User Reviews

I loved the idea of these people getting sent to this strange dinosaur filled island from all these time periods, but the show doesn't really do a lot with that idea. The bulk of the series seems to be focused on this native american group that I just didn't find very interesting for long. Loved the idea at first, but I think they should have included more interesting characters from different time periods and locations. I found myself staring at my phone and losing track of what was happening far too often. I think there is still potential there that the show could tap into, so I'm not going to give it a totally negative score, but I think after these first 6 episodes I don't plan to watch any more to find out. It's too bad, because I do think the animation is great, and I like that they seem to have attracted so many big name actors. Although maybe some of that money should have been spent on better writers.

Nor was I aware of the game until I read some of the reviews, though I have to wonder if many of the performers who are also producers are fans of the game?

Just as a tale, it comes over as a cross between "Lost" and the Jules Verne classic "Journey to the center of the Earth" (choose your own favorite version of that one ! ), adding in the sub plots of how each character died to get to this clone of the "Savage Land" from Marvel comics.

As an animated adventure, it's reasonably well told, enjoyable to watch, a little gruesome from the violence level, though there's some predictability to the plot.

There's sure to be plenty of hate for the choice of a female protagonist and standard 'older white male' antagonist, ignore it, these characters could be any gender or colour skin and still work.

There's the odd line of fan service in-joke dialog too.

Overall I think the 7 to 8 out of 10 rating is well earned (the 1's and 10's are clearly the outlier scores that don't match the curve. Haters gonna Hate, and all that stuff.

It'd be nice if there's a season 2 in the works, and not just the teaser.

If you liked any of the programs or stories that this references, you'll probably enjoy this one too.

This is a high quality series, well thought, written, developed, produced, acted, animated, scored & created.

Quite graphic, scared the girls in the house which was surprising seeing they can be quite horrifying themselves.

Fantastic in almost every way.

Only complaints are those you've been barraged with all your life for all the insecure reasons people scorn each other.

Watch a few episodes, decide for yourself. My wife & I were impressed & will continue to watch additional episodes.

Good show, easily binged, wonderfully visual & imaginative

I'm willing to bet, DoDo's tasted just like chicken.

SALUTE!

M. M.

At the time of writing, IMDB has only 3 reviews: 2 are 10/10 praising everything, and 1 is 1/10 with complains based mostly on the perceived show's agenda. I would say the latter is a bit more honest, although main character being a lesbian woman of color is definitely not something that detracts anything from this show. I would even say, that inclusivity in this scope was done right: it's simply neither here, nor their, which is the whole point of inclusivity, in my opinion.

The show has quite a few problems, that may not necessarily be because of the agenda, although I do see, why it may feel that that's the root cause. For example, that 1/10 review complained about white men being shown as villains. That is somewhat true: in the 1st episode we see, I think, 4 men, if counting those with lines, and 2 of them are definitely villains, with a goal to conquer. But you need to keep in mind, that they are from times and places, where this was kind of normal, especially, when talking about the Roman guy. Roman Empire would not be as big as it got to be, if there were no people like that.

The problem with these characters is that they are... Flat. It does not look like they have anything to them besides desire to conquer and dominate, and the desire is there just because, and not because of some deep reason. In fact, the Roman guy is also shown relatively stupid (albeit not a complete idiot), which kind of contradicts an image of an actual Roman conqueror. Those were smart, arguably had more smarts than brawn, often time resorting to politics rather than actual war, despite what Hollywood wants us to believe.

There was also a kid, which did not mean much, and a soldier from 1944. The soldier seemed to be the most interesting character, to be honest, because he was shown first as somewhat rude, but then also not as avert to kindness, too. I mean, he did try to help the girl, too, although did not get a chance to do that properly, partially to the fault of that girl.

That's where I do agree, that modern agenda may be taking over a bit. Not because strong female leads are bad, no, because this particular character just does not make sense. She tried to off herself, before she appeared on the island. She had no idea, what happened, where she was, what were the rules of this new world... Nothing. She sees a human, and the first thing she does is give him attitude towards his joke (or probably half-joke).

