ARK Ascended Maps List 2026: Every Map, Date, Free or Paid
Every ARK: Survival Ascended map (2026)
As of 21 September 2026, ARK: Survival Ascended has ten official maps released, one more (Dragontopia) arriving in December, and a growing shelf of community maps, two of which are good enough that we run them on the cluster. Here is every one of them with the date it landed on ASA, what it costs, and what makes it worth your time. This page is the index; the per-map guides linked below go deeper.
| Map | Released on ASA | Cost | Boss(es) | On BG Gaming? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Island | 25 Oct 2023 (PC), Nov 2023 (console) | Free (base game) | Broodmother, Megapithecus, Dragon, Overseer | ✅ |
| Scorched Earth | 1 Apr 2024 | Free | Manticore | ✅ |
| The Center | 4 Jun 2024 | Free | Broodmother + Megapithecus | ❌ |
| Aberration | 5 Sep 2024 | Free | Rockwell | ✅ |
| Extinction | 20 Dec 2024 | Free | Desert, Forest, Ice Titans; King Titan (world boss on ASA) | ✅ |
| Astraeos | 14 Feb 2025 | Paid, $14.99 | Hydraskos, Minotarchos, Natrix, Thanatos and more | ✅ |
| Ragnarok | 20 Jun 2025 | Free | Nunatak, Iceworm Queen, Lava Elemental | ✅ |
| Valguero | 7 Oct 2025 | Free | Grendel (ASA-exclusive), roaming Broodmother | ✅ |
| Lost Colony | 19 Dec 2025 | Paid, $29.99 | Lost King + Lost Queen | ✅ |
| Genesis Part 1 | 4 Jul 2026 | Free (Tides of Fortune paid) | Moeder + missions | ✅ |
| Forglar | 2024, community map | Free (mod) | Broodmother | ✅ |
| Dragontopia | 9 Dec 2026 (dragons since July) | Paid, $29.99 | TBC | Planned |
| BG Events server | BG only | Free | Event arenas | ✅ |
Not on the list: Crystal Isles, Lost Island and Fjordur. All three were promised for 2025 and quietly dropped. Why, and what else moved, is in our roadmap.
The Island
The original. Rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 for the October 2023 launch and still the best place to learn the game: gentle south beaches, a proper progression through caves and artefacts, and the four-boss ascension. Free with the base game. On BG it is where the 50,000-coin welcome centre tour usually starts.
Scorched Earth
A desert with no coastline. Water is the resource, heat is the enemy, and the Manticore is the boss. ASA's version added Oasisaur, Fasolasuchus, Ceratosaurus, Deinosuchus and more. Free on ASA; the Bob's Tall Tales story content that ships with it is a paid pack you do not need for the map. Released 1 April 2024 after slipping from launch day.
The Center
An archipelago with a floating island, volcanoes, jungles and two underwater domes. Free, official, and the only official map without a boss of its own (it reuses Broodmother and Megapithecus). Shastasaurus, the submarine mount, is the reason to visit. Not on the BG cluster.
Aberration
Underground on a broken ARK: radiation on the surface, bioluminescent caverns below, no flyers, and Rockwell waiting at the bottom. ASA added Cosmo, Yi Ling and Elderclaw plus Aberrant variants of newer creatures. Free, released 5 September 2024.
Extinction
Element-ravaged Earth. Corrupted creatures, orbital supply drops, and four tameable Titans, with the King Titan roaming as a world boss on ASA. Dreadnoughtus, Armadoggo and the Tek Giganotosaurus are the ASA additions. Free, released 20 December 2024.
Astraeos
The biggest map in the franchise at 264 km², Greek-mythology themed, made by Nekatus and released as a paid official map on 14 February 2025 ($14.99). Eight biomes, a labyrinth, a Hydra, a Gorgon, and half a dozen other bosses. Exclusive creatures include the Maeguana, Grand Tortugar, Boaratos and Kirayli. You need to own Astraeos to join it on BG; we also run the Astraeos Ship Mod for ocean building. Full Astraeos guide →
Ragnarok
Norse-themed, an active volcano, and on ASA four new landmasses with their own ruins. Nunatak replaces the old Dragon/Manticore fight, alongside the Iceworm Queen and Lava Elemental. Seasonal Drakelings and the Bison are the ASA newcomers. Free, released 20 June 2025 after a nine-month slip.
