Lost Ark is an online massively multiplayer online action role-playing game created by Smilegate RPG, a video game company from South Korea. The game was first announced in South Korea on November 12, 2014, by Smilegate. On the day it launched, 250,000 players were playing at the same time, and by the end of the first week, more than 350,000 players were online together. The game can be played on devices that support DirectX 9 or newer versions.

A Focus Group Test (FGT) was held in August 2015, the first Closed Beta Test (CBT) took place on August 24, 2016, the second CBT occurred on September 15, 2017, the final CBT was on May 23, 2018, and an open beta test began on November 7, 2018. The game officially launched on December 4, 2019.

Lost Ark was released in Europe, North America, and South America on February 11, 2022, by Amazon Games. It reached the second-highest number of players at the same time on Steam, with over 1.3 million players. This caused long wait times, so a new server region was added for Europe. The game cost about $85 million to make. It received mostly positive reviews from players and critics.

Gameplay

Lost Ark is mainly about playing against the game world (PvE) and exploring, such as completing quests, collecting items, and crafting. It also includes player versus player (PvP) features. Players begin by creating and customizing their characters, choosing their appearance and selecting one of six main classes—Warrior, Martial Artist, Gunner, Mage, Assassin, or Specialist—and then picking an advanced class. Reaching level 50 allows access to challenging endgame dungeons and raids, where further progress depends on the character’s equipment score.

At first, 18 characters were planned, but only 12 were released. Now, there are 26 characters available.

The fast-paced and responsive combat system in Lost Ark is one of its most praised features. It focuses on linking different skills and attacks to create smooth combinations for damaging enemies. Each class has a variety of skills, allowing players to have different ways to play. Through the game’s skill tree system, players can gradually unlock and improve their abilities, customizing their characters to match their preferred way of playing. This makes combat more complex and helps players improve their skills over time.

Development and release

The development of Lost Ark started in 2011 under the code name "Project T." The game uses Unreal Engine 3. It originally supported only DirectX 9 but was later updated to also support DirectX 11 before its release in Western regions in 2022.

Lost Ark was officially released in South Korea on December 4, 2019, and in North American, South American, and European regions on February 11, 2022, with Amazon Games acting as the global publisher. Players who pre-purchased one of four founder’s packs could play the game three days earlier, on February 8, 2022. The game was initially not available in Belgium and the Netherlands because of strict rules about loot boxes. Later, the Netherlands changed its decision. Within one day of its release, Lost Ark became the second most played game on Steam.

In 2021, Smilegate and game publisher HappyTuk planned to launch Lost Ark in Taiwan. In January 2023, the launch of Taiwanese servers was delayed and rescheduled for May 30, 2024. The game’s Japanese server was shut down on March 20, 2024.

Reception

Lost Ark received "generally favorable" reviews from Metacritic, a website that collects and summarizes game reviews. PC Magazine praised the game's combat system, stating that abilities look good, sound strong, and are fun to use. They noted that players feel powerful when using skills like diving kicks to defeat groups of enemies or attacking weak monsters. Rock Paper Shotgun enjoyed some of the mini-games but criticized the game's structure, saying that compared to other online multiplayer games, Lost Ark did not offer unique features or experiences in its quests or progression system. PC Gamer appreciated the combat abilities but pointed out that the main story was not engaging, with characters that lacked depth and felt overly heroic or villainous. The Western version of the game also faced criticism for having a large number of bots, which are computer-controlled players that can disrupt the gaming experience.