Wccftech talked with lead designer Dennis Douthett about the future of Conan Exiles:

Conan Exiles Dev Talks Age of War Chapter 3 Additions, Promises Support for as Long as There Are Players

Over five and a half years after launch, Funcom's survival game Conan Exiles is still going strong. The game quickly became Funcom's fastest-selling title, having sold 1.5 million copies by July 2018, and the continued support of the player base has translated into a steady stream of new content and features.

Following the release of the Isle of Siptah expansion in 2021, Funcom switched to a different model where free updates (the so-called Ages) were released for free to all players alongside optional Battle Passes for cosmetic items. After last year's Age of Sorcery, 2023 is all about the Age of War, which is now about to enter its third Chapter.

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Wccftech: Is the PvE Raid tuned for a group of players, or can you do it solo?

You can do it solo. Most of our content at endgame is tuned for two players or a solo player with a follower. A geared max level character could do this by themselves; it'd take a bit of extra effort, but it can be done.

Wccftech: Can you bring more thralls with you if needed?

Yes, you can bring pets, thralls, or your clan.

Wccftech: Could you raze it to the ground?

Yeah, it is fully destructible. It would take a long time, though, because it's a high-durability building set. However, it will respawn when you leave so that you can repeat the PvE raid.

Wccftech: Is there a set respawn time?

It's really quick. People just need to go far away for that to happen.

Wccftech: Do you plan to add more PvE raids to Conan Exiles over time?

Yes. They might not be as big as this one, but we would like to do more content like this.

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Thanks Couchpotato!

Dennis Douthett - the lead designer of Conan Exiles talks about the combat changes during the Age of War: 

Developer Letter - Combat changes during the Age of War

Hello everyone!

My name is Dennis Douthett, and I’m the Lead Designer for Conan Exiles.

I've spent a lot of my time as Lead Designer collaborating with the community on Discord, showing off new content on Twitch and YouTube, but this is the first time I've worked on a blog post to go with a release. I hope you find this insight interesting, and not too long winded!

The topic today is combat changes coming during the Age of War.

Good Stress

To begin it's important to establish one of the many reasons we find games to be fun. It's the contrast between stress and relief.

When designing games, we look to introduce stress to you by placing challenges in your way. Challenges can be any type of gameplay that blocks your progress: a boss enemy with loot you want, a long wall climb with few resting points along the way, a puzzle that requires observation and timing to unlock a mechanical door. The closer we can stress you to a tipping point only for you to just barely overcome a challenge, the better the victory feels!

As you continue to read this article, keep the relationship between stress and relief in mind!

Combat and Stamina
Why did we change it?

I have seen responses to the stamina updates in the patch notes asking why we made these changes. It is true that nobody outright asked us to increase the stamina cost of attacks, but sometimes fixing problems we identify can affect multiple systems. I will do my best to explain how we got from point to point that made these changes necessary.

These changes sometimes have effects on more than one community as well. We have many different types of players in Conan Exiles, but without a doubt nearly every type of player will be participating in combat at some point. So, while nobody directly asked for that specific change, I can still say who the changes are for: These changes were aimed at making combat feel more consistent, less buggy, and more dynamic for everyone!

The Problem

A unique mechanic was implemented in recent years after our team decided the game was too easy in our playtests. Enemies attacked by multiple players would never get a chance to act, causing them to be stunlocked to death! This led us to create a system that would give enemy AI brief immunity to stun after they had been unable to act for some time. For example's sake, the timing was something close to, "For every 3 seconds of being stunned, you get 1 second to act with impunity."

I do agree this was an issue, but I think that solution introduced a new problem. Between the system providing immunity and the stun protection we give during attacks it was difficult to understand when an enemy would be stunnable.

Increasing Consistency and Dynamics

Even if you are a seasoned player, you likely have no idea why enemies are sometimes stunned and sometimes, they are not. There are no audio or visual cues that let you know an enemy is immune to being stunned - and if there was, they would feel very “gamey” in their presentation. So instead of using brute force to create a gap for enemies to act in battle, we would create it by starving the player of the ability to attack as frequently.

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Thanks Luethar!

Starting on June 22 Conan Exiles will get a series of updates:

Conan Exiles Announces The Age of War!

Like Age of Sorcery, Age of War will bring a series of updates, outlined in our new Roadmap.

Greetings Exiles,

As one age ends, another must begin.

The Age of Sorcery has brought us a huge amount of content in less than a year - the sorcery system, building revamp, attributes overhaul, new encounters, golem shaping, new characters and stories, and the Journey System redesign. Yet still our forge hammers ring out as the content furnace burns hot.

An ancient empire has set its hungry eyes on the Exiled Lands.

The invasion is nigh.

On June 22, the Age of War begins as we unleash the first of three major free updates, each of which will be accompanied by a paid Battle Pass and new cosmetic Bazaar store items.

The Road to War

The team is thrilled to reveal our roadmap for the new features and improvements coming in the next Age. Please keep in mind that this roadmap represents our current estimate and is by no means an exhaustive list of the upcoming content.

After working on the Age of Sorcery, something the team had wanted to do since the very beginning of Conan Exiles, it is with equal excitement that they have now shifted the theme to the strength of steel and the allure of gold.

In the Age of War, you will experience the Stygian invasion of the Exiled Lands, as they seek to fill their coffers with your treasure. In Chapter One, you will begin filling your treasure room as you hunt for valuables across the lands. For the first time, you’ll also be able to create your own clan emblem and display it on banners, shields, and more. We look forward to sharing more details about these features ahead of the launch of the first Chapter.

After Chapter 1, as you can see in the roadmap, purges and PvE Sieges will be central features in the updates to come.

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Thanks Couchpotato!

CogConnected has reviewed Conan Exiles expansion Isle of Siptah.

Although it takes place on an entirely separate and substantial map, it does require the base Conan Exiles game and a bundle is available that includes both. Throughout its time in early access, the developers have taken note of the somewhat negative community reaction to the expansion’s content and mechanics and have continued to make adjustments leading up to Isle of Siptah’s full release, so this final version is a very different beast than in its early access premiere.

Perhaps even more important, the Isle of Siptah is so full of new content that it could almost be considered a sequel instead of an expansion. Comprised of several distinct biomes and on a land mass nearly as large as the base game’s Exiled Lands, the Isle of Siptah is packed with stuff to see and do. In addition to new low and high level building sets, there are new animals to hunt, kill and harvest plus over a dozen new vaults, a wealth of enemy camps to raid, thralls to enslave (and a new mechanic to capture them), new mounts and an extensive main quest that funnels the player towards the center of the Isle with a mysterious tower that unleashes a landscape-altering, monster-producing storm for several minutes at a time.

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Wccftech reports on a new expansion for Conan Exiles called Isle of Siptah which has been released in Early Access.

What is best in life? Some might say it’s to receive a new expansion to one of your favorite games. If Conan Exiles happens to be that game for you, you’re in luck as Funcom has released the Isle of Siptah, a new expansion that’s exclusively available on Steam Early Access for the time being. This major expansion for Conan Exiles adds in more than a dozen new dungeons, a Maelstrom map, and even a special Wartorn Rhino mount skin for picking up Isle of Siptah while it’s in Early Access.