But maybe this was first reaction, due to stress? No, not really. She was giving attitude to everyone. Instead of being weary of people riding dinosaurs and shooting arrows, she behaved... Almost cocky. And she even tried to "poison" her captor right away, in order to run away, because... She likes dinosaurs.

Like, really, that's her main characteristic. The main thing, that in the end makes her say "I will survive", even though she intentionally took too many pills before this. I was a fan of dinosaurs when I was a kid, and I would be fascinated to see them up-close, but in her situation, I (and probably most humans) would first think of how to survive. And not try to domesticate creatures around me. Which, by the way, is not how things work. A wounded animal will not bond on you just because you pulled out an arrow out of its side. It will definitely not run back to you, while you're in a place with dangerous predators.

It's not just unrealistic behavior of both humans and animals, that makes this show mostly bad. It's pacing is all over the place: it started really fast, but then it slowed down to almost a crawl, and then suddenly became fast again, when it was a great time to give some more exposition. I guess creators wanted it to feel "edgy". Animation is also inconsistent in quality, relying heavily on blur in certain shots.

The storytelling is bad, too. It relies heavily on flashbacks, which are thrown into us in small chunks every few minutes of the episode. It would have made way more sense to show all those flashbacks in the beginning of the episode, all in one chunk, and then start the island story-arc. Something that's been proven to work time and time again with lots of isekai stories. This could have allowed for proper pacing, too.

In the end, I do not recommend this to anyone, really. Unless, maybe you want something running in the background, or you find main character so hot, you just can't resist. I get that, but for me it's not enough. I have lots of other stuff to check out.

The setting, action, fight scenes, and characters are great, but everything they do right they follow quickly by attempting to virtue signal which feels like a betrayal to the existing fanbase.

The main character's flashbacks give nothing to the current storyline outside of trying to place her in a saintly position which makes her a less relatable character. She's a scientist at the top of her field, a professor at a prestigious university, she is a Lesbian who lost her partner to a foreign conflict, a first nations person from Australia and an activist with a criminal record. The list goes on and on and on and on, but none of it, not even her sexuality is at all important to the current events they put just as much effort into presenting how horrible the world is just for it to be completely overshadowed by how horrible the Ark is.

I don't know, I'll keep going because it is well made. It just seems like too much for zero narrative reward.

I had played Ark Survival Evolved a few times years ago, and was excited for this series when it was announced at the 2020 Game Awards. With about 4 years of radio silence, I mostly lost hope in the project, especially considering its limited shadow release. I went in expecting it to be perfectly mediocre.

I am glad to say that is not the case. The animation is stunning, and the direction is always interesting. The score and audio design is not perfect, but still very well done. The violence is reminiscent of shows like Invincible, but it never feels overwhelmingly brutal.

As for the actual story and characters, I was less sold on, at first. I liked Helena as the main character, her voice acting is great and her character is written very well. Most of the other characters are great, too, but I didn't really care about most of them for a few episodes. I'm happy to say the latter half of the season really helped build that up.

The story itself is exactly what you'd expect from Ark. It's nothing special by itself, but it is quite enjoyable. There's nothing at all wrong with it, it's just not completely unique at times. The emotional moments DO hit quite well, and it is really easy to put yourself in Helena's place.

I'm excited for the next part of the show. I would more accurately rate this at about a 8.5, but when you have to do whole numbers, I round up. I thoroughly recommend this show.

I am a HUGE fan of survival games and I fell in love with ark, and I've been playing so much of ASA and when I the series finally came to be, I was hooked by the first episode. I love how they portrayed Edmund Rockwell and I'm so happy David tenant reprised his role from the games. I also love how more menacing Edmund is in the series. In the games he is a friend of Helena's, then turns crazy when he tries to experiment more and more with element, but in the series he is portrayed as an already evil hearted man. I also really enjoyed general Nervana and how he and Helena speak in ancient Latin, something that the games don't speak of. A fun and entertaining show that sticks very close to the original material.

As an avid gamer playing thousands of hours in Ark survival open world, collecting all the notes and pricing the story and lore together, it was full of mystery, adventures, danger and most of all Fun.

