Ark Nova
Dire Wolf · 2025 · Strategy, Board Game, PvP, PvE, Tabletop
PC
Very Positive94% · 776
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About Ark Nova
Design a modern zoo to help animals thrive as you support conservation projects around the world.Since its release in 2021, tabletop board game Ark Nova from designer Mathias Wigge has received numerous awards around the world. Now a new digital adaptation brings the strategy and science of the beloved board game to players everywhere!In Ark Nova, you will plan and design a modern, scientifically managed zoo. With the ultimate goal of owning the most successful zoological establishment, you will build enclosures, accommodate animals, and support conservation projects all over the world. Specialists and unique buildings will help you in achieving this goal.At the heart of Ark Nova are 255 cards featuring animals, specialists, unique enclosures, and conservation projects, each with a particular ability. Use them to increase the appeal and scientific reputation of your zoo and to collect conservation points. Each player has a set of action cards, which you will use and upgrade to carry out your plans.Each player has a set of five action cards to manage their gameplay, and the power of an action is determined by the slot the card currently occupies. The cards are:
- BUILD: Allows you to build standard or special enclosures, kiosks, and pavilions.
- ANIMALS: Allows you to accommodate animals in your zoo.
- CARDS: Allows you to gain new zoo cards (animals, sponsors, and conservation project cards).
- ASSOCIATION: Allows your association workers to carry out different tasks.
- SPONSORS: Allows you to play a sponsor card in your zoo or to raise money.
- Collect all 24 Achievements!
- Play Solo against the AI, Online, or on your couch with Pass and Play!
- Complete 13 strategic Challenges!
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
✦ AI summary
Players praise Ark Nova as an excellent digital adaptation of the board game with engaging gameplay, multiple strategic paths, and extensive replayability that keeps them coming back. However, many criticize the user interface as mediocre and clunky, particularly on Steam Deck where text is hard to read, cursor control is problematic, and the game lacks quality-of-life features like cloud saves that would improve the experience across devices.
Ark Nova is one of the best tile placement board games in existence, and having all the fiddly bits automated is a godsend. The UI is brilliant, considering the amount of information from so many different sources the player needs easy access to. The easy AI just just challenging enough to force new players to learn, while the harder ones ramp up smoothly from there. This game deserves every bit of the praise it has received and is absolutely worth its full price.1 found this helpful
Solid version of the game. I think the BGA version is slightly better, but this allows for playing against AI and has daily challenges. I really miss the Marine Worlds expansion content though, so hopefully that gets implemented soon. A recommend if you wanna play against AI and not just a pure solo mode like on BGA.
Solid game and players well. Only real hard part is not being able to see/observe the other table players (it shows them and the total, but their maps and players is harder to see-very minor and screen size limitation). Seems solidly written
It's good
One of the best board game and a excellent digital adaptation.
Its one of the best 2 player games
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