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PC Gamer reports that an update to the server browser for Conan Exiles has disrupted offline play. The update also removed Denuvo DRM.

Players have been struggling to play Conan Exiles since its latest update introduced what the community is calling an always-online requirement.

With Update 41, Funcom announced the introduction of "Funcom Live Services", while also removing the previous Denuvo DRM. While the removal of Denuvo is usually a guaranteed home run for any publisher, this update has been plagued by connection problems and other bugs, leading to accusations from players of Funcom hamstringing the game's offline play modes.

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Thanks Farflame!

Twinfinite reveals some new DLC for Conan Exiles called Debaucheries of Derketo. Screenshots at the link.

If you know who Derketo is in the Conan lore, you likely know what to expect, and there is that and more.

The set will focus on roleplay and aesthetics, so it’ll come with more elements to express yourself and less functional stuff.

Starting with the functional elements we get 11 new building pieces including handy Treehouse Foundations, Hanging Bridges and Rope Bridges in different sizes, and stages in different shapes.

29 new placeables will include a lot of what you need to build a tavern in Conan Exiles including counters, barrels, tables, stools, wineshelves, and more.

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Thanks Farflame!

Some new DLC for Conan Exiles has arrived called 'Treasures of Turan'.

Treasures of Turan Pack now available

15 Apr @ 10:48pm - Jens Erik (Community Manager)

The riches of the eastern kingdom of Turan await you, exiles! Our latest cosmetic DLC, the Treasures of Turan Pack, brings the opulent gilded palaces of Turanian culture right to your fingertips.

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With the Treasures of Turan Pack you can build palaces adorned with glittering statues, tame rhinos and elephants as pack animals, and dress in the finest Turanian silks and Phalanx armor.

Treasures of Turan comes with new building pieces, placeables, armor sets, weapon sets, warpaints and pets. As Turan is one of the wealthiest nations in Hyboria, it's fitting that this offers the most ostentatious gear and building pieces in Conan Exiles yet. Enjoy the golden decorations of the building pieces and finely wrought weapons and armor.

Treasures of Turan Pack contains:

• 39 Turanian building pieces
  • A full set of building pieces with the same stats as existing tier three
• 15 new armor pieces in three sets, such as the Turanian Mercenary armor
  • Light, medium and heavy sets with an epic end-game version of each
• 9 new weapons in one Turanian weapon set
  • Same power as iron weapons with an epic end-game version of each weapon
• 5 new Turanian warpaints
  • Decorative warpaints symbolizing opulence and glory
• 9 new placeables, such as the standing lamp and brazier
  • Craft them at the new Turanian Artisan table
• 2 new exclusive pack animal pet skins
  • Adorn your rhinos and elephants with rich and golden trimmings

All the new content from Turan is exclusive to this DLC and adds a host of new visual options but does not give any in-game advantage in power. All the new items have comparable stats to existing items.

@GameGrin Conan Exiles has a new DLC available called Seekers of the Dawn.

Funcom has released their Conan Exiles - Seekers of the Dawn Pack DLC pack for Windows, with an Xbox One and PS4 becoming available coming soon. The fourth DLC release for Conan Exiles adds Yamatai themed weapons, buildings, armour and pet skins.

Thanks Farflame!

Conan Exiles dev kit has been released free on Epic Games store.

Update:

From the looks of it, this is only the dev kit for Conan Exiles. Both Epic and Funcom did not clarify on the store page whether this was only the Unreal Engine 4 dev kit or not (which is a bit misleading if you ask us). After downloading it, we can confirm that it’s only the dev kit.

Thanks Farflame!

@WorthPlaying A new update for Conan Exiles adds pets, a new dungeon, and religion.

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Five months after Conan Exiles' launch, Funcom has released the biggest update since the game left Early Access.

In this update, free for everyone who owns the game, players finally get the chance to tame animals and use them in battle or even build a farm where they can produce materials for you. The update also introduces an epic new dungeon called Midnight Grove and a new religion allowing players to summon the massive flying avatar of Jhebbal Sag.

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Thanks Farflame!

A new trailer for the 'Jewel of the West' DLC for Conan Exiles.

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The Jewel of the West Pack is now available! For our second paid DLC we're bringing the grandeur of Aquilonia into the Exiled Lands, with three new sets or armors and 9 new iron-tiered weapons. The new building marbled tier 3 build pieces will let you build high temples and mighty fortresses that gleam in the sun. Statues, braziers and silken divans bring the spirit of Aquilonian bath houses and merchant palaces into your homes.

Conan Exiles is available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4!

For more information, visit www.conanexiles.com

Thanks Farflame!

A new DLC for Conan Exiles called Jewel of the West will be launching in early August.

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The Jewel of the West Pack brings Aquilonian grandeur to Conan Exiles

5 JULY - COMMUNITY MANAGER (JENS ERIK)

Dear exiles

In the Imperial East Pack[www.conanexiles.com] we looked eastward and brought architectural styles, weapons and armor from the land of Khitai back with us to the Exiled Lands. For our second DLC we're journeying westwards, to the powerful kingdom of Aquilonia, where Conan himself is destined to one day lead a rebellion and become king.

This DLC will be available for purchase in early August.

Much like its predecessor, the Jewel of the West Pack will add a slew of new content to Conan Exiles. Build exclusive new houses and settlements with a complete set of Aquilonian building pieces. Build with building pieces sheathed in smooth marble to give your structures a grandiose look only matched by those found in the great western jewel itself.

New placeables like great statues, clay braziers and soft, silken divans will bring the spirit of Aquilonia's bath houses and merchant palaces into your homes in the Exiled Lands.

Don three new armors inspired by Aquilonia's soldiers and wield fierce weapons like the lion-headed Aquilonian Mace or crush your enemies' skulls using the Aquilonian Warhammer.

Jewel of the West Pack contains:

• 39 new Aquilonian building pieces: A full set of building pieces with the same stats as existing tier three.
• 15 new armor pieces in three sets, such as the Black Dragon armor: Light, medium and heavy sets with an epic end-game version of each.
• 9 new weapons in one Aquilonian weapon set: Same power as iron weapons with an epic end-game version of each weapon.
• 5 new Aquilonian warpaints: Decorative warpaints symbolizing, for example, rule and bravery.
• 25 new placeables, such as the harp and councilor chair, craftable in the Aquilonian Artisan station.

All the new content from Aquilonia is exclusive to this DLC. The new items do not give any in-game advantage in power, as all items have comparable stats to existing items.

Thanks Farflame!

The first DLC for Conan Exiles is available now on Steam and is named The Imperial East Pack.

The Imperial East Pack is now available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, introducing new Khitai-themed building pieces, armors, weapons, and decorations.

OSLO, Norway - June 25th, 2018 - Funcom is excited to announce that The Imperial East Pack, the first DLC for Conan Exiles, is now available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The DLC can be purchased for $9.99 on all three platforms and introduces a range of new items and building pieces inspired by the eastern kingdom of Khitai. Players will be able to build new, Khitai-themed buildings, fill them with new furniture and decorations, acquire new Khitai-patterned war paints, and don several new and ornate armors and weapons brought from Khitai to the Exiled Lands.

