Ark: Survival Evolved’s biggest update is like Iron Man vs. dinosaurs

One of the biggest Early Access games ever is getting some serious sci-fi content in one of its biggest patches yet.

Studio Wildcard is unleashing the 254th patch for dinosaur-survival sim Ark: Survival Evolved on PC today, and this will bring some new futuristic content for high-end players who reach the end-game. In Ark, which debuted on Steam’s Early Access portal for unfinished games in June 2015, you start out with almost nothing and must fight creatures and fellow players with stone weapons. After some time, you can learn to build better, more powerful tools and weapons. Today’s update takes that to the extreme with powered armor suits, dino-mountable lasers, and plasma rifles as part of Ark’s TEK Tier loot — essentially, you will have Iron Man-like capabilities to take on opponents and wild dinosaurs. While this content is going live on PC right now, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players can expect it to his their platforms in February.

To maximize the impact of this patch, Wildcard has also discounted Ark to $10 on Steam. That’s down from its normal $30, which should attract a wave of new players.

To get the TEK Tier loot, players will need to take on Ark’s boss arenas, which drop the new Element resource. Defeating these bosses will also give players TEK Knowledge engrams that unlock the secrets of crafting the sci-fi weapons and tools.

In addition to the power armor, the update will introduce four new creatures into the world of Ark. Keep an eye out for the giant rodent Purlovia Maxima, a barracuda-like fish Basilsaurus Solatiumfecit, the amphibious Baryonyx, and the wooly, ram-like Ovis Aries.

Other additions in Patch 254 include the lance weapon (that you can use in the jousting minigame), new hair options, and a swatch of general improvements to Ark’s functionality.