Survival sandbox games have become one of the most popular genres in modern PC gaming, with players drawn to massive open worlds where they can explore, build, and shape their own stories. Snail Games has been a major player in that space thanks to its long-running ARK franchise, and the company used this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) to preview how it plans to expand that universe while introducing several new projects.
At GDC in San Francisco, Snail Games hosted a private showcase for media and industry partners highlighting several upcoming titles, franchise updates, and indie projects. The event offered a look at what the publisher has planned across its gaming lineup, from major expansions to its long-running ARK franchise to new original games and smaller indie releases.
While ARK remains a central pillar of the company’s strategy, Snail also emphasized its push into new intellectual property and hybrid entertainment formats that blend storytelling with interactive gameplay.
Expanding the ARK Universe
One of the most notable announcements was PixARK Worlds, a new title connected to the broader ARK universe. Developed by Studio Sirens in collaboration with Snail Games and guided by Studio Wildcard, the project is designed to expand the creative side of the ARK ecosystem through user-generated content. Players will be able to build and share their own ARK-inspired environments and gameplay experiences.
PixARK Worlds is currently being developed for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, positioning the title as a more accessible and portable way to explore the dinosaur-filled survival universe that helped make ARK a global success.
Snail also revealed a slate of upcoming content for ARK: Survival Ascended, the Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original ARK survival game. Among the updates coming this year is ARK: Tides of Fortune, scheduled for June, which introduces sailing ships and large ocean environments. Later expansions include ARK: Dragontopia arriving in December and a custom ARK World Creator launching in May for consoles, giving players more tools to design their own maps and gameplay scenarios.
The company also teased ARK: The Survival of the Fittest, a standalone competitive title that reimagines the franchise’s survival mechanics in a more esports-style format where players compete in large-scale battles.
An Update to Space Survival RPG: For The Stars
Outside the ARK universe, one of the most ambitious titles shown at GDC’s News & Demo Stage was For The Stars, an open-universe survival RPG currently in development.
For The Stars centers on exploration, survival mechanics, and multiplayer gameplay across a galaxy of procedurally generated planets. Players travel between worlds discovering alien ecosystems, gathering resources, and researching technologies needed to survive increasingly hostile environments. Rather than limiting players to a single map, For The Stars aims to create a persistent universe where actions such as terraforming planets or building colonies can permanently shape the evolving frontier.
The title is currently in development, with the team continuing to expand its scope and world-building.
Indie Multiplayer Chaos: Gobby Gang
A smaller indie project shown during the event was Gobby Gang, which takes a lighter, more chaotic approach to multiplayer gameplay.
The game features mischievous goblin-like characters competing in unpredictable environments filled with traps, obstacles, and fast-paced cooperative challenges. Early footage suggests a party-style experience designed for quick sessions and cooperative chaos rather than long survival campaigns.
Gobby Gang is currently available to wishlist on Steam.
Bellwright Passes One Million Copies
Bellwright, Snail Games’ medieval survival strategy title, has now surpassed one million units sold, an impressive achievement for a game that is still in Early Access. Developers say community feedback from players has been a central force shaping the game’s progression and long-term development roadmap.
Bellwright blends town-building, survival mechanics, and large-scale combat into a medieval setting where players lead a rebellion and build settlements while expanding their influence across the surrounding world.
A full 1.0 release is planned along with upcoming console versions for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
Floating Island Survival in Echoes of Elysium
Echoes of Elysium is a cooperative adventure set across floating islands suspended in the sky that recently launched in Early Access on Steam. In Echoes of Elysium, players gather resources, craft tools, and construct customizable airships while exploring fragmented landscapes filled with mysterious creatures and mechanical enemies. Players can tackle the world solo or work together with friends to construct sky-faring bases and explore the aerial environment.
As with Bellwright, Snail says player feedback is playing an important role in shaping upcoming updates and long-term development plans for the game, witnessed by an increased number of positive reviews since Early Access launch in January.
Experimenting with Interactive Films
Beyond traditional games, Snail Games also used the event to highlight a new initiative it calls Interactive Films (IF). The concept blends narrative-driven vertical video content with interactive gameplay elements to create full-motion video RPG experiences.
Players influence the story through choices and actions, combining cinematic storytelling with gameplay interactivity. Snail sees the approach as a way to bridge modern digital storytelling formats with traditional game design.
Where Snail Games is Headed
Together, the announcements show how Snail Games is increasingly experimenting with new ways to blend traditional game development with emerging media formats. As development continues across these projects, their GDC presence offered an early look at where Snail Games hopes to take its growing portfolio in the years ahead.
[Image credit: Snail Games]
