The video game adaptations keep on rolling in with Paramount+ debuting today the first six episodes of Ark: The Animated Series.
An adaptation of the popular adventure game ARK: Survival Evolved, the series is "a sweeping saga spanning eons of human history."
When 21st century paleontologist Helena Walker (Madden) finds herself resurrected on a mysterious primeval island populated by prehistoric beasts, she must learn to survive with new allies from throughout time, while trying to uncover the true nature of their strange new world.
The series boasts an impressive voice cast that includes Oscar® winners Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Russell Crowe (The Loudest Voice), Gerard Butler (Plane), David Tennant (Doctor Who), Oscar nominees Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) and Elliot Page (The Umbrella Academy), Madeleine Madden (The Wheel of Time), and Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious franchise).
You can enjoy the first six episodes of the series on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada. It will debut in international markets starting Friday, April 19. The second half of the season, which consists of seven episodes, will be released at a later date.
ARK: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival game from developer Studio Wildcard. In the game, players are dropped into a world filled with dinosaurs, fictional fantasy monsters, prehistoric animals and other natural hazards. Other players can also pose a threat.
The game was met with mixed reviews upon release in 2017, although much of the criticism was pointed towards the game's punishing difficulty and time-consuming grinding. A remake of the game, Ark: Survival Ascended, was released in early access last year for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
Given that the game is a fairly open-ended narrative that revolves around what the player does for survival, it will be interesting to see how the animated series does with adapting the game into a coherent story.
Ark: The Animated Series is co-written by Marguerite Bennett and Kendall Deacon Davis. It's executive produced by Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak, alongside Marc Diana, Doug Kennedy, Jay Oliva, James Baldanzi, Vin Diesel and Samantha Vincent for ONE Race Films. Stieglitz, Oliva, David Hartman and Sebastian Montes also serve as directors for the series.
For those who enjoy the series and are now interested in the game, Ark: Survival Ascended is available for purchase for $44.99 on Steam, Xbox Series X|S and PC. While there are no official critic scores of the game, it currently has a mixed user rating around the mid 5s.