Ark: Survival Ascended Cosmetics tab explained

Ark: Survival Ascended has plenty to discover but one of the most curious mysteries surrounds the cosmetics tab within the player menu.

When navigating to the cosmetics tab, which is situated between the player inventory and the crafting menu, you’ll discover an empty section, and it is not made clear what exactly it is for—though experienced Ark players will have some ideas.

Thankfully, there’s no major mystery to solve here as we’ve got all the answers you need and some tips to further customize your experience.

What is the Cosmetics tab in Ark: Survival Ascended?

The Cosmetics tab in Ark: Survival Ascended is a place where all your cosmetic items can be stored and equipped—although this will cause some confusion as, currently, there are no cosmetics in the base game.

Previously, Ark has introduced special cosmetics for various holidays and milestones, including bunny ears for Easter, witches hats for Halloween, a Pilgrim hat for Thanksgiving, and a reindeer costume for the Megaloceros for Christmas.

It’s likely that Ark: Survival Ascended will continue in the same vein and introduce skins, cosmetics, and more in the future—but you can access a wealth of items by using mods.

I’ve installed Hyper’s Cosmetics Ascended mod, which provides access to a wealth of costumes and cosmetic items, including some extremely cute Chibi creatures that act as pets and can follow you around.

The best part about this mod is all items are available immediately once you craft the stations, which can be done with basic materials like hide, wood, and stone.

Some of the items, however, cannot currently be used as they are included in Ark: Survival Ascended‘s files but are not yet accessible—which means the developer is likely to add them to the base game in the near future.

Any items fitting that criteria are easily identifiable within the mod, so you shouldn’t encounter any issues.