The Imperial East Pack contains:

•  39 new Khitan building pieces.
  • A full set of building pieces with the same stats as existing tier three.
• 15 new armor pieces in three sets, such as the Khitan Officer Armor.
  • Light, medium and heavy sets with an epic end-game version of each.
• 9 new weapons in one Khitan weapon set.
  • Same power as iron weapons with an epic end-game version of each weapon.
• 5 new warpaints in Khitan style.
  • Decorative warpaints in jade, black, white and red.
• 25 new placeables, such as a dragon idol and hanging lamps.
  • Can be created at an all new Khitan Artisan station.

Gamezone has reviewed Conan Exiles:

Review: Conan Exiles has great depth but lacks in areas that count the most

We live in a brutal world but we have rules that keep a general sense of order in our society. Imagine if you threw those rules and that order out the window, created a world where it’s literally survival of the fittest and savages were the ones who came out on top. That’s the world of Conan Exiles.

You’re a criminal, crucified and stuck out in the desert to die a slow and painful death to pay for your evil deeds. As your final moments begin to twinkle in your eye, the mighty Conan comes and cuts you down and then leaves you all alone out in the desert to survive whatever hell awaits you.

Conan Exiles takes a page from survival games like ARK and Minecraft but puts a far more brutal twist on the genre with terrifying abominations that will rip you apart, NPC and players thirsty for blood, and barbaric actions like enslaving people to do your bidding. This is a fairly grim game in its basic premise but its one that makes a fair attempt to keep you locked in its world.

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Hardcore fans of the survival genre may find it really fun to try and build a small empire in the exiled lands of the Conan universe but newcomers may find that it is uneven and janky. This is fairly expected amongst these games now but the complexity of building your character and fortresses/settlements may be daunting for people who aren't looking to grind for hours on end, especially with a combat system that lacks. Those that appreciate a world rich with lore will definitely find lots to love here but that's one of the few things keeping Conan Exiles from being a tedious bore.

Score: 6/10

Some more reviews for Conan Exiles.

JustPushStart 7/10

Conan Exiles is not a bad game, although it’s not a great game either. It’s far more enjoyable than Sea of Thieves thanks to giving players more direction, although gamers that don’t play survival genre video games aren’t going to enjoy this game a lot. Only gamers that have many online friends and love survival games are going to get the most enjoyment out of Conan Exiles.

[Editor’s Note: Conan Exiles was reviewed on the PS4 Pro platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]

Eurogamer (no score)

Whether or not these are the end times for survival gaming or the onset of a necessary period of hibernation, despite the dead weight of dozens of unfinished games and the fact that there's not a great deal left to pick from now that Conan has taken his leave, perhaps it's just as well that the genre has saved one of its best till last. If there's half the life left in it that other survival games have enjoyed, it'll be a life worth living.

PC Gamer (65/100)

Given that combat animations and weapon feedback aren’t where you’d hope them to be even when Exiles is functioning more or less correctly, it doesn’t work up much goodwill to look past the glitches when they happen. Nor are these shortcoming enough to write the game off entirely: its capacity to throw impressive new areas of the map at you while maintaining epic clan war sagas is something to be celebrated.

Thanks Farflame!

Wccftech checked out Conan Exiles:

Conan Exiles Review – Barbaric Fun

The first challenge you’ll have to overcome in Conan Exiles is the download. For this review, I was offered a download code which clocked in at around 50 GB. Even with good, uninterrupted connection that’s still a few hours before you can actually play the game. Once you finally enter the Exiled Lands, though, you’ll find a survival game with a heavy leaning on RPG adventures.

Because of the recent incredible popularity of survival games, only now waning thanks to the breakthrough success of the Battle Royale genre, the marketplace is completely oversaturated. Most games tried to build on unique gimmicks or mechanics to try and stand above the crowd, and Conan Exiles is no different. As you may have guessed, the game is based on the Conan: The Barbarian, the universe created by writer Robert E. Howard almost a century ago.
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Despite its issues and flaunts, I couldn't keep myself away from Conan Exiles. Its meaty combat, huge map and nicely paced objectives made the game morish, even when I got lost (in the menus, not the jungles).

Pros

• Map is huge
• Grind doesn't feel like a grind
• Combat fits the barbaric nature well
• Monsters and weapons are nicely varied
• Lots of adventures to be had

Cons

• Frame rate and lag issues are really annoying
• The game just doesn't look very good
• Menus aren't very easy to understand

Score: 7.8/10

Conan Exiles leaves Early Access and has been launched today together with a launch trailer and the news that already 1 million copies have been sold.

Conan Exiles Out Today, Over 1 Million Sold
Funcom - May 08, 2018 11:02 GMT

- Conan Exiles, Funcom's open world survival game, has now left Early Access and launched in full on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 digitally and in retail -

- Launch update now live expanding world with two huge new areas, see Conan Exiles' massive Early Access transformation in new trailer + infographic -

Oslo, Norway - May 8^th, 2018 - The Barbarian has arrived!The whole team at Funcom is proud and excited to announce that Conan Exiles, the open world survival game set in the savage lands of Conan the Barbarian, successfully launched today on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4! A major launch update went out across all platforms, introducing massive new areas to the game world as well as bringing the game up from Early Access to the launch build on PC and Xbox One. Funcom also announced today that the game has sold over one million copies even before today's launch.

How much has Conan Exiles changed through Early Access?

Conan Exiles has seen massive changes, additions, and improvements throughout its Early Access phase. The size of the game world has more than doubled, dozens of new features and mechanics have been added, and huge amounts of new content has made it into the game. Today's launch version introduces the new Swamp and Volcano biomes, and finally introduces the up-to-date version of the new Purge gameplay where monsters will attack and try to bring down your base.

This infographic released today reveals the full magnitude of Conan Exiles' transformation:

View the infographic on ConanExiles.com

At the time of writing, Conan Exiles has sold over one million copies before launch, based on Early Access / Game Preview sales and retail and digital pre-orders.

"Conan Exiles is already one of the most successful titles in Funcom's 25-year history," said Funcom CEO Rui Casais. "This has been a great experience for us. When I look at the incredible journey the game has gone through in just 15 months of Early Access as well as the very positive development in player reviews over the past few months, I feel confident that we've been successful in what we set out to do. I'm very proud of the amazing work everyone on the team has done."

Conan Exiles is an open world survival game set in the savage lands of Conan the Barbarian. Here players must survive in a vast and seamless world, build a home and a kingdom, and dominate in savage combat and epic warfare in either single-player or multiplayer.

For more information about Conan Exiles, please visit www.conanexiles.com .

MassivelyOP reports that Conan Exiles will be launching very soon. Until then why not entertain yourself with Conan the Barbarian over at Reddit for an AMA (ask me anything).

Do you feel the need to ask someone what is best in life? Perhaps you should not, as the Conan Exiles AMA run by Conan himself will probably be full of people who think that referencing that specific line is the height of comedy. But as the game gears up for launch, you can take part in that Reddit AMA starting at noon EDT; the thread will open for questions an hour before the start time. Crush your hesitation and march forward to ask questions before the proper launch!

