It‘s that time of the year again and Studio Wildcard just announced the return of “ARK: Survival Evolved’s” Holiday-themed event - “Winter Wonderland.” In its fifth installment, the developer detailed some of the new stuff that they’ve added for the Survivors to enjoy.

'ARK' celebrating the Holidays

“ARK’s” Winter Wonderland would not be complete without the red hat wielding dino – the good ol’ RaptorClaus.

The raptor will be flying across every map of the game at midnight (game time), and the island will be getting that festive vibe as well. In line with this, Survivors playing on the official servers could maximize the rewards being rolled out by the RaptorClaus, by simply slowing down the in-game clock.

For the uninitiated, RaptorClaus appears at midnight until 2 AM as it will offer treats in the form of berries, meat, coal, or mistletoe. You can either use them to craft other treats or trade those mentioned with GachaClaus that can be spotted everywhere on the map.

Yes, GachaClaus will also be making a comeback as the creature will be accepting coal from Survivors in exchange for Holiday-themed items. It was also mentioned that players could trade-in both their mistletoe and coal for a chance to grab weapons, armor, and seven new Chibis:

  • Bulbdog
  • Featherlight
  • Gacha Claus
  • Glowtail
  • Reindeer
  • Shinehorn
  • Top-hat Kairuku

As for the event skins, Wildcard has added eight more to the roster:

  • Blue Winter Beanie
  • Green Winter Beanie
  • Purple Winter Beanie
  • Male and Female Noglin Swimsuit Skin
  • Male snd Female Yeti Swimsuit Skin
  • Carolers Sweater Skin
  • Bulbdog Sweater Skin
  • and the Rex Sweater Skin

They also added new wild creature colors

  • Jade
  • PineGreen
  • SpruceGreen
  • Glacial
  • DarkMagenta
  • Teal
  • DarkViolet
  • PowderBlue

Familiar items from previous Winter Wonderlands will also be making a comeback like the Dino Candy that temporarily gives tamed creatures that unique look and speed attributes.

“ARK” players will also be getting doubled breeding, XP, and harvesting rates throughout the event that will officially kick-off between December 17 and January 2, 2021. It's been said that it is one of the longest Winter Wonderland events, so there’s plenty of time for Survivors to grind those festive items.

New skins

In the latest Community Crunch, Studio Wildcard also noted that they’ve created some special skins in celebration of “ARK II” and “ARK: The Animated Series’” announcement. To get these skins in-game, Survivors will just have to watch the trailers from the “ARK” game menu. Up for grabs is an anime raptor skin inspired by the yet to be released animated series and an “ARK II” inspired hatchet and spear skin.

'ARK: Animated Series' character preview

As for both the game sequel and animated series, Studio Wildcard co-founder Jeremey Stieglitz provided previews of some of the key characters of the latter. Over on Twitter, he posted several images of the protagonist Helena Walker alongside Meiyin Li, Sir Edmund Rockwell, and General Gaius Marcellus Nerva. He also revealed some of the creatures that are included in the series.

“ARK’s” Art Director – Jesse Rapczak, on the other hand, addressed their player base's request to show an “ARK II” gameplay. In his response, he said that “it’s gonna be a while before we show a gameplay, but this is a look at our in-game assets in an early version of the new engine to hold you (the players) over.”