Valguero
63 km² of jungle, snowfield, lava and hot springs. ASA gave it Grendel as an exclusive boss and a roaming Broodmother, plus Megaraptor, Elderclaw, Rock Drake and Basilisk spawns. Free, released 7 October 2025. One of our most popular breeding maps.
Lost Colony
A paid ($29.99) canonical expansion set on Arat Prime roughly a thousand years after Extinction. A gothic metropolis guarded by the Thrall army, an arctic wasteland with a fallen ARK in it, a skill tree, outpost missions, and the two-phase Lost King and Lost Queen fight. Nine exclusive creatures including the Veilwyn, Ossidon, Gloon, Aureliax and the Gigadesmodus. Full Lost Colony guide →
Genesis Part 1
The UE5 rebuild of the five Genesis biomes with the ocean expanded into a naval sandbox. Free map with the Palaeoctopus; the paid Tides of Fortune expansion adds the ships, the Tidepup and Karl Urban as Bob. Released 4 July 2026 after two delays and one of the roughest launch weekends in the game's history. Genesis Part 1: release history, what shipped, how the launch went → · Tides of Fortune explained →
Forglar
A free community map by SnowyTrain (mod ID 935835 for the test version, with a fuller "Forglar Part I" release). Still in development, and one of the most atmospheric fan maps on ASA. BG runs it as a full cluster member with a welcome centre and its own Broodmother fight at the obelisks.
Dragontopia
Wildcard's first in-house non-canonical map: a skyworld of floating landmasses and procedural shattered islands where dragons rule. The Expansion Pass ($29.99) has been drip-feeding dragons since July 2026; the full map lands on 9 December 2026. We will add it once the plugin framework supports the build.
Which map should I start on?
- Never played ARK: The Island. It is built to teach you.
- Played ASE, new to ASA: Ragnarok or Valguero. Familiar, free, huge, and both have their best content in the ASA version.
- Want the newest stuff: Genesis Part 1 (free) for the ocean, or Lost Colony (paid) for the skill tree and story.
- Want to be overwhelmed by scale: Astraeos. Bring a flyer.
- Want a challenge: Aberration. No flyers, radiation, Rockwell.
On BG Gaming you do not have to choose. All 11 maps are one cluster: craft a Depot Terminal at level 1 and move your character, dinos and items between any of them. Rates are 5x taming and breeding, 2.5x harvest, 2x XP, wild dinos to level 150, crossplay PC / Xbox / PS5, and the cluster has never wiped. Search (BG) in the server browser, or join through Discord for 50,000 free coins.
Quick FAQ
How many maps does ARK: Survival Ascended have?
Ten official maps as of September 2026 (The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Astraeos, Ragnarok, Valguero, Lost Colony, Genesis Part 1), with Dragontopia due 9 December 2026, plus community maps like Forglar.
Which ARK Ascended maps are free?
The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Ragnarok, Valguero and Genesis Part 1 are free with the base game. Astraeos ($14.99), Lost Colony ($29.99) and Dragontopia ($29.99) are paid. The Bob's Tall Tales and Tides of Fortune story packs are paid add-ons for maps that are themselves free.
What is the biggest ARK Ascended map?
Astraeos, at 264 km².
What is the next ARK Ascended map?
Dragontopia, 9 December 2026. After that, Atlantis and Genesis Part 2 are promised for 2027. See the roadmap for how much to trust those dates.
Do I need the paid maps to play on BG Gaming?
No. Eight of our eleven maps are free. You only need to own Astraeos or Lost Colony to play on those two specific maps.
Sources
- ARK Official Community Wiki: ARK: Survival Ascended, The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Astraeos, Ragnarok, Valguero, Lost Colony, Genesis: Part 1, Dragontopia
- Forglar on CurseForge
- Studio Wildcard Community Crunch
Last updated 21 September 2026. Per-map guides so far: Lost Colony, Astraeos. More being added one at a time.