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OnlySP reports on a new Conan Exiles trailer which explores a new region.

Deep Silver’s Conan Exiles, the open-world survival game set in Robert E. Howard’s iconic barbarian universe, has a new trailer that reveals more details regarding the title’s harsh landscapes and player progression.

The trailer goes in-depth on the challenges that face players at the start of the game, which is set entirely in a ruin-riddled desert complete with natural predators, deadly weather, and scant resources. Here, the player’s goal will be to gain experience and better equipment before moving onto the swamp biome where crafting, settlement building, and the project’s religion system really takes off.

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TechRaptor reports that Conan Exiles will have new areas and gameplay elements at launch on May 8:

Conan Exiles Reinvents Itself for Launch

Funcom has heard the lamentations of the fans regarding their game Conan Exiles, and while the community won’t see everything people have requested (Conan Exiles isn’t getting an army of mounts or the like), at a digital press event I was able to get hands-on and see some impressive changes addressing many concerns people have expressed for this next adventure in the Hyborian Age.

Conan’s New Soul

Perhaps the change that will impact the game most on a moment to moment basis is the complete combat overhaul that Funcom has pulled off. Originally, Conan Exiles had a simplistic combat system that they based off of Skyrim. Many players had issues with it, and as combat is a core component to basically anything with the name Conan, Funcom listened. Instead of messing around with small tweaks, they opted to make a new combat system for Conan Exiles to do justice to the barbarian, taking more inspiration from recent Action RPGs.

While hesitant to name it, the Souls series is the clear inspiration, with each of the different weapons having heavy and light attacks that chain together into combos. Beyond that, there are also special finisher effects on heavy attack finishers (like bleed for daggers), dodge rolling around, and the secondary weapon/block button varies based on what you have equipped. Shields block and quickly break, two-handed attacks kick, and double daggers get a quicker, special backward dodge roll.

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Thanks Farflame!

Farflame spotted some Conan Exiles previews:

Gamereactor: Conan Exiles - A Sneak Peek at Funcom's Future

COGconnected: Conan Exiles is Rich, Barbaric and Dripping With Potential

PCGamesN: Conan Exiles gets a volcano with its full release next month

MassivelyOP interviewed community manager Tor Egil about various aspects of Conan Exiles, such as the reasons for early access, the world of Conan, and gameplay now and in the future.

On the world of Conan

I’m not personally big on the Conan IP, but it definitely boasts interesting elements: nudity, limb-chopping, and Pokemon-esque collecting of people to bolster my town against my enemies (ignoring the slavery part) is fun. The way it plays out internationally is curious too. For example, perceived American sentiment on nudity means that’s going bye-bye on consoles (cannibalism, slavery, and decapitation made the cut). Andersen mentions the EU is fine with nudity and will have access to all of it. I mention that Japanese anime allows simplified male genitalia on screen, but Conan’s detailed male bits are why it needs to be censored. (Interestingly, when I’d talk to fellow teachers in Japan about what really stood out as inappropriate in American movies, they generally had an issue with decapitation and the loss of limbs more than anything else!)

This is when I decided to ask how Funcom devs decide what aspects of Conan can be shown in the game and which kind are played down or avoided. Cannibalism is OK, but they decided not to go into graphic detail, even though they technically could have players just eating arm meat right from the bone. The description of the meat is enough. This kind strategy – tell, don’t show – with certain adult aspects of IP is how Funcom tries to get around some potential problems with localization, even though the game’s rating is already quite high. Blood and nudity have to be because “they go with the world of Conan.”

And that’s the key. The team will do what works for the IP but it also has to have a purpose. Cutting off arms happens and fits with the world of Conan, so it’s in. Urination, something they considered, didn’t make the cut since they didn’t feel it had a function (clearly no boy scouts on the team). Even as an emote, people would go overboard. It’s funny, but it doesn’t exactly fit with the IP, since it’d get too silly.

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MassivelyOP reports on the changes coming to Conan Exiles based on a recent developer stream. Also of note are the new forums for the game which you can visit here.

If you missed last week’s Conan Exiles stream, you actually missed some good stuff. The big news centers on the economic system en route for the game. Funcom explains that players will be able to find and trade – and even forge – different types of coinage and currencies, as well as trade with NPC merchants and thrall-traders, chiefly in the Unnamed City, which is due for quite the overhaul with new NPCs. Fast travel will also be possible via craftable map rooms.

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MMO Games listed the launch day (May 8th) features of Conan Exiles:

Conan Exiles Looks at Features Arriving at Launch

[...]

As far as features heading to the game for launch, players can look forward to a couple of cozy new biomes in the form of a swamp near the southern desert and a volcanic area towards the Frozen North. The new biomes will double the size of the game’s map, and will naturally introduce new monsters, crafting materials, weapons, armor and more.

The devs also are working on what is promised to be a complete overhaul of combat – a feature that was stated to be the single most important focus according to community survey results. A livestream from earlier in the month offered a deeper look at what’s different, but Combat 2.0 is said to be more visceral, more tactical, and more fun.

Launch will also see the addition of farming; a new religion; a fast travel system; a Perk system to let you adjust your character to your playstyle; and the addition of a purge mechanic which will send NPCs or creatures to attack player bases in either PvE or PvP servers, though private server admins can choose to have this mechanic disengaged.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Funcom has announced the launch date for Conan Exiles as May 8th 2018 for PCs and Console.

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- Funcom reveals Collector's Edition, release date, and final launch price for the studio's Early Access open-world survival game -

Oslo, Norway - December 11th, 2017 - Funcom today announced that Conan Exiles, the studio's open-world survival game set in the savage lands of Conan the Barbarian, will shed its Early Access skin and launch in both digital and retail stores on May 8th, 2018. Currently available in PC Early Access and Xbox One Game Preview, May 8th next year will also see the premiere of Conan Exiles on the PlayStation 4. To celebrate today's announcement, Funcom released a brand new trailer which also offers a glimpse at some of the new content that will make its way to the final version, including an entirely new biome and a new combat system.

The game's official launch key art and box shots were also released today.

[...]

@MassivelyOP A recent dev stream for Conan Exiles outlined future plans.

...

Most recently, the studio says it’s rolled out a new bug reporting feature (through Reddit) and patched up update 31 with thrall inventories, new placeables, and repair kits. What’s the on the horizon? More work on the ecology system, including the creature revamp.

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PCGamesN reports that Funcom plans with the Conan the Barbarian IP and we will get a turn-based strategy game:

Funcom are planning to make another game using the Conan IP

Funcom are planning to make another game using the Conan the Barbarian IP, according to their latest quarterly report. It is planned to enter pre-production in early 2018, as the Funcom Oslo team shift focus from Conan Exiles.

This decision to make another game with the Conan licence comes after Conan Exiles becoming the company’s biggest earner during Q2 of 2017. With positive reception to its Frozen North expansion and a full launch planned in early 2018, it seems that Funcom want to ride the Conan wave with another project featuring the famous barbarian. It is uncertain at this time as to the form of this new Conan game, but it will be made by the Funcom team up in Oslo.

