PixARK Review for PlayStation 4

PixARK is an open world survival game developed by Snail Games that drops you into a bustling world with only a loincloth, your two blocky fists, and a strong will to survive. Its world is inhabited with numerous types of animals from hulking dinosaurs to wide-eyed bunnies and other small creatures. But don’t let its cute, 3D, blocky art style fool you; In the world of PixARK, danger can be found around every corner. To explore past your campsite is to risk being attacked by angry animals, stumble upon caverns full of skeletons, or be shot at by laser beams. Coupled with your character’s stamina, thirst, hunger, and health slowly dwindling, each day is a test of your eagerness to not only survive, but conquer each challenge that comes your way.

What makes PixARK different from its contemporaries is that the world isn’t built for the player. In fact, the game makes it very clear that this world will continue to exist long after your player character has left it. When I was chased and subsequently killed by an angry raptor, I was dropped in the middle of the map and had to fight and (mostly) flee my way back to my campsite. Later on, when I quit the game for the day, it let me know how likely it was for my low-level player character to die to starvation. This may be off-putting to some, but I valued PixARK’s realism as it gave some much-needed stakes to my playthrough. I would have to struggle for my player character’s life to have meaning, which is a stark deviation for the power fantasies a lot of video games design for.

While I appreciate the game’s lack of hand holding or railroading towards quests and other objectives, I did find it difficult to navigate its user interface. When the tutorial text is present it lasts for 10-15 seconds at most before disappearing and I was left to figure out what to do and how to do it by myself. The amount of mental memory I had to store to remember what each menu and sub-menu meant and how to reach it was more annoying than I expected. While this doesn’t sound like an issue on paper, a large portion of the game is making decisions on what to upgrade and craft within these menus so they are virtually inescapable. Additionally, the size of the text on screen varies from small to large with little to no in between, which made it hard to read.

With that being said, PixARK is a gaming experience I have seldom had. Interacting with other players through jumping and nodding to build my tribe, sitting by my campfire at night, feeding and naming my own dinosaur, and the satisfaction of building my own house provided me with an immense amount of accomplishment and peace. Despite its cartoony exterior and the noted issues, PixARK offers players the chance to not only test their survival skills but also their ability to coexist with the great unknown. I give it an 8 out of 10.

Check Out the PixARK Trailer:

To learn more about PixARK, please visit: https://pixark.snail.com/ and follow the game on Twitter and Facebook.