ARK Survival Ascended Aberration release date, Yi Ling, features, and other details

ARK Survival Ascended Aberration is all set to go live September 4, 2024. This jam-packed Unreal Engine 5 remaster of the subterranean map will be hitting the shelves after a long wait from the playerbase. Originally expected to be out in July, ARK Aberration Ascended was delayed by months to polish it further and get it release-ready.

Studio Wildcard promises the new and upgraded Aberration will be worth the wait, saying:

"To give this special map the attention it deserves, we have moved the launch to September 4th. Our team is refining the process to complete the remastering of the content as efficiently as possible while maintaining our quality."

In this article, we will go over everything we know so far about ARK Survival Ascended's Aberration expansion and what else is coming with it.

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Ark Survival Ascended Aberration release time: When does the update go live?

Ark Survival Ascended Aberration is expected to go live at 7 pm PST / 10 pm EST on September 4 (Wednesday PT). Note that the timings have not been officially announced yet, this is an estimation based on the maintenance schedule of previous updates like The Center this June.

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What's the new creature coming with ARK Survival Ascended Aberration?

Yi Ling is coming to ARK with the Aberration Ascended DLC (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Yi Ling is the new community-voted exclusive creature coming to ARK Survival Ascended with Aberration. Rather than being a straight-up flyer, this avian dino is conceptualized as a 'glider'. In that regard, it is quite similar to Deinonychus, as it can both glide and clamber up cliffs.

On top of this, Yi Ling will also have a nasty projectile attack, where it throws razor-sharp barbed quills at its target and rips them back out.

While most other community-voted creatures have maintained a strong semblance of their original identity from the artist's submission, Yi Ling's in-game render will be very different from its original concept art.

Yi Ling's original name was Yi Qi, which means 'strange wings' in Chinese. Unlike the Fasolasuchus from ARK Survival Ascended: Scorched Earth, which became hairless with its in-game conceptualization, Yi Ling looks very different from Yi Qi. The in-game version will retain the bat-like wings, but with a much smaller span, as well as a significantly truncated tail.

Other than Yi Ling, ARK Aberration Ascended will also re-introduce legacy creatures from the original Aberration map, including the iconic Bulbdog and the Rock Drake.

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ARK Survival Ascended Aberration features: What to expect from this expansion

All the Fallout-like mtuated creatures return (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Aberration will be the most 'alien' of all the ARK Survival Ascended maps released so far. Stationed within the underground bowels of a malfunctioning ARK, Aberration's forte is creating a relatively dangerous cave-crawling experience. With a new set of rcok-climbing tools, you have to navigate through Radiation hazards and mushroom spore zones while facing mutated creatures.

Aberration also comes with its own exclusive boss, Rockwell, which we can't wait to see recreated in Unreal Engine 5.

Other than the map itself, ARK Aberration Ascended will also launch with the second chapter of Bob's Tall Tales, so expect to see another trail of notes and a fresh set of cosmetics from the show.

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Check out other guides on this game:

• All Ark Survival Ascended Explorer Notes locations
• Best Ark Survival Ascended tame for every resource
• Cave locations on The Island
• All Ark Survival Ascended Kibble Recipes