As for the Funcom team in North Carolina, their new project is “dependent on the performance of Secret Worlds Legends,” as well as the hiring of additional staff to work on this project. On top of these two games, Funcom are also planning to release a “tactical turn-based strategy game” in 2018, with the help of a company called Bearded Dragons International.
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Clare Lunawolf checked out Conan Exiles:

Conan Exiles – First Impressions

Conan Exiles is a survival game that allows you to play alone or co-op without being forced into the multiplayer servers. Players take control of a person who was exiled and left for dead after being crucified for various crimes. They are then saved by Conan who mysteriously vanishes and leaves the player alone in the harsh Exiled Lands.

Character creation is significantly more detailed than most survival games and falls more in line with a MMO. Which matches the MMO style multiplayer portion of the game. Players have a range of different options to select from when customizing their character. While it doesn’t provide a huge amount of choices, there’s a nice variety here to keep players occupied for quite some time as they create their own person.

[...]

The weakest point of Conan Exiles seems to be the combat system. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with it but it is very stale. It has players hacking at enemies with the same motion and if you’re the sort who likes to dodge and weave around enemies then you could just be flailing at the air. It lacks that special something which would make it entertaining and worthwhile. Right now it just feels like it was added so players would have something else to do in the world as opposed to a mechanic in-grained into the gameplay.

The first few hours of Conan Exiles have been an entertaining struggle. Building is definitely the highlight of this game and it’s easy to lose a lot of time constructing a house thanks to all the little decorative objects in the game. It’s clear that there’s a lot to learn about Conan Exiles and that the game has a lot to offer players. There are plenty of things in the game we haven’t seen yet such as the Thrall system and the new Frozen North content so we’ll report back later about these.

Thanks Farflame!

@MassivelyOP Conan Exiles will soon have a new free expansion which will bring the snowscape biome.

It’s gonna be a big couple of weeks for Funcom.

The studio is teasing a big reveal of Conan Exiles’ expansion this week. Due out on August 16th, the survivalbox update is expected to heavily feature the long-awaited snowscape biome. Oh yeah, and it’s free and launching simultaneously for PC and console. “Winter is coming,” Funcom quips.
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Farflame spotted this Conan Exiles dev stream:

Conan Exiles dev stream - Combat changes and a peek at the new biome

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Conan Exiles is getting some big updates with a complete revamp to the game's combat system and a whole new biome! Join creative director Joel Bylos and community manager Jens Erik Vaaler as they give you an extensive look at what's coming to Conan Exiles.

Farflame spotted a Conan Exiles trailer for a free DLC:

Conan Exiles – Expansion Teaser Trailer

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Conan Exiles is coming to Xbox One Game Preview on August 16th, 2017! A free expansion update will release at the same time on both PC and Xbox One, expanding the game world and bringing your journey from the scorching desert to the cold, frozen highlands in the north. The expansion update will be revealed in full later this summer.

Conan Exiles is an open-world multiplayer game, where you must survive, build, and dominate in the savage world of Conan the Barbarian. Currently available in PC Early Access on Steam, Conan Exiles will hit Xbox One Game Preview on August 16th 2017 followed by full release on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in Q1 2018.

@PCGamesN Conan Exiles update 24 brings with it alot of new content.

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See the new update in the trailer above, and you can also check out the patch notes here:
New content

• Added "The Dregs" which is a level 10-20 group encounter, soloable at level 30+
• Added new recipes which can be obtained from exploring the new dungeon
• Added new armor and melee weapons recipes
• Added new ranged ammunition recipes
• Added new consumables recipes
• All reptiles now drop reptile hide
• Added several chests of different tiers to the dungeon
• General bug fixes and improvements

[...]

Conan Exiles gets a siege weapon:

Update 23: Dominate with the Trebuchet!

Last week we added the dye system to Conan Exiles, letting you color of your clothes and armor to create your own look, and soon you can explore an all new and brutal dungeon in the sewers beneath the Unnamed city.

But this week we are introducing the powerful trebuchet siege weapon so you can smash through the defenses of your enemies! The trebuchet is the first siege weapon in the game, but when the full siege update arrives later, you will be able to make even more such powerful machines.

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Thanks Farflame!

@PCGamer they report that Funcom will pay players up to $500 for reporting exploits in Conan Exiles.

Similar to Ark: Survival Evolved's bounty program, Funcom has introduced a cash-powered vehicle for tracking down exploits in their Early Access survival game, Conan Exiles. It was announced last week, but now we've got the details: players reporting major exploits can earn between $100 and $500 dollars (paid via PayPal).

Funcom says it's looking for "Serious exploits which can be used in online play and on multiplayer servers" that give players "big advantages in the game, like duplicating items or being able to build inside mountains/rocks." Players spotting these kinds of exploits can email the developers to provide them with the info:

"Send a detailed test case for the exploit to exploithunters@conanexiles.com. You must describe each step needed to reproduce what you have found. Please include your PayPal email so we can reward you for your help. Also, please include your name or Steam user name if you wish it to be included in our list of rewarded Exploit Hunters."
[...]

Farflame spotted this update for Conan Exiles:

UPDATE 22 - Dye system, ruins system and new weapons out now!

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Changelog:

• TL;DR (Patch Highlights)
• NEW FEATURE: Ruins (decay) system! Cleans up old buildings over time. It is disabled by default on private servers and enabled by default on Official servers
• NEW FEATURE: Dye System! Gather pigments and make all kinds of dyes in the Firebowl Cauldron to color your armor!
• Added 8 new weapons and rebalanced all weapons so damage scales with level
• Changed feat requirements and removed dependencies, added bonus knowledge points every 10 levels
• Free feat respec when opening the feat GUI for the first time after this patch!
• You can now craft the Hyena fur armor at the armorers bench if an armorer thrall is present
• Thralls are now properly animated when working at crafting stations
• EXPLOIT FIX: You can no longer build inside cliffs or mountains
• EXPLOIT FIX: Buildings will never spawn outside the curse wall
• EXPLOIT FIX: You can no longer duplicate equipped armor pieces off of unconscious player bodies
• EXPLOIT FIX: Fixed a case where you could fall through the landscape and gain access to other parts of the map
• EXPLOIT FIX: Thralls that have started playing death animations can no longer be picked up and reused

Performance and Tech Fixes

• Game install now grouped into .pak archives. 1st time loading speed from main menu into game should be improved by a factor of 3x
• Game database is now backed up before upgrading the database as part of patching

Server Settings

• Added a serversetting to modify how quickly thralls get converted (thrall crafting time multiplier)
• Added a serversetting so all containers can be interacted with irrespective of ownership (containers ignore all ownership)
• Added serversetting to modify NPC health also affects Thralls (NPC damage taken multiplier)
• Added serversetting to modify the rate at which machines consume fuel (fuel burn time multiplier)
• Added serversetting PlayerDamageTakenMultiplier

Text and Localization

• Language choice should now save correctly
• Added various localized text throughout the game

