The early access release of Atlas has been rocky to say the least, with numerous delays deflating a lot of the excitement surrounding the game. That said, players now have access to the new open world game, and a recent discovery has some saying that the MMO is little more than a reskin of the developer's previous title, Ark: Survival Evolved.
This theory originates from a hidden menu that is currently accessible through Atlas's title screen. Specifically, by scrolling down past "Exit," players will find that none of the options appear to be selected. However, doing so seems to highlight a hidden option on the title screen, which, when selected, brings up one of the menus from Ark.
In Ark, the menu is used to host a single player session, allowing players to adjust settings like "Dino Damage" and select between Story and Custom Arks. Of course, these settings have no relationship to Atlas, and it is clear that this menu was simply not fully removed when Ark's title screen was repurposed for the new release.
This hidden menu was first made public by Twitch streamer mukkayo. He has even done a side-by-side comparison to further establish the menu's presence in Ark.
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With the frustration following Atlas's less-than-stellar launch mounting, the discovery of this menu is certainly causing waves in the community, and some players are suggesting that Atlas is not much more than an Ark DLC. However, others point out that it is not uncommon for developers to reuse and enhance assets from their previous titles, especially when it comes to UI and menu options.
A highly upvoted comment on Reddit voices this sentiment, stating that it "just looks like they're using the same engine, probably has a common menu structure." Indeed engines like Unity and Unreal Engine are at the foundation of many games, and developers that use the same engine for multiple titles are certain to share components across the releases rather than build them from scratch each time.
That said, it remains to be seen how closely Atlas's gameplay resembles Ark — perhaps after spending some time with the pirate MMO, players will still feel that it is a mere reskin of the previous title. Regardless of the actual gameplay distinctions, the discovery of the hidden menu is certainly going to cause some players to scrutinize every detail of Atlas in relationship to Ark.
Atlas is currently in early access on PC.
Source: Reddit