ARK: Survival Evolved is an old friend to many survival game enthusiasts.
Players explore vast lands, build, tame various dinosaurs, and battle each other. Since its launch in 2015, ARK: Survival Evolved has remained the benchmark for multiplayer online sandbox survival games.
Have you ever felt a slight regret—that if "Ark" could allow free mining and building just like Minecraft, how wonderful that would be?
This brings us to our old friend, PixARK.
Sharp-edged blocks construct vast wildernesses, while prehistoric behemoths and fantastical creatures roam through pixel-art forests, snowfields, and floating islands.
Since its launch, PixARK has walked the line between sandbox building and hardcore survival. It offers the creative joy of freely reshaping the world found in block-based games, while continuing the tense experience of taming beasts and surviving in the wild characteristic of the Ark series—perfectly satisfying "Ark enthusiasts'" desire for "Minecraft-style" gameplay.
At this year's ChinaJoy, invited by Snail Games, I had the chance to try out PixARK's DLC, "Underground Labyrinth"—a major expansion that shifts the player's focus to the "underground world." With its new subterranean territories, unknown ecosystems, and ruin adventures, it reminded me of the glory days when the "Aberration" DLC for ARK: Survival Evolved first launched.
Of course, I was also fortunate enough to interview Xu Zhenhua, the person in charge of PixARK. Behind the noisy stages of ChinaJoy, we had a good chat about the game's present and future.
Below is the full interview transcript.
Q: What was the original intention behind deciding to develop PixARK? Why choose to combine the pixel-block sandbox genre with the Ark dinosaur survival genre?
A: At the time, the company acquired the ARK: Survival Evolved IP with the hope of expanding its user base. Since ARK: Survival Evolved itself has a relatively hardcore style, both we and the original developers wanted to use a spin-off IP to reach a more casual audience. We were very optimistic about the survival genre back then and were among the earliest teams in China to pursue this direction.
We chose pixel blocks because many team members are loyal fans of sandbox games, including enthusiasts of titles like Minecraft and Terraria. We felt these two elements complemented each other well—on highly variable terrain, creatures could become richer, forming a dynamically changing ecosystem.
Q: During the project initiation, did the team encounter controversies regarding genre fusion? For example, concerns that the pixel art style might deter hardcore survival players, or that hardcore gameplay might discourage casual sandbox players. How did you balance these trade-offs at the time?
A: There were indeed discussions about this. Looking back now, the early versions didn't truly break out of their niche. Because we started this product very early, our understanding of the Ark IP wasn't yet deep; we mostly added features and made relatively early and shallow market judgments. Thus, early PixARK mainly attracted those hardcore players who preferred a more casual visual style.
The growth of true casual users actually happened later. So now, the company sees PixARK as a new starting point, reinvesting at a stage where the user base has matured. In the "Underground Labyrinth" DLC, we made many optimizations, simplifying complex systems with steep learning curves from the original Ark to make them more casual-friendly, hoping for better integration.
Q: What is the team's core positioning for PixARK? What unique experience do you want to bring to players that distinguishes it from traditional sandbox and survival games?
A: Our product philosophy is to make it "an interesting box of candies."
Fully randomized terrain brings significant variety for players, but without robust shaping capabilities, the variation can feel limited and lead to boredom. Over the years, we've implemented many technical upgrades, allowing each level's terrain shaping to become much richer—underground lava, underground rivers, subterranean ice rivers, and multi-layered structures are all now realized. This makes the entire game like a fully randomized box of candies, similar to Harry Potter's Every Flavour Beans; you never know what flavor the next one will be. Every "candy" players dig up brings change and surprise.
What truly brings these candies to life is Ark's creature system. Combining terrain with creatures creates fun surprises, all wrapped within the digging system.
Q: Compared to the original ARK: Survival Evolved, what exclusive optimizations and innovations have been made to PixARK's taming, building, and progression systems? What are its core advantages?
A: The core advantages are mainly threefold:
First is the satisfaction of 3D digging. While the rhythm and experience of digging in 2D games are already quite comfortable, few 3D games achieve large-scale terrain destruction and shaping. This is a feature we strive to perfect.
Second is the immersive experience of underground exploration. The difference between surface and underground experiences is very distinct: on the surface, you can see far distances, judge situations based on range, and plan tactics using terrain cover; but underground, it's more about the unknown—while digging, you might feel the temperature drop, hear unfamiliar creature sounds, or even hear the sounds of predatory battles. These sounds make you hesitate: do you go straight in, or peek through a small opening first? This completely different experience is the distinction we aim to create.