General Bug Fixes and Improvements

• EXPLOIT FIX: You can no longer build inside cliffs or mountains
• EXPLOIT FIX: Buildings will never spawn outside the curse wall
• EXPLOIT FIX: You can no longer duplicate equipped armor pieces off of unconscious player bodies
• EXPLOIT FIX: Fixed a case where you could fall through the landscape and gain access to other parts of the map
• EXPLOIT FIX: Thralls that have started playing death animations can no longer be picked up and reused
• Fixed a case where some buildings and placeables showed incorrect amount of hitpoints when using the repair hammer on them
• Server Message of the Day now displayed when a player logs on the server
• The control tab will no longer revert to default values when clicking on other tabs
• Unconverted thralls can no longer be put in the hotbar
• Improved usability of the "exit to main menu" button
• Crafting stations with artisan thralls now correctly confer crafting speed bonuses to the 2nd item in a crafting queue
• Replaced the arrow on placeables like chairs and chests with a new visual arrow
• Keybindings now have a "clear" button
• Players no longer appear to be wearing armor after being looted while offline
• When you have a bound thrall, other NPCs no longer show up with the same name as the thrall
• Large NPCs now push the player away when rotating
• Clan members should no longer have their armor damaged if FriendlyFireDamageMultiplier is set to 0.0
• Player no longer becomes stuck if sitting in a throne before/during server restart
• Players no longer see the Crippling Poison counter when nearby Thralls are attacked by spiders
• Encumbrance now properly calculates stamina cost to perform certain actions
• Trophy heads can be placed on walls
• Bracketed Torch now has a flame when placed out
• Added 8 new weapons and rebalanced all weapons so damage scales with level

Balance and Gameplay Fixes

• Equip animation no longer overrides knockdown
• You can now craft the Hyena fur armor at the armorers bench if an armorer thrall is present
• Hyena fur armor requires Bone.
• When last clan member leaves a clan, they take ownership of all clan buildings
• Clan officers can no longer kick other officers. You can only kick players below you in rank from the clan
• Harvesting cactus with bare hands now gives plant fiber and cochineal
• Changed feat requirements and removed dependencies, added bonus knowledge points every 10 levels
• Free feat respec when opening the feat GUI first time after this patch!

Visual Improvements

• Players now see name tags of clan members in green text
• Cleaned up and aligned the settings GUI
• Thralls are now properly animated when working at crafting stations
• Name tags stay longer onscreen and have become easier to read

Known issues

• We are aware that some NPCs do not respawn correctly if players build too close. This will be fixed in the next patch.
• We are aware of a stamina usage exploit. The fix will be rolled out with the next patch
• Due to packaging the install files into .pak archives there is a 15-20 min wait once the client is downloaded before you can launch the game as the files unpack. This will only be the case for this patch.
• When removing buildings that have become abandoned, in rare cases it is not possible to build on the same spot. If you leave and rejoin the server it should be possible to build again.
• On local play if you use dyes on an equipped armor piece you must re-equip it before the color change becomes visible

Farflame spotted this Conan Exiles interview at Wccftech:

Conan Exiles – PAX East 2017 Interview with Oscar Lopez

If you build it, they will come…..and break your stuff and put your blacksmith in the Wheel of Pain. That’s Conan Exiles, the new survival multiplayer game by Funcom which recently entered Early Access on Steam.

During Pax East 2017, we learned a little bit more about Conan Exiles’ base building mechanics, PvP, and the upcoming Siege warfare content patch from Lead Designer Oscar Lopez.

Wccftech: First things first, tell me a bit about Conan Exiles and how it differs from your previous Conan game, Age of Conan?
Lopez: Conan Exiles is a survival sandbox MMO. Your main objectives in the game are to survive first, to build an empire, and to thrive against other people. It’s a different setup than what you would get in Age of Conan. Age of Conan is an MMO with a different sense of progression and activates that you do in the game. In this game [Conan Exiles] your activities revolve around food and water and building a base, building better tools to fight. You adventure out to find more material to make even better weapons, castles while taking on other players. The two games are completely different genres and we are making sure we are letting players before jumping that this isn’t a sequel to Age of Conan but its own thing.

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How to balance a survival/crafting game? Here's the answer for Conan Exiles on Gamasutra:

Balancing survival gameplay and RPG progression in Conan Exiles

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Building a game in the survival/crafting genre right now is a tough ask. It’s a very crowded market, particularly on Steam, and particularly in Early Access, and there are a large number of high quality titles in that crowd jockeying for players’ attention and dollars.

One tack a number of games have taken recently to distinguish themselves is by expanding their survival game with player progression, loot, or other RPG systems.

[...]

“In general, we wanted specific crafts to feel like mini-projects, and tried to always have something waiting for the player right around the corner,” says Lacalle. “We wanted this dynamic to not only encompass the basic survival genre elements of hunger, thirst and access to resources and technology, but also to include combat, equipment and the ability to build anything from a tiny shack to a fortress to a grand castle that will stand against the assault of other players.”

While the system is designed to allow for multiple builds and playstyles, it becomes clear early on that it’s impossible to master all of them. While a jack-of-all-trades character is viable in Conan Exiles, that character will trade basic competence in everything for never excelling in any one area. 

The higher an attribute in Conan Exile, the more points it costs to increase it further. "It's a design that allows for specialization but presents the player with hard choices that steer them into a bare minimum set of attributes that make their characters functional all-around," says Lacalle.

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PCGamesN reports that Conan Exiles will get six major updates until release:

Here are the six major updates planned for Conan Exiles between now and full release

As revealed by Funcom’s investor report a few days back, Conan Exiles - currently in Early Access - is slated for a full release in Q1 2018. It also, as you may have heard, has been doing pretty well for itself.

[...]

As part of a five to ten million dollar investment on the part of Funcom, six major updates are due intermittently over that period. And they are - in (probable) order, no less - as follows:

1) Siege warfare
2) The Purge
3) Mounts
4) Sorcery
5) Settlement system
6) Highland biome

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

@PCInvasion Conan Exiles is getting an experimental branch called Testlive to test proposed changes to the game.

To activate the Testlive version follow these instructions.
How to Activate Conan Exiles Testlive

• Right Click on Conan Exiles.
• Select "Properties".
• Go to the "Betas" tab.
• From the drop down menu select, "Testlive".
• Close the window.
• Steam should automatically download Testlive. Once it's done, run the game. You're now running the Testlive build of Conan Exiles.
• If you want to go back to the MAIN build just repeat the steps above and choose "NONE" in the drop down list in the "Betas" tab.

A Testlive sub-forum has been added to Steam and it's here Funcom will post updates on the version's status.

Conan Exiles will receive a substantial patch in the next couple of days.

