ARK: Survival Evolved Update v273 Releases On PC With Prisoner Support

ARK: Survival Evolved v273 has arrived on PC with support for full prisoner features in Studio Wildcard’s open world. Dig out the handcuffs and get ready to eat some seriously gross stuff. It’s time to look at the patch notes!

Current Version: v273.0

• Added the capability to "Lay On" Simple Bed and Modern Bed (two people on Modern Bed). If you log out while lying on a bed, you'll remain in sleeping pose on the bed even when you log-out, and will stay on the bed even while it moves on a dynamic platform. (You can still be damaged and killed when on the bed).
• Added the capability for another player to "Lock" handcuffed players to Seating Structures (including Chairs, Benches, Beds, etc). When locked to a structure, the handcuffed player will appear to have a cable connecting them to the structure and be forced to sit on the structure. This state persists across logging out as well. Another player can also "Unlock" you from the Structure, or remove the handcuffs. Chairs within Cages are thus very useful for transportation of prisoners.
• When handcuffed, Poop now is forced directly into Slot 1. Prisoners can consume it rapidly as it builds up to attempt suicide.
• Fixed saving/loading of Lamp Post Light intensity value.

With these new mechanics in place, it will be interesting to see just how well players adapt. Now that it's far easier to transport hostages to different locations, skirmishes between competing tribes can be far more realistic than they were before. It will also be much harder to save your friends from the clutches of enemies once they’ve been captured. While this update isn’t exactly massive in terms of adding new Dinos or structures, it can potentially have a massive impact on the larger social gameplay loop led by the community.

ARK ’s v273 update is far bigger than its predecessor when it comes to main-game content. While it was nice to see that massive Southwest Desert section recently added to Ragnarok, that new land is only useful to the high-level players who wish to spend their time there. Beyond that addition, there were only a few minor bug fixes. ARK’s last major content debuts were the Tek Sword and Tek Shield that went out in late September.

ARK: Survival Evolved is available now on PC, Xbox One, PS4, OS X and Linux. The above fixes will likely come to other platforms in the weeks ahead. For those hoping to join the ARK community today, the game is 50 percent off on Steam through Oct. 30.

What do you think of the new prisoner features in ARK: Survival Evolved update v273? Were you hoping for a more substantial patch? Tell us in the comments section!