The heat of Scorched Earth doesn't just make your food spoil faster, either. You either need to harvest more often, or instead you can preserve your food for longer periods with salt, a new kind of material introduced in this DLC. Changes From The Base Gameįirst and foremost, all food - whether meat or plant - spoils much more quickly in Scorched Earth than in the base game. Several times I've been immediately attacked by high level killer ants that can't beat with fists and won't ever stop following you, so I recommend starting somewhere else before you get the hang of the DLC's new content. Even though it shows as "easy," I've found the Midlands 4 area to be immediately deadly more often than not.Ĭlearly there are some kinks to be worked out still, as once I spawned being eaten by a dire wolf as soon I appeared with no option to do anything but die. Next up is choosing a spawn region, and there's a tactical choice to be made here when first starting out before you've learned the areas. Welcome to an arid wasteland where water is scarce!
To actually play the new content, you first have to switch over to the “Scorched Earth” or “Ark + Scorched Earth” servers using those tiny little gray buttons under the "Session List" heading, which isn't immediately apparent. For the moment we'll avoid the ethical questions about releasing paid DLC for an unfinished, un-optimized game and instead focus on staying alive in the inhospitable desert conditions of Scorched Earth.