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Ark: Survival Evolved Gets A Blocky Spin-Off

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What if every part of Jurassic Park—from the trees to the dinosaurs to Jeff Goldblum’s gleaming chest—was made of blocks? Nobody has ever asked this question, but PixArk looks to answer it. Well, minus the Jeff Goldblum part (probably).

Ark: Survival Evolved has only been out of early access for a handful of months, but it’s already getting a standalone spin-off game. PixArk takes Ark’s creature-taming, base-building survival formula and gives it a voxel makeover. As is common in voxel-based games, maps and quests will be procedurally generated rather than set in stone. Also, blocks. Blocks everywhere.

It’s being developed by Snail Games, rather than Ark creator Wildcard, who only provided “design and technical input” on this one, according to PC Gamer. You might recognize Snail from briefly popular fantasy survival game Dark and Light or kung fu MMO Age of Wushu. That doesn’t guarantee that it’ll knock Ark out of the park, but this prehistoric sea turtle, at least, is good:

PixArk is set to release on Steam Early Access and Xbox One in March. It’ll come to PS4 and Switch “later this year.” One question, however, still remains: is the game’s name a Pixar pun on purpose, or is that merely a happy byproduct of mashing up “pixel” and “Ark”?

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