Aberration places survivors on a damaged ARK: its internal atmosphere has leaked away, resulting in a harsh surface with intense radiation, and a plethora of lush biomes underground. With the maintenance systems of this ARK malfunctioning, the many hazards, creatures, and nature of the environment present a thrilling new world to explore and master.

The intense radiation of Aberration has led to incredible genetic mutations, resulting in new creatures with amazing abilities! Among others, clamber up walls & glide through the air on the back of a camouflaging chameleon-like ‘Rock Drake’, keep the dark at bay with a friendly ‘Bulbdog’, grab and toss multiple creatures simultaneously with a massive ‘Karkinos’, or—if you are talented enough to tame one—command the vile ‘Reaper’ by being impregnated with a horrifying reproductive chest-burster!

New tools are on-hand to survive on the world of Aberration, while opening up many possibilities for new competitive and cooperative scenarios. Traverse the ARK using  cave-climbing picks,  gliding wingsuits, and  ziplines. Learn advanced Engrams to dominate the harsh environment, protect yourself with Hazard Suits,  Charge Lanterns,  Batteries,  Glow Sticks, and much more. Thrive by gathering new resources, using  fishing baskets,  Gas Collectors, fortify your home within the caverns using  cliff structures, and much more!

Earthquakes, radiation exposure, gas leaks, and Element chambers are among the many hazards that survivors will learn to grapple with Aberration’s varied biomes, both aboveground and below the surface. But among the greatest challenges on this ruined ARK is the hierarchy of unrelenting  Nameless, requiring constant vigilance & Charge Energy to defend against!

And in the deepest depths of Aberration, their terrifying — yet somehow familiar — master awaits… will YOU be among the survivors powerful enough to face him?

Unique Environmental Features

• Earthquakes.
• Extreme temperatures on the Surface.
• Seasons that affect the lengths of daytime and night time.
• Dangerous elemental liquid in the depths of Aberration.
• Poisonous Mushrooms and mushroom spore zones.
• Sickening Radiation zones.
• Plants that can be harvested for  Organic Polymer.
• Black clams that can be harvested for  Black Pearls.

The Underground Map

Overview

The map is the underground of a damaged ARK. Most of the features are related to underground, where new Resources exist, such as  Fungal Wood and Gems. Rather than being an island, the majority of the map is enclosed underground biomes, making it especially advisable to carry a  Compass or  GPS to not get turned around in the dark twists and turns. Radiation seeps in at specific locations of the map, causing exposed players not wearing protective gears to take damage over time. Other new strange effects are also a feature.

There are three main regions, excluding the surface: The green region being the Fertile, the blue region being the Bio luminescence, and the red region being the Element. Fertile Land do not have any negative effects, Bio luminescence is cold, and Element contains radiation, inflicting both survivors and tamed dinos with Radiation sickness over time without protection.

 Oil is harder to get, since other than the  Trilobite  Dung Beetle Lamprey and rare  Seeker drops, the only other natural source of Oil is at the Surface or in the much more difficult area beyond The Spine. But It can be dropped by Tek Dinos.

Like the other maps,  Supply Crates only spawn on the surface, but unlike other maps, crates can still be found below the surface, outside of artifact caves, in the form of  Loot Crates.

New Resources

A new and fairly vital resource to the game is the Gem, which has three color types found in areas of varying difficulty.  Green Gems are found almost immediately upon spawning in the Portal and are found further on in the Fertile region.  Blue Gems are found within the Luminescent Biome.  Red Gems are found in the more difficult depths of Aberration, in The Spine, Lost Roads, and Element Falls regions.

A lesser vital resource  Fungal Wood is gathered like regular  Wood but from the larger mushrooms scattered around the underground. It substitutes for Wood in recipes, but is explicitly required for making the new structure  Shag Rug.

Mushrooms appear around the map as a harvestable resource, similar to the bushes found for Berries. However, be careful to avoid the Blue or Red mushrooms found across the map, as these are harvestable but dangerous. Blue mushrooms inflict instant Hypothermia. Red mushrooms inflict hallucination, which can be deadly: side effects other than colorful vision include uncontrollable direction change, constant defecation and its attendant increased hunger, and forgetfulness of breathing – better known as Suffocation, but it ignores Oxygen level of the player as it automatically registers as if the player has 0 Oxygen. Any of these side effects could kill unprepared players. These effects can also harm shoulder-mounted dinos, so be careful. However, eating the  Aquatic Mushroom provides temporary immunity to the Freezing Debuff or Luminous Poisons, and eating the  Aggeravic Mushroom provides temporary immunity to the Hallucinating Debuff or Fertile Poisons.

New Features

As the map is mainly underground, Earthquakes often happen which drop random items including  Wood,  Flint,  Rare Mushrooms,  Stone, Gems,  Obsidian, and  Crystal. They also randomly move sleeping survivors that are not anchored to their beds, and cause survivors using a zipline or climbing pick to fall.

There are also locations where  Element can be crafted, called Charge Nodes. These require resources to craft, and one of the main items needed is  Element Ore which is found on The Surface or in The Grave of the Lost.

New Creatures

Two new Creatures, the  Nameless and the  Reaper, emerge with differing frequencies within areas of both the Bio luminescence and Element Regions, in the absence of Charged Light, including inside player-made structures. It is well-advised to keep sources of Charge Light around the base as regular light sources do not prevent them from emerging. Charge Light is usually best provided by the new creatures:  Featherlight,  Bulbdog,  Glowtail, and  Shinehorn.

Another new creature, the  Ravager quickly becomes a survivor favourite as the melee animal of choice, as their damage rapidly stacks with their pack bonus.