the reasons for these vary, but while some has been fixed not all of it has. If you were hoping for a less buggy game I'm afraid that classic ARK jank is still present.
The game has been optimized repeatedly since it's initial early access release, but it is still pretty hard on older rigs. I would recommend making sure you have updated hardware.
No Steam Deck support due to the aforementioned hardware requirements. You can get it to run, it just won't run well.
MTX. You can call it DLC and it functionally is, but $5 here, $5 there, that's a microtransaction and there's a significant number of them.
The arrival of crossplatform mods has also meant the arrival of premium mods that you also pay for. This isn't really a sticking point for me, as I love supporting passionate individuals but it is a turnoff to some, especially with many premium mods starting at $5 USD for varying quality.
Though the Official Network is fairly healthy, the developers have begun a pattern of sunsetting inactive official servers, potentially leading to progress loss for those who don't manage to get their characters off onto a different official server. They do kindly offer the saves themselves so you can play with them on SP or load them onto a personal server cluster, but this has been a point of contention for the community.
The additional DLC that provides gameplay changes as well as unique creatures to tame can be pretty expensive.
Overall I have been a longtime ark fan even if I wasn't around for the 'beta' days. I enjoy the game but I fully admit that it's not a game for everyone. It can be buggy, and if you play on officials (and even then) it can be extremely unforgiving when something bugs out, or you lose progress etc due to server troubles.
The game has gotten better from its initial release, but that doesn't mean its perfect and as of writing this review it is still in early access and adding yet more content at a pretty blistering pace while translating over older content from ARK SE. As far as the promised content goes, I do believe that promise is being kept pretty admirably but for a lot of other people I fully understand the anger regarding the costs.
It is worth emphasizing that the exorbitant cost of this game is all in optional content that has come across as Pay-to-Win because the creatures involved are very powerful, but locked behind these DLC Passes. If you are someone who thrives in PvP and were hoping for fair fighting grounds, I'd argue this game is not for you unless you have $$$.
Even among PvErs though, the game is costly if you want some of the really cool critters. This is why I recommend purchasing on a sale if you really want to get into it with all the bells and whistles. to me it's not worth the value that I myself have paid out over time so far.
As of this writing, total cost to enjoy this game at full price with all new things: (rounded to nearest whole dollar)
Base Cost: $45
Bob's Tall Tales: $30
Fantastic Tames Pyromane: $5
Fantastic Tames Dreadmare: $5
Fantastic Tames Drakeling: $5 (after LC release)
Partner Map Astraeos: $15 (The only map where Maeguanas, a reptilian version of the Maewing that was released as an early access baby trough spawn naturally. Otherwise an optional community map developed by a modder working along with WC as a partner.)
Lost Colony Expansion Pass (currently w/Veilwyn and Drakeling): $30 USD (Drakeling will be sold separately after LC releases and Veilwyn is only temporarily available until the LC map releases which is its otherwise exclusive spawn.)
There is additional optional content released by WC in regards to cosmetics, one which is available on Steam STore, the other which I've seen on their internal Overwolf Premium Mod offering:
- Power Rangers Official Cosmetics: $10-20 USD total (not super positive on this one, I feel like the price changed for it.)
- Official ARK Show Cosmetics: $15 USD
Without these cosmetics and just the main creature DLC though you are still looking at $135 USD just to keep up with their pace of releases and have access to genuinely GAMECHANGING mechanics and devices. Things like a gestation incubator, the ability to tame Pyromanes or Dreadmares or Armadoggos etc, all of which naturally spawn on the otherwise free base maps, the ability to use special mechanics like the shovel from bob's tall tales to hunt for treasure and dig it up. Or even the ability to access new lore notes related to the expansions.
To be perfectly clear there is plenty of reason to be upset at this level of gameplay being locked behind additional paywalls, but this content also goes several steps BEYOND what was initially promised with ASA, which was simply bringing ARK SE forward in terms of technology and engine. They have accomplished that portion, and as a company need to continue funding development so to an extent I understand it. However it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many players, myself included when we go beyond the occasional $5 release and announce more 20+ USD expansions. I love the game and I'll still support it at the end of the day, but I won't say the anger is unjustified to an extent.
Overall my verdict is that if you're new to ark, then starting here is a great point, because you won't really have much background context or even nostalgia to be furious over. If not though, then maybe wait for a sale. It will save you a lot of money in the long run, and unless you're competing for early fight rights or land on the Official Network it genuinely does you no harm.
There's a healthy unofficial server community that caters to a vast array of interests and time availabilities so I'm positive you will find someone or someplace to hang out, and if you're a Single PLayer then there's already a vast amount of content available to you before the DLCs that you can chew on until you're ready to purchase.
Until then, I tentatively recommend the game, but with some very heavy air quotes around recommend.