March 27 2020 EDIT:

I no longer support buying this game. I bought it back in the beginning for something like $20.
There is no way in hell that I will ever agree that this broken piece of crap is worth $50. It is not. It never will be because the Devs will never fix the things that they are fully aware is wrong with it.
Additionally, the DLC is not included with that $50 as of this edit.
I will leave behind the review I made originally, but do not ever spend $50 on this for just the base game.

--------------------------------------------------

Early Access? Yes.
DLC Already? Yes... *headdesk*

Well, despite what many consider to be a 'boneheaded move' (to put it lightly), the DLC does not make it a bad game.
It is not required to play the game aside from one map and some content specific to said map. Just to get it out of the way, the Scorched Earth DLC is alright. It put a harder twist on survival with some new dinos and a super OP Wyvern with 3 sub-species that is extremely hard to obtain, let alone get 100% imprint on (depending on the server of course). Most servers do not allow SE to Base Game map transfers anyway, so I feel like it is not enough to outright declare ARK bad by any means.

Moving on..

Hopefully instead of that, people will remember back when ARK came out. You know, after the crapstorm of bad dino/survival simulators, particularly The Stomping Land? Those good ol' days, right? The community endured that, and was rewarded with this gem that promised to be better than them, and damned if they didn't deliver.

+++
The controls are smooth and responsive (though after playing a bad engine like DayZ Standalone, what isn't, right?).
The visuals & sounds are crisp and detailed.
The AI.. could use a little bit of work, but it's competent enough for the Predator-Prey relations.
Crafting and leveling are pretty self-explanatory.
You can build just about anywhere you want.
Dino Taming/Breeding with stats, genetics, and an imprinting system.
Obtaining the Artifacts and fighting the Bosses are very challenging as they should be.
Combat is executed well.. most of the time.
Contains a large variety of dinos/mammals/other creatures.
Does holiday events that aren't totally cheesy!
Embraces modded content!

---
Shooting projectiles does not always connect as they should, even when the target is not moving.
As with many early access games, it comes with a few bugs, and unfortunate glitches.
The Devs tend to break their own game in new ways at least every other patch. Most notable breaks include the Center Map, Weather Effects, and the Annunaki Genesis mod.
Dinos do not always path through gateways/other openings correctly.

Overall, this definitely deserves to be played, grow and release as a fully fleshed out game. There just aren't any other dino games that I'm aware of that can compare to this one. Snag it while it's on sale and have a good time!