ARK: Survival Evolved is a 2017 action-adventure survival title developed and published by Studio Wildcard. Initially released in 2015 as an Early Access title, the game garnered a huge player base prior to its full release. It eventually came out on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox, with late releases arriving on mobile and Nintendo Switch.
ARK: Survival Evolved Premise
In ARK: Survival Evolved, you couldn’t start with less. Waking up on the island known as ARK, you find yourself naked and cold, with no knowledge of where to go next. The game truly drops you into the deep end, forcing you to sink or swim. You make your way deeper into the island, foraging resources and crafting tools and shelters to protect yourself from the elements and the dinosaurs that roam the land. If you don’t manage that, you die – it’s as simple as that. Newer players might find the early learning curve difficult and could die plenty of times before getting to grips with the game.
Across the island is a variety of dinosaurs and creatures, which you can approach in a few different ways. You can take them head-on in combat, or harness their power by taming them. Alternatively, you can avoid them entirely, but you might not get too far with this. You’ll also encounter various obelisks and ruins, a mystery that unravels to reveal the lore of the island.
One of the key gameplay mechanics centers around taming creatures on the island. Here, you’ve got to monitor their behavior, feed them the right food, and create a bond that allows you to ride it to do your bidding. This is what keeps you alive in ARK: Survival Evolved over long periods, and it’s certainly a satisfying moment whenever you achieve it.
ARK: Survival Evolved features all the regular survival game fare, with hunger, thirst, and stamina all elements you must manage. While the game excels in many other areas, this is where it falls in line the most with other survival games.
What makes the game special is its multiplayer. By teaming up with others, you can form tribes making it easier to build bases and tame creatures together. You’ll meet other tribes, which you greet with diplomacy or force, depending on how you see fit. It’s a unique experience that you won’t find anywhere else.
ARK: Survival Evolved Main Characters
As ARK: Survival Evolved is a multiplayer survival title, it doesn’t feature a traditional protagonist that you’d find in a single-player game. Instead, you create your own character which you then upgrade through gameplay. Make no mistake – the character creator is extremely robust, and you can get wacky with what you can generate. You can even save your presets, so if you die, you’re able to return to your old favorites.
ARK: Survival Evolved instead places the focus on player-driven experiences and interactions with others. That way, each of your created characters has their own stories.
ARK: Survival Evolved Titles in the Series
As of right now, there’s only one mainline game in the ARK series – ARK: Survival Evolved. Due to it remaining in Early Access for years before its full release, it’s had plenty of time for gamers to get to grips with everything it has to offer, with five paid expansions released across its lifespan to expand on the title. The result is a game that remains extremely popular among survival genre fans to this day.
Ark Park and PixARK are both spin-offs of the original game, and once the novelty wore off, players lost interest fast. However, it was revealed in 2020 that a full sequel titled ARK 2 is on the way with a release currently planned for 2024. Little is known about the new game at the moment, but with no new expansion to the original in two years, it’s sure to be a welcome arrival.
- ARK: Survival Evolved (2017)
- Ark Park (2018)
- PixARK (2019)
- ARK 2 (2024)
ARK: Survival Evolved Cheat Codes
We’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that there are technically no cheat codes for ARK: Survival Evolved. The good news is that there are plenty of console commands for you to use instead!
You can enter these cheat codes by hitting the Tab key during gameplay, which opens the in-game console. In single-player, you can enter these cheats, and they’ll work without fuss. In multiplayer, you’ll need the admin password for your server. Then enter into the console “EnableCheats [password]” which allows you to use these console commands.
Some of these cheats will need the prefix “admincheat” when used in multiplayer. If you use a cheat and it doesn’t appear to work, try adding that to the start of it.
ARK: Survival Evolved Player Commands
- God: Toggles God Mode. However, you can still drown.
- InfiniteStats: Fully regenerates health, stamina, oxygen, food, and water.
- GMBuff: God Mode plus infinite stats and extra XP.
- EnemyInvisible: Creatures no longer attack you, even when attacked first.
- LeaveMeAlone: All of the effects of the cheats God, InfiniteStats and EnemyInvisible.
- ChangeSize [value]: Changes your character’s size by this multiplier, with a default value of 1.
- Slomo [value]: Speeds up or slows down the game by this multiplier, with a default value of 1. Higher is faster, lower is slower.
- Fly: Allows you to fly. Type “Walk” into the console to disable this cheat code.
- Ghost: Activates noclip mode, allowing you to walk through all surfaces. Use “Walk” to disable this cheat code.
- Kill: Instantly kills selected enemy
- GiveEngrams: Unlocks all crafting recipes.
- GiveEngramsTekOnly: Gives you every Tek Engram.
- GiveColors: Gives you each dye color.
- DoTame: Tames selected dinosaur.
- ForceTame: Tames selected dinosaur, and allows you to ride it without a saddle.
- ForceTameAOE [Radius]: Tames all of the dinosaurs in selected radius, with a default value of 2000.
ARK: Survival Evolved Armor and Weapon Commands
- GiveArmorSet [Tier] [Quality]: Gives you full armor set for the selected tier and quality, and automatically equips it.
You can enter the armor tiers as either a number or a word, with the following options all working:
0 / Cloth
1 / Chitin
2 / Metal / Flak
3 / Tek
Hide, Fur, Desert, Ghillie, Riot, Scuba, or Hazard
All armor quality options are as follows:
Primitive, Ramshackle, Apprentice, Journeyman, Mastercraft, Ascendant, or Alpha
- GiveWeaponSet [Tier] [Quality]: Gives you all weapons in selected tier and quality.