Performance and Tech fixes

• Fixes to loading screens
• Server Performance Fixes
• NPCs should be less jittery when rotating
• A fix for connecting to servers via the steam server browser and when using steamconnect
• Buildings should now load in much faster
• Placeables placed on foundations and ceiling tiles will now be saved correctly
• Several improvements to how rocks behave when they are harvested

General Bug Fixes and improvements

• Small Placeables will no longer claim land (!)
• NPC Camps now have their own land claim to prevent people from building so close to them that they stop spawning NPCs (!!)
• You should no longer get phantom duplicates in the wheel of pain
• T2 Altars should no longer disappear
• Surrender should no longer break early when using fists
• Removed invisible collision that was blocking a certain chest in the world
• Arrows will now longer shoot in "Random crazy directions"
• Ranged weapons should now always fire correctly
• Rhinos should no longer try to walk through players
• Palisades will now correctly deal damage on contact
• Palisades should now be easier to place
• Fixed a case where players were able to destroy rocks with their fists. Sorry, but this privilege is reserved only for Conan himself.
• Fixed an issue where interactable objects would spam "Press E to interact" on the GUI
• Added an arrow to many placeables to help players orient them correctly
• The Offering of Mitra recipe now correctly requires 1 human heart and 1 unblemished meat
• Fixed an issue with stair placement detection
• The Gong and the Horn will now be audible over greater distances
• Added new emotes that can be learned by tracking down Story NPCs and getting them to teach you

Balance and Gameplay Fixes

• Some feat requirements have been simplified or removed. For example, it is now possible to learn Journeyman Craftsman as soon as you hit level 10. Due to the impact of this change all players have gotten a free feat respec.
• Ansel will now respect collision preventing people from moving through walls and other structures
• Non Admins will be restricted to 2 meters of movement when using Ansel
• Balance pass on Bows. Simple Bow range has been increased, Hyrkanian Bow range has been dramatically increased. Crossbow range has been reduced but they now shoot much faster
• We have done an overhaul on what monsters can damage which tier of buildings. If you haven't upgraded from sandstone you might want to think about doing that.
• Increased crafting XP across the board with greater increases for crafting more complex (higher tier) items
• Inverted Wooden Roof Wedge and Stonebrick Frame now require Journeyman Craftsman instead of Master Craftsman
• Black rocks in the starting desert are now harvestable
• Higher grade tools will now yield higher amounts of secondary resources (Bark/branches)
• Resetting your Knowledge Points will no longer cause you to lose your selected religion
• Removed Corruption sources from starting area caves
• Removed the Regen component from Purified Meat. This perk is reserved to Mitra's Ambrosia and Healing Potions. Purified Meat is still an extremely good food source
• Player corpses can only be harvested for religious purposes once every 30 minutes
• Balance pass on the amount of materials requires for basic chemistry potions
• Armor drops removed from chests
• Emus will now give less XP

Visual Improvements

• The Dogs of the Desert finally got their uniform shipment and will be donning their new outfits
• Visual adjustment to the Medium Tasset to reduce clipping issues
• Visual adjustments to the Setite Choker and Shendyt to reduce clipping issues
• Cutless and Falcata have had their icons updates
• Visual flair added to several hairstyles
• Visual improvements to female heads

@DSOGaming Conan Exiles has sold 320K in one week recouping its cost of production and modding tools have been released.

...
Funcom today also released the custom Conan Exiles Dev Kit allowing creators everywhere to develop modifications for the game. Anyone can now create and upload ‘mods' to the Conan Exiles Steam Workshop, whether it's small changes and quality of life improvements, or total conversion mods introducing new creatures, characters, and worlds. To get started, head over to UnrealEngine.com and download the Unreal launcher to access the dev kit.

Funcom has also announced that it will reveal the future of Conan Exiles at this year's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco.
[...]

Funcom is looking for a new partner to host its official servers for Conan Exiles.

Update on Official Servers
4 February - Community Manager (Jens Erik)
Greetings, Exiles!

These first few days of Early Access has been an absolute whirlwind!
It's been incredible watching so many of you join us on this Early Access adventure. We would never have imagined that so many of you would be joining us so soon, and while we certainly knew that Conan Exiles had the potential to become very popular, the initial popularity is more than we anticipated.

A pleasant surprise, for sure, but as you all know it has also uncovered some unforeseen issues that we are now working very hard to resolve. We have already released several patches and the entire team is working on getting the next one ready. We remain one hundred percent committed to the Early Access model and that means listening to the community and making sure we improve the game constantly. Right now we are focusing on the most pressing issues like rubberbanding, disconnects, and other server related issues, and as soon as we have that under control we can start looking closer at gameplay improvements as well as new content and features (check out the What's Next for Conan Exiles[blog.conanexiles.com] page for a glimpse of what we're planning to do).

Right now there are nearly 7700 servers online running Conan Exiles. About 7500 of these are privately run servers, while 200 are official servers hosted by PingPerfect (source: http://topconanservers.com/)

Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming demand for servers and our needs for administrating them, our official partner has been unable to deliver the level of quality and service we require. Because of this we have mutually agreed to end the partnership. We are in the process of finding new partners with the ideal hardware we can move the existing game databases to. However, due to the high demand for Conan Exiles servers, many hosting companies are simply out of the hardware that we need and as such this process might take a few days.

In the meantime, we thank you for your patience and encourage you to play on any of the thousands of unofficial servers that are out there. Many are home to thriving and very welcoming communities. We sincerely apologize to everyone who has played and made progress on the official servers, but we think it is better to deal with this problem now rather than later.

PCGamesN has checked out Conan Exiles:

What does Conan Exiles bring to the saturated survival genre?

While Lord of the Rings, and more recently A Song of Ice and Fire, are the books that frequently serve as the starting point of a love affair with fantasy, it was Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp’s Conan yarns that solidified my obsession with the genre. 

 

Conan: Exiles is the latest attempt to transpose the harsh Hyborian Age from the pages of comics and novels to video games. Previous attempts have largely been rubbish, aside from Age of Conan, a mixed bag with some standout moments. But perhaps Exiles can finally give Conan’s universe the game it deserves while at the same time spicing up what has rapidly become a rather saturated genre. 

A multiplayer survival/crafting game doesn’t immediately scream Conan, a character who never dawdles and would be far too busy decapitating sorcerers and stealing magical gems to waste time gathering the materials to build an ugly hut. But you’re not Conan. In Exiles, you’re just some random person getting crucified. The titular hero does appear for a moment, but then promptly buggers off to let you play a survival game.

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Thanks Farflame!

Conan Exiles has been released on Steam early access.

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PC EARLY ACCESS: OUT NOW! | XBOX ONE GAME PREVIEW: Spring 2017
LEARN MORE: www.conanexiles.com

Conan Exiles is an Early Access open-world survival sandbox game set in the brutal universe of Conan the Barbarian!

English, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean languages supported.

You are an exile, outcast and downtrodden, sentenced to walk in a barbaric wasteland where the weak are crushed and only the strong can live. Here you must fight to survive, build, and dominate the world alone on your own server or with enemies and allies in online multiplayer.

Henriquejr spotted the cinematic trailer for Conan Exiles on PC Gamer:

Conan Exiles drops cinematic trailer and sets price ahead of launch next week

To enter Early Access on January 31.

Are cinematic trailers helpful? I tend to file them in the same category as live-action shorts in that I'm not convinced they make me feel any more inclined to want a game after viewing. Conan Exiles is, however, a game I'm pretty excited for and this cinematic comes with news of its price and details of its special edition, should that sort of thing tickle your fancy.

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@PCGamer Conan Exiles has a new trailer out showing off the Avatars causing mass destruction.

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As you'll spot around the 2.30 mark above, adversarial exiles can summon 'Avatars', which is where the game's domination really seems to come into its own. "An Avatar is the ultimate force of destruction in a PvP siege," explains Lacalle. "If you are under attack by an Avatar, you have to find the summoner and kill them."

