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Ark: Aquatica DLC Has Completely Broken Ark: Survival Evolved

Juli 20, 2025
Ark Aquatica DLC breaks gameplay and saves in Survival Evolved

The much-hyped Ark: Aquatica DLC has officially launched, but it’s made waves for all the wrong reasons. What was expected to be a fresh and exciting underwater expansion has instead left Ark: Survival Evolved players dealing with a nearly unplayable game.

A Disastrous Launch for a Highly Anticipated Expansion

Released on July 15, the Ark: Aquatica DLC introduced a sprawling underwater biome system meant to breathe new life into the original 2017 game. With Ark: Survival Ascended still in early access, many players were excited to revisit the original title. Unfortunately, the DLC has done more harm than good.

According to multiple community reports, the expansion has caused game-breaking bugs that affect not only those who purchased the DLC—but also players who didn’t.

What Went Wrong With the Aquatica DLC?

Shortly after the launch, players began experiencing:

  • Broken save files

  • Game settings resetting on their own

  • Major performance issues

  • Incompatibility with previously installed mods

  • Empty map spawns

  • Crashes for non-DLC users as well

As noted by The Gamer, even those who haven’t purchased the DLC are finding their game affected. One Reddit user shared a video showing a completely empty world, with no terrain or assets loading properly.

Developer Response and Community Reaction

The community backlash was immediate and severe. Fans flooded social media and forums with complaints, calling the DLC launch one of the most unstable in the game’s history. The original game, which has sold over 76 million copies, is now receiving “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam.

Developer Snail Games, who handled the DLC’s development, issued a statement confirming the issues and took action by enabling a public branch of the game with the previous build—effectively allowing players to roll back until the problems are addressed.

“We’ve enabled a public branch of the game that was the previous build before the update at launch,” Snail Games stated, hoping to offer a temporary fix.

A Risky Move That Could Hurt Ark’s Future

Ark: Survival Evolved has managed to stay relevant since its full release in 2017 thanks to regular content updates. However, the Aquatica DLC might mark a turning point, especially with Ark 2 still in development. Many players are concerned that the same technical issues could bleed into future projects if lessons aren’t learned.

Until then, most players are advised to avoid the Aquatica DLC until stability patches are rolled out.