You can enter the weapon tiers as either a number or a word, with the following options all working:
0 / Primitive: Bow, Pike, Spear, Bola.
1 / Basic: Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Longneck Rifle, Sword, Grenade.
2 / Advanced: Compound Bow, Fabricated Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, C4 Charge.
3 / Tek: Tek Grenade, Tek Rifle, Tek Railgun, Tek Sword.
All weapon quality options are as follows:
Primitive, Ramshackle, Apprentice, Journeyman, Mastercraft, Ascendant, or Alpha
- GiveItemSet <Tier> – Gives you all items in selected tier.
You can enter the item tiers as either a number or a word, with the following options all working:
0: 90 Cooked Meat, 200 Stimberry, 2 Waterskin.
1: 2 Water Jar, 200 Stimberry, 90 Cooked Meat, 100 Medical Brew.
2: 100 Medical Brew, 100 Energy Brew, 100 Cactus Broth, 60 Cooked Meat Jerky, 2 Canteen.
3: 5 Shadow Steak Saute, 5 Enduro Stew, 5 Focal Chili, 5 Lazarus Chowder, 100 Medical Brew, 100 Energy Brew, 100 Cactus Broth, 90 Cooked Meat Jerky.
Food: 30 Cooked Meat Jerky, 30 Prime Meat Jerky.
Water: Canteen Refill.
Brews: 100 Medical Brew, 100 Energy Brew.
ARK: Survival Evolved Spawn Item Commands
If you’re looking for a list of item ID numbers in ARK: Survival Evolved, check it out here.
- GiveItem [BlueprintPath] [Quantity] [Quality] [ForceBlueprint]
- GiveItemNum [ItemNum] [Quantity] [Quality] [ForceBlueprint]
- GiveItemToPlayer [PlayerID] [BlueprintPath] [Quantity] [Quality] [ForceBlueprint]
- GiveItemNumToPlayer [PlayerID] [ItemNum] [Quantity] [Quality] [ForceBlueprint]
- GiveResources: Adds 50 units of each resource directly to your inventory.
ARK: Survival Evolved Dinosaur Commands
If you’re looking for a list of creature ID numbers in ARK: Survival Evolved, check it out here.
- Summon [creature ID]: Spawns entered creature at your location.
- SummonTamed [creature ID]: Spawns a tamed creature at your location.
- GMSummon [creature ID] [level]: Spawns a tamed creature of entered level at your location.
- GiveDinoSet [Tier] [quantity]: Spawns entered set of dinosaurs at your location.
You can enter the dinosaur tiers as either a number or a word, with the following options all working for the “GiveDinoSet” command:
- 0: Raptor, Dilo, Trike.
- 1: Raptor, Carnotaurus, Thylacoleo.
- 2: Rex, Spino, Paracer, Therizinosaur.
- 3: Rex, Rex with Tek Saddle, Daeodon, Yutyrannus, Therizinosaur.
- Flyers: Pteranodon, Tapejara with Tek Saddle, Argentavis, Quetzal.
- Mek: 3 Meks, one with each module.
- SiegeMek: Mek, M.S.C.M., Element, Cannon Shell (Extinction).
- MissleMek: Mek, M.R.L.M., Element, Rocketpod.
- ShieldMek: Mek, M.D.S.M., Element.
- Argent: Argentavis.
- Extinction : Enforcer, Gasbags, Snow Owl, Gacha, Managarmr, Velonasaur.
ARK: Survival Evolved Teleport Commands
For more information about ARK: Survival Evolved coordinates, you can find them here.
- TPCoords [Lat] [Lon] [Altitude]: Moves you to the entered set of coordinates instantly.
- Teleport: Moves your character forward until you collide with an object.
- TeleportPlayerIDToMe [PlayerID]: Teleports a selected player in the server to you.
- TeleportToPlayer [PlayerID]: Teleports you to a selected player in the server.
ARK: Survival Evolved Creative Mode Commands
- GiveCreativeMode: Puts you into Creative Mode.
- GiveCreativeModeToTarget: Puts selected player into Creative Mode.
- GiveCreativeModeToPlayer [PlayerID]: Puts selected player into Creative Mode using their player ID.
ARK: Survival Evolved Cheat Code FAQs
Do ARK: Survival Evolved Cheat Codes Work on Console?
Actually, yes! It’s unusual for games to have console commands on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but ARK: Survival Evolved is the exception to the rule. All of the above cheat codes work in exactly the same way. The only thing that changes is how you open the in-game console.
On PC, you press Tab to open the console. On Xbox One, press LB, RB, X, and Y simultaneously, and on PlayStation 4 press L1, R1, Square, and Triangle at the same time.
What Are The 3 Most Useful Commands in ARK: Survival Evolved?
If we had to pick three out of the every single command in the game, we’d go with:
- LeaveMeAlone
- Fly
- Kill
Using this combination of cheat codes makes you invincible, while able to kill anything on a whim and the ability to fly around the map with no restrictions. It’s a potent combo, even if it completely breaks the gameplay loop of the title.
What Are Admin Commands in ARK: Survival Evolved?
Admin commands are what allow you to change the game in ways you normally wouldn’t be able to. These can be used in both single-player as well as multiplayer (assuming you have the server admin password). However, admin commands are particularly broken in multiplayer, as the effects of the commands make the game much more difficult for those that aren’t using them.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Studio Wildcard .