In the interest of balance, players who choose to summon these gargantuan weapons are made "uniquely" vulnerable during the summoning period, and as such can been seen from almost anywhere on the map.

Dev Blog 9 emphasises the importance of the world and lore of Conan in Conan Exiles.

Howard wrote many tales of Conan, and many more have been told in comic books and movies since his death.

Conan Exiles builds on and draws inspiration from these great sources. The events in Conan Exiles take place on Conan's timeline between the stories Xuthal of the Dusk (The Slithering Shadow) and A Witch Shall be Born.

You play as a condemned exile, crucified in the burning desert. It is Conan himself who cuts you down from the cross and frees you. Conan continues on his journey, but you must now try and survive in the harsh Exiled Lands.

An enigmatic serpent bracelet has been placed around your wrist. It will kill you if you try to escape by crossing the huge Cursewall surrounding the Exiled Lands. The Cursewall is a powerful magical barrier which cuts you off from the outside world.

Who has placed the bracelet around your arm? Why have you been exiled to this place for your alleged crimes and not just executed on the spot by those who brought you here?

The Exiled Lands are full of mysteries and as you struggle to survive you can also strive to uncover them.

But you are definitely not alone in the Exiled Lands. Large groups of exiles have banded together and formed dangerous factions. The Yog worshipping Darfari cannibals will be among the first you meet. Along the eastern river you can find thieves and pirates who fight under the banner of The Black Hand. The bandits called The Dogs of the Desert lay claim to the lands further north with their bestial ways, and to the west you can find a sprawling city made by Stygian mercenaries and relic hunters who hunt for the treasures of old.

Many secrets lie buried beneath the sands and in deep caves. Explore where you dare, but beware of the dangerous creatures which lurk in the dark places of the world. Tunnels and temples built ages ago might have been abandoned by their former inhabitants, but their riches and mysteries are still well guarded by new terrors.

@DSOGaming they tell us about Conan Exiles mod capability and server system.

Funcom announced the server system, the tools they get to control the server and the world around them, and the mod support system in Conan Exiles on PC. In Conan Exiles, Players will be able to set up their own dedicated servers using their own hardware or rent servers through Funcom's official server partner PingPerfect.

Players can easily find the right server to suit their preferred playstyle by using the Community Filter when they first start playing. This allows them to find a comfortable home with likeminded gamers in categories such as Hardcore, Role-Play, Casual, and so on.

If you choose to run your own server, you will have access to a powerful server control system that allows you to alter many aspects of the play experience. Here you can toggle PvP, turn off avatars, disable the sandstorm, choose what players lose when they die, control the day/night cycle, resource yield, and much more. Server admins can easily make changes to settings in-game, on the fly, and instantly see the changes, most of which does not even require a server restart. Server admins also have access to a full-featured in-game developer tool that allows them spawn any item available in the game, from weapons to building pieces and resources. They can also trigger god mode, make themselves invisible, teleport around the game world, spawn monsters and NPCs, disable hunger/thirst, and much more.

@DSOGaming Conan Exiles has revealed its PC requirements.

MINIMUM:

OS: Windows 7 64 Bit/ Windows 8 64 Bit/ Windows 10 64 Bit
Processor: Intel Core i3 3.0 GHz or AMD equivalent
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 (2GB) or AMD equivalent
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 35 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:

OS: Windows 7 64 bit / Windows 8 64 bit / Windows 10 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i5/i7 3.0 GHz or AMD equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD equivalent
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 35 GB available space
Additional Notes: Recommended to run the game on Ultra settings

Funcom has released a new video for Conan Exiles that focuses on building.

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Published on Jan 6, 2017

PC EARLY ACCESS: January 31, 2017 | XBOX ONE GAME PREVIEW: Spring 2017
Also check out our SURVIVAL video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3brR...

Conan Exiles is a sprawling open-world survival sandbox, but it's by no means an EMPTY sandbox. Here you must build fortresses and entire cities among the ruins of ancient civilizations. In this video you get to learn more about how you build and craft in the world of Conan, and how you destroy the homes and posessions of your enemies!

English, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean languages supported.

You are an exile, outcast and downtrodden, sentenced to walk in a barbaric wasteland where the weak are crushed and only the strong can live. Here you must fight to survive, build, and dominate the world alone on your own server or with enemies and allies in online multiplayer.

Journey through a vast, seamless world filled with the ruins of ancient civilizations and uncover its dark history and buried secrets as you seek to conquer and dominate the exiled lands yourself. Start with nothing but your bare hands and forge the legacy of your clan, from simple tools and weapons to gigantic fortresses and entire cities. Enslave the bandits of the exiled lands to do your bidding by breaking them on the grueling Wheel of Pain. Sacrifice the beating hearts of your enemies on the blood-soiled altars of your god to seize true power and glory. Summon the colossal avatar of your god and see them lay waste to your enemies and their homes.

Just remember: in this brutal land of vengeful gods, bloodthirsty cannibals, and vicious monsters, survival is more than tracking down food and water. Explore mysterious ruins in search of treasure and knowledge, but beware the risk of your mind being corrupted by the dark forces of the world. Traverse vast sand dunes and seek shelter from scouring sandstorms sweeping across the burning sands. March into war against your enemies and unleash your savage fury in brutal combat. Go in unprepared and it will be your head rolling and limbs flying.

Conan Exiles is not an empty sandbox. It is a world rich in history where you must discover the knowledge and secrets of ancient civilizations as you struggle to build your own.

PCGamesN preview Conan Exiles and find it not as narrative focused as other games by Funcom but a serious entry into the Conan world nonetheless.

Funcom's forthcoming twist (graduating from Early Access on January 31) on the established multiplayer survival mode is about establishing your own tribe in a barren and dangerous land. You're not the sole force of good in a cruel and evil world, but instead just another desperate brute seeking riches, safety and power. To achieve that, you'll have to employ some Old Testament cruelty - sure, you can kill your foes and conquer their lands, but why not force them into slavery or tear out their heart and sacrifice it upon the altars of your god?

Slavery and religion are core gameplay mechanics in Conan Exiles, and how much of a bastard you're willing to be dictates your ability to survive. That's because staying fed and hydrated are the least of your concerns in a world full of hellish beasts and lethal sandstorms and barbarian settlements.

The Thrall system lets you capture NPCs you come across in the world, drag them back to your settlement, break their will on the tellingly titled Wheel of Pain, and then forever exploit them for all they're worth. "There are many types of Thrall and they each serve a unique purpose," explains Bylos. "[There are] warriors to guard your base, archers to line your walls, smiths and tanners to provide expertise and unlock cultural crafting recipes, priests to oversee your altars and entertainers to relieve your corruption." It's a hideously sinister idea for a game mechanic, but if there is a place for it then it's surely in the sword and sorcery confines of Hyboria.

Henriquejr spotted this PC Gamer article about the upcoming survival RPG Conan Exiles:

Conan Exiles dev diary talks survival tactics, teases new footage

Funcom's slant on Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian is fast approaching its January 31 Early Access launch. Its latest developer diary explores how you'll go about staying alive in the incoming open-world survival game, teasing some new in-game footage along the way.

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