Third is the deep interaction between creatures and the environment. Originally, Ark creatures were designed primarily around the creatures themselves. We wanted creatures to integrate with their surroundings. For instance, surface species might develop variants underground with degenerated eyes or glowing glands. When you dig into a new space, you might discover completely new creatures different from those on the surface, greatly increasing the possibilities.
Q: The game supports single-player, multiplayer co-op, PvE, and PvP modes. In terms of gameplay balance, how does the team cater to both single-player casual players and hardcore competitive multiplayer players?
A: In early versions, as a spin-off of the ARK: Survival Evolved IP, we retained many of the original's PvP systems—free combat within an open sandbox is indeed one of Ark's most standout features. However, this also limited the user base to hardcore players.
In this version, we began shifting comprehensively toward PvE and player cooperation, catering to casual players, PvE collaboration, and UGC creation.
Q: The team chose to focus the new major DLC, "Underground Labyrinth," on the underground world. What was the original intention? Was it to fill gaps in the blocky world map, or to respond to players' long-standing desire for exploration?
A: This is actually part of our grand plan for the Block Universe. The worldview of PixARK is a cubic universe—square planets made of blocks, with even their orbital trajectories being square. We are advancing version by version: the first version implemented surface ecosystems; the second version introduced sky islands; the third version (this one) completes the construction of the underground world.
In the future, we also plan to implement systems like planetary farming, with the ultimate goal of making each DLC an independent explorable planet, allowing players to travel between them. Therefore, this is a "five-step" technical iteration, a broad strategy the company strongly supports. The "Underground Labyrinth" largely aims to refine the digging system to its extreme, representing the culmination of our years of technical accumulation in terrain shaping and performance optimization.
Q: Many players look forward to exclusive underground exploration companions. Have the new creatures been specifically optimized for functions like mining, terrain traversal, and ruin conquest? What specific adaptive designs have been implemented?
A: The most important principle in our creature design is: the visual theme grants it corresponding abilities.
In this version, we enhanced the capabilities of creatures as companions: those with powerful claws and tails cause greater map destruction and have higher digging efficiency. Unlike the surface, underground creatures have more diverse movement methods: such as wall climbing, special gaits, and jumping locomotion; vampire bats can hang upside down on walls to rest and move; and intelligent creatures can assist players in driving steam trains.
The companion abilities of the entire creature system have been significantly enhanced compared to before.
Q: After the launch of the "Underground Labyrinth" DLC, will underground content continue to receive iterative updates? Will there be additional underground hidden maps, ultimate bosses, or exclusive storylines in the future?
A: We will continue to open up more planetary systems in the future. Internally, we are already testing the block physics system—digging on fully physicalized planets will be much more enjoyable than it is now. When you dig to the planet's core, physical and gravitational changes will be completely different, enriching the dimensions of digging fun.
We are also experimenting with movement methods like side-wall crawling. Physical variations will be more pronounced on smaller planets, while larger ones will be relatively smoother. We are thinking of this as a rather grand IP, not just this single DLC.
Q: How should new and veteran players respectively experience the "Underground Labyrinth"? Does the team recommend any specific starting or exploration processes?
A: For veteran players: Our team has communicated deeply with veteran players for eight years. We have a dedicated domestic operations team and maintain communication with players through various methods, including backend data collection. Ark players are very hardcore; they play deeply and think extensively about the game. They can engage in deep communication with the development team, and we believe we can create content that resonates with them.
For new players: This DLC can be experienced entirely from scratch. It is not merely an add-on to the old product but a new starting point—with complete new progression lines and core gameplay. Meanwhile, creatures and mechanics validated and highly praised by veteran players will also be brought to the new map, presenting our eight years of accumulated successful designs in a more mature form to new players.
From a corporate strategy perspective, this is the first step of a "trilogy." The first step is this underground DLC, the second is deepening console development, and the third is upgrading the engine for a next-generation version. This first step also bears the responsibility of expanding the product's appeal from hardcore users to a broader casual player base.
Q: Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the players?
A: It was the persistence of our veteran players alongside us that gave the product a better chance to continue. Our team treats this update as an exam—not only a self-validation by the company and team but also a test from the players. We hope this fun experience reaches more players, helping everyone find like-minded friends in the world of PixARK.