PixARK Is Free to Play on Steam for a Limited Time, With a 75% Discount Available
PixARK, the dinosaur-filled open-world survival game from Snail Games USA, is currently free to play on Steam until Monday, August 31. Players who enjoy the trial can also pick up the full game at a steep 75% discount, dropping the price to just $4.99 until September 7.
For anyone who has ever wondered what ARK: Survival Evolved might look like as a voxel sandbox game, PixARK is the answer. It blends prehistoric survival, creature taming, crafting, exploration, and base building with a colorful block-based world that can be mined, shaped, and rebuilt almost freely.
In PixARK, players begin with nothing and must gather basic materials, craft tools, build shelter, and survive in a dangerous world packed with dinosaurs, wild animals, and fantasy creatures. Like many survival games, the early hours are about learning how to stay alive. But as players progress, the game opens up with better equipment, stronger weapons, deeper crafting systems, dungeon exploration, and creature taming.
One of PixARK’s biggest attractions is its massive roster of creatures. More than 100 dinosaurs, animals, and magical beasts can be encountered throughout the world. Some can be fought, while others can be tamed and used as mounts, giving players new ways to explore the procedurally generated landscape.
The voxel-based world is another major part of the experience. Players can dig into the terrain, collect blocks, and construct bases, fortresses, farms, or whatever else they can imagine. This gives PixARK a strong creative sandbox element alongside its survival gameplay. The result is a game that feels familiar to fans of both dinosaur survival adventures and block-building games, while still having its own personality.
PixARK also includes procedurally generated quests, magic, modern technology, dungeons, and both solo and multiplayer options. Players can explore alone or join PvE and PvP servers, depending on whether they prefer cooperative survival or more competitive encounters.
Steam user reviews suggest that many players appreciate how PixARK combines open-world survival with creative building. The customization options, creature variety, and progression system are often praised. Some players also consider it more approachable and less grind-heavy than ARK: Survival Evolved, making it a potentially better entry point for newcomers to the survival genre.
However, the game is not without criticism. Some players report performance issues, multiplayer connection problems, uneven world generation, and controls that can feel a little slow or clunky. Others feel the endgame could use more long-term content to keep players invested after the main progression loop slows down.
Even with those drawbacks, PixARK has maintained a generally positive reception on Steam, with 73% of more than 13,000 user reviews rating it positively.
The current free-to-play period makes this a good time to try PixARK without spending anything. If the mix of dinosaurs, crafting, voxel building, survival mechanics, magic, and multiplayer exploration sounds appealing, the $4.99 sale price is also the lowest discount the game has seen so far. PixARK is additionally listed as “Playable” on Steam Deck.
Prices and availability may change. The offer was active at the time of writing and may be limited by time or region.
