SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 31 — One of the bigger beasts in a packed survival game genre, Ark: Survival Evolved has its own very Minecraft-esque spin-off coming to Nintendo, Xbox and PC in short order.

Snail Games’ PixArk is Ark: Survival Evolved with a recognisably blocky look.

The spin-off is being made with the blessing of original Ark developer Studio Wildcard but is embracing cuboid crafting, exploration and construction instead of the photorealism of its parent.

Like Minecraft it is based on a voxel block building system and lets players roam procedurally generated maps, while a special Creative Mode lets players build to their hearts’ content.

So what sets it apart from the Microsoft-owned 2011 genre giant?

PixArk brings with it procedurally generated quests, a skill-based character progression system, and invokes the prehistoric flavour of its namesake by providing over 100 creatures to tame, train and ride.

The presence of dragons, dinosaurs and other dangerous creatures would appear to give PixArk the potential for more combat-oriented hijinks than block-builders of its type, though the PlayStation consoles’ Dragon Quest Builders succeeded in blending cubic construction with fantasy questing.

Perhaps that’s why Microsoft is welcoming PixArk to Xbox One via an early access programme that also sees the Snail Games spin-off launch on PC through Steam this March; a Nintendo Switch edition has been announced for later in 2018, allowing some distance between the Ark derivative and February’s version of Dragon Quest Builders.

Ark: Survival Evolved launched on Steam as an Early Access title in June 2015 and at the end of the year through the Xbox One’s equivalent, with PlayStation 4 owners privy from August 2017.

It presents players with an island’s worth of prehistoric flora and fauna to contend with — as well as other players — as they team up or go solo in trying to survive in an otherwise hazardous environment.

Expansion pack Scorched Earth was released in September 2016, while the game was officially still in Early Access, with second add-on Aberration arriving in December 2017.

South Korean developer Snail Games is well associated with a number of MMOs including Age of Wushu, Black Gold Online and Dark and Light. — AFP-Relaxnews