Can You Learn Every Engram in Ark: Survival Evolved?

The straight answer is no. It is completely impossible in the base Ark game for one survivor to learn all 477 available engrams through natural level progression alone. There are simply too many engrams in Ark and not nearly enough engram points earned from leveling your character.

Now let me explain the engram and leveling system in more detail, and why unlocking literally everything is out of reach without bending the rules.

What Are Engrams and How Do They Work?

Engrams are essentially crafting recipes that you permanently unlock by spending engram points, which allow you to then craft new items like weapons, armor, structures and more. They form the core progression system in Ark – learning new engrams to advance your capabilities.

You gain engram points each time your survivor levels up. So as you gain XP and levels, you can spend these points to learn engrams. But there is a hard cap on how many points you can possibly attain.

Total Number of Engrams in Ark

According to the Ark wiki and beating the game myself, there are 477 total engrams available to be learned across the Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, Genesis, and other Ark content.

This includes:

• 393 standard engrams from leveling
• 84 Tek engrams from beating bosses

Engram Point System and Limitations

Now here is why you can‘t unlock all 477 engrams solo:

• You only gain 2-3 engram points per survivor level
• Reaching max level 190 earns you 441 points naturally
• It costs over 6500 points to learn every single engram!

Clearly there are nowhere near enough engram points possible to acquire from leveling alone.

Engram Point Data

Here is a breakdown:

| Points Per Level | 1-85 | 2 |
| 86-100 | 3 |

As you can see, there is a massive gap between the 441 points possible from leveling, and the over 6,000 points required for every single engram. And this is only for the Island – adding other Ark maps and content pushes costs even higher.

So by design you cannot get all engrams solo in normal gameplay. This encourages specialization between tribe members, trading resources, and collective progression.

Using Mods and Commands to Unlock Engrams

Now there are a couple potential ways to get around the natural limitations and attempt to unlock literally everything:

• Admin commands – using giveengrams
• Mods – that increase engram points gained per level
• Unofficial servers – with boosted XP/level caps

But doing this eliminates much of the progression, specialization and challenge at the core of Ark. It risks severely damaging game balance and enjoyment.

So I only recommend bending the rules if you fully understand the implications. Best to embrace the intended system and make strategic choices with your engram unlocks.

Key Early Game Engrams to Focus On

Since you cannot get everything, you need to plan out impactful upgrades for early game:

• Storage – Preserve resources since weight is limited
• Bola – Restrain fast dinosaurs for taming
• Narcotics – Essential for knockout tames
• Slingshot – Ranged damage and tranquilizing
• Campfire – Cook food for better nutritional value
• Sleeping Bag – Respawn point to avoid total death

Prioritizing upgrades like these offer huge early game benefits as you establish yourself. They provide the tools to accelerate further progress.

In summary – no, it is completely impossible to unlock all 477 engrams solo as an Ark survivor through natural level progression. You can maximize your potential through strategic choices, but ultimately must embrace limitations and specialization at both the individual and tribe level. This makes progression meaningful and creates challenge at the core of the Ark experience. So choose your engrams wisely!

Let me know if you have any other Ark questions in the comments!