Are you excited about a new survival MMO with fresh challenges and a foreign world? The survival game Conan Exiles is now officially available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. In our test, you will get all the information about the game. We have tested the PC version.
Conan Exiles was released on May 8, 2018, for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 after over a year in Early Access. Compared to the first day of Early Access, the map alone has become almost three times larger. More and more features have been added to Conan Exiles.
At first, Conan Exiles received poor reviews on Steam, particularly regarding the combat system. The game was said to have a lot of potential but was also criticized for not utilizing that potential enough.
However, Funcom has responded to the criticism. Now the reviews are mostly positive. The new combat system is well-received – even if there are still points of criticism.
What makes Conan Exiles special, and how good is it?
What Conan Exiles Offers
What is Conan Exiles? Conan Exiles is a survival MMO set in the harsh barbarian world of Conan the Barbarian. You are convicted criminals sent into exile to die. But Conan himself frees you. Now, you must fight your way through the “Exiled Lands”.
- Survival: The main feature is survival. You must eat, drink, and ensure that the temperatures of the various areas do not affect you too much. You gain experience just for surviving, which allows you to level up. Conan Exiles is built around survival.
- Leveling/Progress: During the game, you can level up to level 60. For each level, you receive skill points that you can invest in building recipes and attributes. Due to the limited number of skill points, you must decide whether you want to be a powerful warrior, a skilled archer, or a cunning survival expert.
- Building/Crafting: In Conan Exiles, you can invest points in new recipes with every level. You learn how to craft better building parts or weapons and armor. The materials you use for crafting get progressively better. Starting with sandstone and wood, you will later wear gear made of star metal or obsidian and build your base with black ice.
- Combat: Instead of building, you can also choose to seek combat more frequently with other players or NPCs. Conan Exiles focuses on various melee weapons. Each weapon has its own combat style.
- Exploration: The “Exiled Lands” are divided into four zones: the desert, swamp, icy north, and volcano. Each of these zones has its own challenges and dungeons that you can explore.
How Good is Conan Exiles
Last year, one could see how much effort Funcom has put into making the game a consistently good experience. In my opinion, Funcom has indeed succeeded.
The fact that the game tells a story that you can experience is a significant plus. While you pursue the goal of simply surviving, you discover more and more pieces of this story, which gradually come together. The game has captivated me.
The entry into Conan Exiles is harsh. If you are not careful, you will quickly land back in the desert. However, this difficult entry flows into the game so well that the first dozen hours fly by. “Just finish building this one building” was a thought that often crossed my mind.
The steady progress in Conan Exiles feels good. Players start the game completely naked and nailed to a cross. Gradually, they work their way up from stones and twigs to iron and eventually to obsidian. Character development is well thought out and fluid, just as it should be in a survival MMO.
Intricate Crafting Without Instructions
Crafting and building are among the most important pillars of a survival MMO. If building your base is not fun, the enjoyment of survival quickly fades. Conan Exiles follows an interesting approach here, which is fundamentally good – but also has its challenges. The system is only simple at the beginning; later it becomes complex and unnecessarily convoluted.
It’s nice and practical that the first recipes can be crafted from the inventory. The first house can be built easily from the inventory.
But that marks the end of the beginner-friendly experience. As the game progresses, more and more materials are required for expansion and improvement. Many raw materials are available from various sources, and some must be crafted through a detour.
Figuring out that path is tedious and often dependent on chance.
Googling Barbarians
At first, experimenting is still fun, but later it often becomes annoying. The path inevitably leads to external websites. You might find yourself googling: “Where do I find thread? How do I make bricks?”
If you take a look at what people search for in Conan Exiles, it feels like you’re in a hardware store: shaped wood, iron, hardened leather, bark, sulfur, reinforced leather.
The fact that most recipes cannot be found in the game can quickly be frustrating. Some methods are not immediately obvious and can only be discovered through trial and error or by using Google. Who would think that coal turns into tar in the fluid press?
This is a plus for the idea of allowing the player to experiment. But a minus for the sometimes far-fetched methods.
From Simple Survivor to Powerful Warrior
Conan Exiles does a significantly better job with its progression system. The development of your character is comparable to that of a solid RPG. Leveling up in Conan Exiles always means getting a step closer to the next point of development.
The innovative skill system of Conan Exiles aids in character development. The attributes with their perks allow for clear goals in character development. The perks provide motivation for leveling and also offer good improvements even in the later stages of the game. They complete the feeling of fluid development.
It is particularly enjoyable to reset points at max level with “Yellow Lotus Potions” and try out entirely new builds. Conan Exiles offers many ways to play a character. One downside: recipes (talents) are also reset, and they all have to be reallocated, which is time-consuming.
Similar Games: You might enjoy Conan Exiles if:
- The crafting, teamwork, and division of labor in Life is Feudal appealed to you.
- You want to explore a large, diverse world like in ARK: Survival Evolved.
- You are looking for an adult setting and a realistic combat system like in The Elder Scrolls Online.
A First-Class Combat System
The combat system of Conan Exiles was long criticized. It felt sluggish, the attacks were hardly responsive, and it was more of a “click here and hit there” experience. This only changed late in Early Access.
