The Enigmasaur “doesn’t just imitate other creatures but actually becomes them,” Studio Wildcard says of the shapeshifter it added to ARK: Survival Ascended on Friday, November 6, 2026. Becomes them, they say, and it keeps some abilities from earlier forms, so the release’s own example is a Rex with a scorpion’s sting. That is a tame worth arguing over in the group chat.
The update is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, the Epic Games Store and Steam, where the game costs $44.99. It is still labeled Early Access. The store page lists public servers of up to 70 players, private sessions of up to 8, and crossplay. The whole tribe can be on different hardware.
The Enigmasaur is the third and last creature in ARK: Fantastic Tames Season 1, after the Burrowbuck and the three-headed Cerberax. Season 1 is paid, at $9.99 on Steam, and it has been available since May 20, 2026. Studio Wildcard says it blends in well enough to fool members of the species it copies. That sounds like a tame for the player who likes to scout.
What the tribe gets without paying
The free part of the update is a rework of the Giganotosaurus, picked by the community during Extra Life 2025. It is the third creature overhaul chosen by player votes. Taming a Giga used to be a matter of tranquilizers and a safe place to shoot from. Now survivors have to beat some of ARK's toughest threats before a fight with the Giga itself. Once tamed, it gets a stomping, tail-slamming attack and can pass some of its fury to nearby allies. That makes it a tank the whole tribe fights around. (Adds a Giga hunt to the Friday poll.)
The same update moves the game to Unreal Engine 5.8. Studio Wildcard names two new tools: Nanite Voxels for more efficient foliage, and Lumen Lite, a lighter form of dynamic lighting meant for low-end PCs. The release gives no frame-rate numbers, so I would wait for player reports before promising the crew member on the old laptop anything.
Survival Ascended is the 2023 Unreal Engine 5 remake of ARK: Survival Evolved, which Studio Wildcard revealed in 2015. This update splits the way the release describes it: a free rework for everyone, and a new creature for those who bought Season 1. The next paid piece is a skyworld expansion for the $29.99 Dragontopia pass on December 10.
If the tribe already owns Season 1, update and go find the Enigmasaur. If not, the Giga rework costs nothing and is the better reason to log back in.
