Vin Diesel! The bald brutal guy not only occupied all possible screenshots and trailers of the game, but also became the executive producer of the project. Just an interesting fact. The actor played more than a thousand hours in the first game.

Ark 2 was announced a year ago, but after the five-minute trailer, we got very little information. The new trailer was presented at the Xbox summer conference, but it's hard to extract anything useful from there, except for beautiful views and fan theories.
That's not why we're here! The developers have released a "long-post" with the features of the sequel. Let's look at everything that can be picked up from there.


Setting
The strange primitive world of Arat. Nothing radically new has been discovered. Unravel the mysteries of this place, team up with legendary heroes, fight the forces of evil, and more.

The plot
The story will unfold hand-in-hand with Vin Diesel's hero, Santiago. It can be assumed that Santiago will become a player's companion, like Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk. He is looking for his daughter Mika, wanting to protect her from the ghosts of the ancient past and the concepts of a new future.
The main technical advantages of continuation
First, it is the transition to Unreal Engine 5 using its advanced features: high-quality simulation of water flowing around obstacles; particles and smoke reacting to physical impact; volumetric storm clouds; all kinds of reactions of foliage to passing animals; localized weather system; fundamental improvements in lighting and more.
Secondly, cross-platform modding, implemented using mod.io – a platform with a large ecosystem of mods, with which Wildcard now cooperates.

Gameplay
•    Many new ways of movement and mechanics, such as hooking on ledges; free climbing (as in the last Zelda); parkour («classic, like in Assassin's Creed); sliding; swinging
    Souls-like combat system, and the game is only from a third person
                  Hostile environment (flora and fauna saturated with primitive invading creatures)
•   A component-based crafting system. It describes a new level of diversity of crafting combinations, the uniqueness of components from different regions.
    Modified AI creatures. Now there really are sights, sounds and smells that your opponents will use to find you. You can reduce visibility by hiding behind a shelter; use visual camouflage; mask your smell
A progression and skill system. Skill points can be earned both for playing and for completing certain tasks and challenges. They will be able to pump a large tree of perks, active or passive abilities, etc.


Interaction changes
The social environment is one of the most important parts in MMO games. The emphasis of interaction in ARK II, as we think, will be somewhat shifted. The game introduces world events, such as those in Destiny 2, for example. This means that players will periodically see open areas where a lot of things are happening at the same time. For example, in addition to the usual tasks that are always available in the MMO, there will also be some kind of huge monster or a brigade of monsters, or something else. Everyone will be able to join and fight together for the sake of loot.
A new faction of "Aratai" will appear with its tamed creatures, which will hunt players. The developers talk about it as an "opposing PVE force", which apparently will also unite the players.There will be an opportunity to share your buildings with other players. It works like this: you create your own building template, and then place it somewhere in the form of a three-dimensional layout that you can build together with your friends.

The results of the announcement
From all the words about ARK II, the idea is very encouraging. The game tries to be different in almost everything, unlike the first part. And technically it corresponds to the time, and different trends of the genre managed to capture, and it all fits the setting of the Arc very well and stylishly. Only it's all in theory so far, that's the trouble!
The game is coming out in 2023, and we have not yet been shown gameplay videos. Guesses and theories are always fascinating and interesting, but the most important thing is the official information and the product itself. The release will be in early access, which is already a common thing for the industry, but vigilance will be very appropriate.
Let's return to the sequel of the Arc, when there will be new and useful details. 


Developer's post: https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/articles.html/redefining-the-survival-genre-with-ark-2-and-an-update-from-our-studio-founders-r1949/