The new survival game from Funcom, Conan Exiles, is said to be twice the size of the world of Skyrim and apparently at least 4 times as bloody.
Listening to Joel Bylos and Lawrence Poe in their interview with IGN, everything sounds so logical. Survival games are trending and the ultimate “survivor” is Conan. In the new game Conan Exiles, players will meet the barbarian in his mid-twenties during his wandering years. But it’s not about Conan himself, but about the wild land where his story takes place.
No classes, a single massive map per server
At Early Access, Conan Exiles will offer a single 53 square kilometer map without loading screens, but with a variety of different landscapes. There will be no classes in the game, and freedom will be at the forefront. Players can serve different gods, even change religions if they wish.
Not much can be gleaned about the actual gameplay from the interview. Players can gather resources to build houses, also in various architectural styles of the different peoples. If many players work together, fortresses and castles should be possible as well.
The world itself is contained, but looting NPC hordes can invade from the outside, which players must defend against.
It is planned that there will be both private and public servers. Administrators should be able to configure many details.
Heads should not roll, but fly
Funcom’s Bylos talks most about the game’s atmosphere: It is said to be bloody, with heads and limbs flying during fights. There are plans for fast-paced combat with direct feedback. It is intended as a first-person game, although there will also be a 3rd-person perspective.
There will also be nudity in some form in the game. Players will be able to capture other players and sacrifice them to their gods. But don’t worry, Bylos assures, this will not be a long martyrdom where players humiliate, feed, and torture the captives; rather, it’s more like: Ritual, tear out the heart, done.
It seems that Funcom still has a lot planned before the game starts Early Access on PC in the summer. It will then come to consoles later.
Plenty of warning signs: Studio needs quick success
Mein MMO says: In the interview, Conan Exiles seems like a massive project – very different from The Park, which was initially planned as a “small game”.
One can’t help but wonder how Funcom intends to pull this off in a relatively short time and with certainly limited budget. Especially since they repeatedly emphasize how much they value production quality.
According to reports, Funcom is under pressure for success and time. Whether that can be reconciled with high quality seems questionable.
The “Early Access” model is not exactly associated with a quick production in survival games. It often seems that a “rough version” is sold very early through Early Access. Players see a lot of potential, there is a brief hype, but it fades when players realize that there are still many work-in-progress and construction errors that persist for months or even years.
Because the actual finishing touches on early access survival titles progress terribly slowly. At least that has been the case with many similar projects. One exception is undoubtedly the summer hit 2015 Ark: Survival Evolved. Maybe Funcom can follow in its footsteps. One would wish that for the Norwegian studio.
Currently, where there are only ideas and a few screenshots, we remain skeptical for now.
