April 1 is packed with fake content and short-lived jokes, but Ark: Survival Ascended did its own thing this year. Studio Wildcard added a fully functional, playable feline to the game and somehow managed to overshadow an entire expansion with just one cat. Yes, just a cat.
For anyone still wondering if it’s all a joke, it’s not. The cat is now live in-game and can be found on The Island, The Center, and Astraeos.
Rumor also has it that it might show up in Extinction down the road, as the teaser trailer highlighted the feline on that map in full cinematic glory.
This trailer deserves an honorable mention for its music by Gareth Coker, its polished tone, and its vibe that tops DLC announcements from other studios (no shade, but Snail Games).
It didn’t take long for players to find out this feline is more than just a pretty face; it actually has a useful function. After being tamed, it becomes a shoulder companion that helps fend off annoying small threats like Pegomastax, Ichthyornis, Meganeura, and Titanomyrma.
It fits so naturally into the game that players are already making it part of their regular playthroughs. It’s not easy to get your hands on this adorable menace though. This creature in Ark gets aggressive when spotted, so players need to approach it differently.
To calm it down, the cat must be submerged in water, at which point it becomes more receptive to taming. After that, players can feed it high-quality items like raw mutton, prime fish meat, or wyvern milk.
Regular meat doesn’t cut it, and kibble is a waste of time, so skip it. You’ll also want to sneak up in a ghillie suit if possible.
From hissing fits to pulling out its own litter box, this is easily the most character-rich addition the game’s seen in a while. Besides the new cat addition, this update also brings important gameplay tweaks and balance changes.
Spawn rates for some creatures are way down. Deinosuchus on The Island and The Center now spawn half as much, and the same goes for Yi Ling on Aberration. Yi Ling's combat mechanics were also heavily adjusted.
The poison damage per stack now deals with 3 instead of 7, and the melee scaling was altered to lessen the overall damage. However, it now performs better against armored targets, while its razor attacks still work best on unarmored enemies.
The patch also includes a series of technical fixes. One big improvement is the better server stability, especially fixing disconnects when mounting creatures on lower-performance servers.
Turrets now target more intelligently and avoid attacking unconscious enemies who cannot be harmed.
Cosmetic-related bugs, such as cart attachments failing to reapply after customization, have also been resolved.
They also fixed some visual issues, like stretched animations on PlayStation and incorrect region-specific color displays for some creatures.
Instead of using April Fools to troll the player base, Studio Wildcard took the opportunity to add a fun update that actually improves the game.
This patch feels more impactful than your typical seasonal updates and keeps improving Ark: Survival Ascended’s evolving design.