ARK: Survival Ascended vs Dark and Light
ARK: Survival Ascended is a mmorpg open-world game from Studio Wildcard (2023) while Dark and Light is a mmorpg open-world game from Snail Games USA (2017).
What each one is
Steam files ARK: Survival Ascended under Mmorpg and Open-World. In contrast, it files Dark and Light under Mmorpg and Open-World.
ARK is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation of video game technology with Unreal Engine 5! Form a tribe, tame & breed hundreds of unique dinosaurs and primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain. Your new world awaits!
Dark and Light is a vast sandbox survival RPG set in a world dominated by powerful elemental forces. Find your way in a meticulously crafted world, featuring breathtaking landscapes, a wide variety of mythical creatures, and limitless possibility to craft, build, and unlock dozens of powerful weapons, spells, and skills.
At a glance
| ARK: Survival Ascended | Dark and Light | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 6.1/10 | 5.1/10 |
| Steam rating | Mixed (60%, 116,330) | Mixed (52%, 11,829) |
| Critic aggregate | No aggregate | No aggregate |
| Price | $11.24 | $17.99 |
| Install size | 180 GB | 50 GB |
| Steam Deck | verified | playable |
| Released | 2023 | 2017 |
| Developer | Studio Wildcard | Snail Games USA |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Dark and Light, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
ARK: Survival AscendedMmorpg open-world gameDark and LightMmorpg open-world gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
ARK: Survival AscendedEarly Access, Survival, Open WorldDark and LightOpen World, Survival, Massively MultiplayerThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
ARK: Survival Ascended ✓Score 6.1 · 60% on SteamDark and LightScore 5.1 · 52% on SteamThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
ARK: Survival Ascended116,330 reviews · 20 add-ons · 180 GBDark and Light11,829 reviews · 1 add-on · 50 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
ARK: Survival Ascended ✓$11.24Dark and Light$17.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
ARK: Survival Ascended ✓VerifiedDark and LightPlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
ARK: Survival Ascended takes 3 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueARK: Survival Ascended and Dark and Light on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: ARK: Survival Ascended (GamingPickz Score 6.1)
- The cheaper right now: ARK: Survival Ascended ($11.24)
- Better on a Steam Deck: ARK: Survival Ascended (verified)
- Lighter on storage: Dark and Light (50 GB)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: ARK: Survival Ascended (116,330 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Early AccessSurvivalOpen WorldMultiplayerAdventureBase-BuildingCraftingAction
Where they differ
DinosaursBuildingCharacter CustomizationPvEInventory ManagementSci-fi
MagicMMORPGOpen World Survival CraftDragonsSimulationMedieval
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, ARK: Survival Ascended is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Dark and Light is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| ARK: Survival Ascended | Dark and Light | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT | — |
| Minimum CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, Intel Core i7-6800K | — |
| Minimum RAM | 16 GB | — |
| Install size | 180 GB | 50 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: ARK: Survival Ascended · Dark and Light.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for ARK: Survival Ascended and 0 for Dark and Light. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are ARK: Survival Ascended and Dark and Light in scope?
ARK: Survival Ascended has drawn 116,330 Steam reviews, ships 20 add-ons and installs in 180 GB. Dark and Light has drawn 11,829 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 50 GB.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended or Dark and Light better?
By the GamingPickz Score, ARK: Survival Ascended rates higher (6.1 to 5.1). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, ARK: Survival Ascended or Dark and Light?
ARK: Survival Ascended is cheaper right now at $11.24, against $17.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.