Idle Arks: Build at Sea Review – Sail Away!

If you love DIY ships and have a penchant for collecting miniature ships in bottles, then Idle Arks: Build at Sea is the game for you.  

Idle Arks: Build at Sea

With references to Noah’s Ark and biblical names, the game lets you build various types of ships, explore the seas in search of Solomon’s temple and other locations and rescue shipwreck survivors.  

Sea Life 

You begin your ship-building adventure as “Adam”, who will be dropped onto a tiny raft with a palm tree in the first chapter “After the Flood”. Strangely the first character you will be playing is named Adam and not Noah.  

Adam gathers wood from the small palm tree automatically and can even swim across the sea to collect floating pieces of wood if you tap on them. With all the wood he has, Adam starts adding rafts when you tap on glowing orbs and press the “Build” button to begin construction of your ship.  

As you keep putting down rafts, you will also be requiring paddles, sails, captain’s deck, anchor, rubber, ladder and other parts to complete construction. 

You will require several wood pieces and may also have to complete certain tasks first to unlock these parts. You can get a full list of tasks and unlocking requirements from the notepad located on the bottom-right corner of the screen.  

Building certain items, such as ladders, nets, paddles, swing etc. will also increase the wood output. Once you have completed constructing a particular item, you will see an increase in wood received from the palm tree. Wood is crucial and all ship parts are made using wood.  

The game features a day/night cycle and also has a weather cycle. After a hard day’s work, survivors will sleep on the raft during night time. You can’t command them to build the ship when they are asleep, although you can speed up time by watching an advert.  They will resume their work sharp at 5:30 AM. You can check their construction schedule by tapping on the time on the upper-right corner of the screen.  

You will have to fit all parts in your ship and may also have to upgrade certain parts to complete construction. Once you have finished building a ship, you can set sail for your destination. The ship will move automatically after tapping on the yellow “Sail” button. 

The map menu shows your destination and as you progress through various chapters, you will have to traverse multiple destinations to unlock survivors and creatures.  

Want to know how to build ships fast? Check out what we have written:

Ship in a Bottle  

Once you have reached your destination, your ship will be placed inside a bottle before the starting of a new chapter. You can view the ship in a bottle and can even rotate in your collection.

View your ship collection

Tap on “Map” > Journey to view your ship collection. Tap on the ship’s portrait to view it in full 3D. The screen will also display the number of survivors you have rescued in the previous chapter.  

As you progress, you will be building complex ships, complete with upper decks and parts. You may also have to stop on certain locations and complete building the entire ship to move to the other.  

Not an Out-and-Out Idle Game 

Idle Arks: Build at Sea is not a complete “set and forget game”, at least from what I saw in the initial chapters. The only part where you can idle away the day is when Adam and other survivors gather wood from palm trees. For construction, you will need to tap on the glowing orbs to build rafts or tap on the notepad to construct bigger parts, such as sails and paddles. Building certain items, such as the Net, can help you collect floating wood automatically. I love such games, where there is some sort of interaction. An absolute idle game can be a bit boring.  

Crew collects idle resources when you are away

When you are not playing, your crew will keep gathering wood for you for max 2 hours. You can double the amount of wood by watching an ad or spending gems.  

Any IAPs?  

You can play Idle Arks: Build at Sea without spending a dime, however, if you hate ads or want to double your resources, mainly wood permanently, you can purchase special packs, such as the Devasena package and the Penguin package respectively.  

For speeding up time and temporarily increasing wood production, the game may provide power-ups, which can be activated by watching ads.  These power-ups appear on the right side and bottom of the screen.  

Unlike certain games that display ads every minute, Idle Arks only displays ads when you want to activate a power-up. So far, I haven’t seen ads popping up every now and then while playing.  

Offline Play 

The game can be played without an Internet connection. The splash screen that appears before the game begins clearly mentions “No Internet required”. You can play offline, but you won’t be able to activate power-ups. To do this, you will need to watch videos and for that you must have an Internet connection.  

Winding Up 

Idle Arks: Build at Sea has a pretty unique theme. You won’t be bored as each new chapter offers a more complex ship to build. The survivors you have rescued will also help you build your ship. Wood gathering and ship construction will be much easier once survivors join your crew onboard. I will give this game a 4/5 for its distinctive design and addictiveness.  

Last Updated on July 16, 2020 by Jude

7 thoughts on “Idle Arks: Build at Sea Review – Sail Away!”

  1. I fully upgraded everything in Chapter 4: Theseus’ Odyssey and yet I still don’t get the Hindi character and it states that I have not finished one last task… but I am already in the next chapter. anybody knows what happened?

    Reply
    • I guess you will have to complete all tasks in chapter 4 to get that character. Tap on the map icon on the top of the screen. Now tap on the “tasks” button. Check if there’s any task remaining.

      Reply
      • That’s the thing, there is one more task remaining but I don’t know what I need to do. And it doesn’t mention there. I upgraded the whole boat and have moved on to the next one.

        Reply
  2. I’m not sure but I can’t find the game on my iPhone 12. Also there is this game called ark craft but I feel like it’s the same game. Can you help me. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Idle Arks is not available on the app store, unfortunately. Ark Craft is somewhat similar to Idle Arks, but the developer isn’t the same.

      Reply

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