Conan Exiles now offers an advanced, good combat system. This definitely enhances the game. Each weapon has its pros and cons, which come into play especially in PvP. Each weapon type plays differently – a variety that not many games offer. The downside is that multiple weapon types often need to be carried for combat against players or NPCs to counter effectively. The weapons are heavy and take up a lot of space in the inventory and with the encumbrance.
The intricate combat system makes Conan Exiles stand out from all survival games. While other games may only offer better weapons or different types of firearms, the weapon you carry changes the gameplay style in Conan Exiles. It’s fun to experiment with different weapon types, use special attacks, and perhaps discover a new weapon type for yourself.
An Amazing World with Deep Story
The story is seamlessly woven into the world of Conan Exiles. Through diaries and tablets, the narrative of the world is told, which you simultaneously experience. The lore items can be scattered everywhere yet feel rarely out of place. They give Conan Exiles a depth that many other survival MMOs lack.
Notably, the dungeons are something that other games could eagerly learn from. Exploring a cave with an end boss nearly captures the feel of a dungeon from an MMORPG.
There are stories surrounding each dungeon that can be discovered in locations within the world or in the dungeon itself. The story brings the place to life and makes it more than just a spot to farm special recipes.
This way, exploring remains interesting in the long term. Diaries and tablets are scattered everywhere and provide always new information. They encourage complete exploration of the world. This is worthwhile not only due to the story but also because the world of Conan Exiles is genuinely beautiful.
However, to enjoy this world, the player must be willing to let the world tell its story and gradually uncover it.
Religions also play a role for players in Conan Exiles. Sacrifice other humans in the name of Derketo, Ymir, Set, Mitra, or Yog, or follow Crom, who does not value your sacrifices. More about the religions can be found in our article.
Conan Exiles is Survival – But is it also an MMO?
On the official servers of Conan Exiles, up to 40 players can actively play at the same time. Server providers for private servers offer servers with up to 70 slots. Thus, the maximum number of players on a server and in a clan is quite limited.
Conan Exiles offers a multiplayer experience that is not truly ‘massive’. More than 70 players simultaneously are currently not possible, and given the size of the map, it is possible that you might hardly encounter other players at this number. Here, Funcom opted for base building over larger player numbers.
In principle, a massive battle with hundreds of players would certainly be interesting. However, due to the human NPCs, the world feels populated even with just a few players. While Conan Exiles is not really “massive”, the potential player count is quite reasonable.
PvP – Ruthless and Cohesive
Players can beat and slaughter each other on most servers – and that is precisely what the developers intended. The world of Conan is merciless. Anyone with a conscience will not survive long.
On a PvP server, players are generally not so friendly toward each other. Swords are usually drawn faster than the chat is opened. If you lose, you have two options:
- Either you take it in stride and try to be the winner next time
- or you struggle with yourself, the game, the balance, and the opponent, express frustration, and curse
Survival games appeal to a very specific type of player.
The constant threat of being killed anywhere creates a thrill that accompanies every player throughout the game. This style of gameplay is exactly as intended by the developers, but it is not suited for every player. Conan Exiles on PvP servers requires a high tolerance for frustration.
Conan Exiles faces the same balancing issue in PvP as every game: certain types of weapons and healing methods can be excessively powerful until the next nerf. The good thing about Conan Exiles is that even overpowered weapons are inferior when faced with an entire clan.
And then there are the bugs…
The biggest criticism of Conan Exiles is the bugs that have not all been fixed yet. There are not many, but when they occur, they are quite annoying.
It can happen that enemies cannot be targeted or hit correctly. The pickaxe goes through the stone and still does not hit it, or the ladder just built collapses for no apparent reason.
However, there are not more bugs in the game than in other finished productions. They stand out more because they often have a bigger impact in a survival MMO.
Does Conan Exiles Provide Long-Term Motivation?
As a survival MMO, Conan Exiles offers improvement possibilities even in the endgame. You can always search for special items from bosses or continue to expand your base according to your preferences.
How many hours of fun does Conan Exiles provide? After over 130 hours, only a small part of the world has been fully explored, and the endgame is developed enough that you can begin exploring the more challenging areas.
What is the endgame like? In the endgame, you will reach the point where you are almost wearing the best armor and weapons made of star metal or hardened steel. It typically takes around 40-50 hours to reach this point. From here, it becomes important in PvP to gain control of the volcano to process obsidian. In PvE, at this stage, you can begin exploring the most challenging dungeons together with your clan.
How varied is the game? There are four different biomes, each representing its own world. In every biome, there are unique enemies and bosses that approach you differently in combat. The dungeons provide a break from grinding and also offer unique recipes as rewards. Other than farming resources, there are scarcely any repetitions in the game.
Can I play it alone? Yes. While Conan Exiles is designed for group play with clans, individual players can achieve a lot as well. Not to mention, there is a single-player mode where Conan Exiles can be played almost like an RPG.
Is the Game for Me?
Conan Exiles is worth it for you if:
- You have been waiting for a challenging survival game that challenges you from start to finish.
- You enjoy blood and rough handling and can laugh about genitalia.
- You are in the mood for a fantasy game aimed at adult entertainment that looks better without frills.
- You find barbarians cooler than dinosaurs.
Difficulty level: Advanced, but freely selectable depending on the server or your own settings.