This animated series puts things in perspective, the story told by the creators themselves. A rich storyline well told, making hours of gameplay worth every second. I love the universe the creators has made and leveas open to allot of possibilities and hopefully one day a full fledged feature film franchise. There are so many avanues to explore in the whole of the ark universe, and the Ark lore to explore and develop. Thanks Wildcard.

I had high expectations for this animated series after falling in love with Ark Survival and its story, and spending countless hours in its world. Unfortunately, the series felt flat and bland compared to the game's many ups and downs and the sense of danger in the world of Ark. I just couldn't feel it in the show. Honestly, it feels like another disappointment, similar to the MCU lately.

One aspect that particularly stood out to me was the lack of development in the characters. In the game, the characters are complex and multi-dimensional, with rich backstories and motivations. In the show, they felt like cardboard cutouts, with little to no depth or nuance.

Additionally, the show's pacing was slow and plodding, failing to capture the sense of urgency and danger that permeates the game. The animation was also subpar, with stiff character movements and dull, uninspired environments.

I was also disappointed by the show's failure to explore the world of Ark in any meaningful way. The game is full of mysteries and secrets, but the show barely scratched the surface.

I hope there will be a spin-off or remake that makes use of the world of the ark to its fullest.

Overall, I was disappointed by the Ark Survival animated series. As a fan of the game, I had high hopes for a faithful adaptation, but the show fell short in many ways. I hope that a future spin-off or remake will be able to do the series justice.

In conclusion, while the Ark Survival animated series had some promising moments, it ultimately failed to deliver on its potential. With underdeveloped characters, slow pacing, and subpar animation, the show felt like a disappointment. I hope that future adaptations will be able to capture the magic of the game in a more meaningful way.

As a fan of the Ark games and lore. This show does it justice. Yes, they changed some things but this show really takes on the embodiment of what Ark is. I would assume most players would agree with that.

The voice acting is incredible. The writing could be better but still enjoyable. 10/10 I'm happy I have something that can watch along side Invincible.

I'm definitely looking forward to part 2. They're things that they revealed at the end of part 1 as fan service that I am really excited about. Ark has such an amazing story I suggest you watch because I promise you if they tackle that story right, it will only get better and better.

I am giving it a rating of 3 stars, and let me be clear that it only gets that much because of the Ark survival story implementation.

There are some major flaws that cannot be overlooked. The product is filled with cringe-worthy moments, stereotypical and clichéd characters that are nothing but annoying specially with that voice acting, and an overbearing sense of forced feministic themes.

This series falls short in so many areas and it's extremely disappointing to see. The heavy focus on the points above in the making made it drift away from the world of Ark.

Frankly, I won't watch any continuation of it if it'll be made of the same demonstration style.

If you like good fantasy stories with gore and good voice acting then this is for you! If you are a homophobe or misogynist then this might not be for you.

The 2D animation is fine, nothing special, but it takes what could be generic "He-Man" type stories well beyond the next level. There is gore and people die, so this is not for the little kids.

This show is based on a game, which I have never played. I cannot say how well this represents the game, but that really should't matter to anyone else. The world they live in is interesting and provides a wealth of material.

The voice acting is top notch. Michelle Yeoh, David Tennant, Gerald Butler, and the rest all take this seriously and also elevate this show well above most animated shows.

If you get a chance, look at the ratings for each episodes. You'll see large spikes at 10 and 1, and the rest skew high. All the 1 votes means there are people who just want on hate the show. They are not reviewing the show itself, but they hate what it represents. Whenever this happens you should watch the show and judge for yourself.

The animation and voice acting is good.

Though it is a bit to cartoonish for my taste.

One time its shockingly brutal but the the next scene theres silly elements. Its just a weird mix, which is just too much of a contrast for me.

Most of the times the main character seems to just not act believable for the situation shes in.

Also the show mixes in the backstory of the main character into the story, which sadly is the flat stereotype used in every show today.

Some dinosaurs are just too smart and too tame what makes everything even less believable.

Overall the unreasonable way characters and dinosaurs behave killed the interrest in the show for me.

