ARK: Survival Evolved is a survival simulator enticing players to join the multiplayer era of dinosaurs. Since the start of the game, each player gets to spawn on the shore of a mysterious island called ARK, fully naked and surrounded by dangerous creatures. This is where the journey begins thrusting newcomers into a world of ubiquitous dangers where hunting, crafting, growing, gathering resources, and researching technologies are prime to survive in the perilous environment full of ferocious creatures and weather conditions. One of the most fascinating mechanics of the game is being able to employ your skills and make dangerous dinosaurs become your friends throughout the journey. Players will explore taming and breeding techniques to evolve into a more native ARK settler. Team up with friends or players you’ve known before to accompany you along your path and achieve the peak of survival development together with beautiful graphics sprinkled into the mix! ARK: Survival Evolved is a game actively played on various platforms including smartphones and macOS. Although that is already great news, not many can afford to play high-graphics experience. This is why we decided to cascade this guide to teach how one can play this exciting game at a satisfactory level – both on Mac and Windows operating systems!
System Requirements
| Minimal |
|---|
| OS: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64-bit) |
| Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better |
| RAM: 8 GB |
| Video card: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better |
| DirectX: Version 10 |
| Storage: 60 GB |
While not the most demanding game, ARK Survival Evolved isn’t exactly easy on hardware either. Low-end systems will struggle to run the game – but there are several ways around this.
Play ARK Survival Evolved on Mac with cloud gaming services
If you have an old Mac/PC or it cannot satisfy the ARK Survival Evolved game system requirements, there is an easy solution. Cloud gaming services will be happy to provide you with sufficient computing power – though not for free, of course. All you need is a browser or a small client program and a good internet connection starting from 15 MBit/s. There are several great platforms that provide these services, among the best are Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Nvidia GeForce Now. Playing games this way will let you have high performance and high graphics settings at the same time, so it is the best option – if you can afford it.
As shown on the image above, Boosteroid has ARK Survival Evolved in its game library.
Play ARK Survival Evolved on PC or Mac using Bluestacks
Another option would be to emulate the Android version of the game, which is much less demanding on hardware.
Note: Playing ARK Survival Evolved on PC or Mac via Bluestacks will allow you to use a keyboard and mouse, however, according to the latest updates, this won’t give you an advantage, as the game uses special separate servers for gamers playing with emulators.
Among the variety of Android emulators, Bluestacks is the most advanced one. Firstly, it is available for both Windows and Mac with full functionality. Secondly, it allows effortless, automatic transition to PC game controls and convenient hot-keys that you are used to from any regular PC game. It provides high performance and graphics in any mobile game even on a relatively weak PC or Mac, as computer processors are usually more powerful than smartphone ones. To run ARK Survival Evolved on PC or Mac you need to perform these easy steps:
- Download the latest version of Bluestacks for Windows or MacOS.
- Open Play Store and sign-in with your Google account.
- Download ARK Survival Evolved from the catalog and run it.
- Bluestacks may offer you to run better engine for this game.
- Install the game and start playing!
Play ARK Survival Evolved on PC or Mac using Tenorshare Phone Mirror
If you have a powerful smartphone, you do not need to resort to emulation at all – which will reduce the strain on your computer’s hardware even further.
Tenorshare Phone Mirror is an application that allows you to control your smartphone from a PC or Mac. You will see your phone’s screen on the computer, and will be able to issue commands with keyboard and mouse. With advanced keyboard mapping abilities, similar to what is offered by Android emulators, you will be able to play ARK Survival Evolved on PC easily, all while enjoying the precision of PC controls. This method has an obvious disadvantage – it requires you to have a phone capable of running ARK Survival Evolved. However, there are several advantages as well. Because the game doesn’t actually run on your computer, the specifications of your PC don’t matter. What’s more, it is unlikely that you will be banned in any game for using this tool – something that might happen while using emulators. Tenorshare Phone Mirror can be used to control both iOS and Android devices, so unless you have a weak smartphone, this app will be useful to you.
- Download and install Tenorshare Phone Mirror on your PC or Mac computer.
- Launch it and pair your smartphone with your computer by following the program’s instructions.
- Install ARK Survival Evolved and start playing!