Minecraft has undeniably been the king of the voxel-based sandbox games ever since its inception in 2009. Many others have tried to take the crown but none have had the staying power of Mojang‘s juggernaut. The newest in line to challenge the king is PixARK by Snail Games.

Let’s take a look at what this potential blockbuster has to offer.

A massive brontosaurus housing a mobile base on its back.
PixARK’s Voxel World is filled with prehistoric life.
DINOSAURS AND MORE
PixARK is inspired by the popular Ark: Survival Evolved, and the one and only Minecraft. It plays a lot like Ark, requiring the player to forage for resources to stay alive. Food, water, crafting materials, and clothes to shelter you from the harsher elements are all necessary for survival, and you’ll need to defend yourself from various predators in the wild.

These will start off as small territorial creatures, and as you explore further they will increase in size and ferocity. Though PixARK’s main theme is dinosaurs, it also has a wide array of other mythological creatures; Dragons, Minotaurs, and even Cyclops.

You’ll instantly notice that this looks similar to Minecraft, as the world and everything inside it are made of voxels, each able to be harvested with the different tools you’ll make. The 100+ wildlife in the world can all be tamed, trained, and ridden.

Building bases in PixARK are even more crucial than in Minecraft though, as larger beasts will continue to threaten your survival — even when logged out. Players can also use larger creatures like Brontosauri to construct mobile bases to increase their defensive capability.

The player’s rifle is aimed at a two headed beast.
Weapons range from the prehistoric times, all the way to modern and even magic.
NO TWO PIXARK ARE THE SAME
PixARK worlds are always randomly generated to ensure no two worlds are ever the same. The world will hold eight separate biomes, each with their own challenges and benefits. Portals will also appear in set locations for fast travelling.

This can become especially handy when completing the procedurally generated quests that pop up throughout the world. Quests are ranked by level and vary in type. Some will be simple fetch quests, some will require crafting specific items, and others may be as simple as hunting specified creatures.

A player jetpacking through the world
PixARK enables all sorts of travel methods.
PLAY Y0UR WAY
PixARK also features an experience system for enhancing and upgrading your character. Actions such as taming, exploration, killing, or building various things reward the player with experience. Leveling up allows the player to increase various statistics like strength, dexterity, and other traditional stats.

Leveling up to increase these are critical to surviving in the more difficult biomes. This is important as like Ark, death is semi-permanent. Dying resets character progression and drops all items currently in the player’s inventory where they once stood. Players will have a set period of time to reach their previous body to recover their belongings. There are a few things that will persist through death, such as earned blueprints, to help reduce the amount of time in subsequent lives crafting higher ranked items.

Players can also fully customize and create their characters however they see fit, from head to toe. As they progress and gain access to more advanced recipes, they can also choose how they want their character to play. There are plenty of options for each style of combat for players to try, including melee, ranged, and even magic.

A swarm of black dragons cover the skies of PixARK
Dinosaurs aren’t the only welcome addition to the Minecraft formula.
PixARK is currently in Early Access on both PC and Xbox One and on sale until April 3rd, 2018. Check out the official trailer below and be ready to build, craft, and tame like never before.