However if you have a rigid way of how something was, shots always be, you. Won't find it here, YOU WON'T FIND IT ANYWHERE!

However... if you have an OPEN MIND, one that's capable of showing your a world that you've heard of but now, through someone rises eyes you'll see ands experience that the they see and feel and you'll see something new and exciting.

This was a very positive experience for me, ins that lead me to start exploring the World of Ark

While I was not a fan before because it wasn't my thing, today I am. Now I'm looking, reading, playing in the world of Ark and it is good!

PS This is not a place to let "entertain" your child on a tablet while you do you. This is a series for mature persons, ones who does not mind a little blood and guts being spilled during a good fight sequence. I'd that is you, enjoy this series and hopefully you'll enjoy this person's presentation of how they see ARK.

EDIT THIS is the story BEHIND the game so ignore the 1&2 star reviews bc they just don't get it!

As someone who hasn't played the games, this show does a good job setting up the mistery of the setting as well as establish it's main players. Flashbacks are abundant, fleshing out the main characters, and they do give them a lot of depth as well as interesting tidbits into history. For instance the main character is Aboriginal, a rarity in animated media, and we do get to see her struggles with racist Australians in one episode. Similarly, another character is Native American, and we see quite a tragic backstory.

Where this show sometimes falters is in mood whiplash. Since the game had dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, there are three as pets, which don't quite act as comic relief as somehow making the story more cutesy, which constrasts heavily against the gore and mature themes. They are also largely plot irrelevant, with the exception of the Parasaurolophus.

The animation is okay, with amazing fighting coreography.

Overall I say give this series a watch, whereas you like background prehistoric animals (plenty besides dinosaurs) or are just in for the human drama.

I forced myself through 2 episodes and that was all I could take. And let me say it was a truly unbearable two episodes. Could of been great but was ultimately hot garbage. The only descent thing was some of the big name actors to voice the characters but obviously half of them didn't read the script or did it while covid wasn't strong and they were stuck at home. My son and I love the game and have played it for years. Beat on done just about every aspect of it and I couldn't even watch it with him. This had so much potential but just like the DLC, this company, and the majority of the fan base it's toxic manure.

The show is amazing. Not the best defiantly but it is very good. I've been playing Ark since before Scorched Earth in 2016 and as such a huge fan of the games I can confidently say that the animated show is better than I could've expected

The show really stays true to the game from big things like map areas, creatures or characters to small things like the salutes, artifacts and music. This is a show for the Ark fans while still being enjoyable for people who haven't played the game much or at all

Looking at the trends of video game adaptations into shows and movies this is a top tier piece of media compared to many other shows and movies. The animation is energetic and vibrant. The writing is catching and the direction is engaging.

Was expecting an a series on Ark. Instead you get a political diatribe. Very disappointing. So many cut scenes take you into a political point of view. This alienates so many who have spent there money escaping the day to day in the ARK survival world. Its a real disappointment to fans of the game. Except for the ones the politics speak favorably to.

I have no real suggestions on how the series should have been done differently. However one sided political views a never popular no matter how good the artwork. Time will tell. These political views wont hold the test of time. Myself Im old enough to know this to be true. I've never seen any hold the test of time. No matter how much someone tries to bring them back to accuse others.

Let's hope this season's second part is as good as the first, the animation is good, could be better Good style, reminds me of old cartoons but with great lighting Great V. A ( except Michelle, who has the voice equivalent of sepia, which is even blander than Black and White Amazing direction and if you've played the game you see how it will go through all story maps and eventually lead us to the Story of Ark 2.

Full of Easter eggs and you feel the love and effort that was put into this, the wait was long but I feel it was more than worth it Nonetheless David Tennant, Karl Urban have my appreciation, no way they "needed this"

This is a good series but it feels like people are hating on it because it took so long for it to get out. I personally think that the one that is waiting for something good can't wait to long. It's honestly a great series and I love that one of the Games I played the most during my life has it's own series I'm 13 (Almost 14) years old and have been a Ark player for at least maybe 5-6 years, which is a big part of my life so I definitely think you should consider watching the series because it had great storyline, good voice actors, the animations where good even though it was cartoony if you compare it with the game.