With Isle of Siptah, Conan Exiles is getting its largest paid DLC to date. The island went into Early Access in 2020 and had to endure harsh criticism. The developers invited MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus on a tour to show how much Isle of Siptah has improved and what player feedback has been implemented for the launch.
What kind of DLC is this? Isle of Siptah expands Conan Exiles with a new map that is over 90% larger than the original size – so the game is nearly twice as big. The island is a separate map, completely detached from the Exiled Lands.
Isle of Siptah costs €19.99 and has been in Early Access since September 15, 2020. It is the first paid DLC that brings playable content. Previously, only cosmetic bundles cost money, and new features came via free updates.
Immediately after the launch, Isle of Siptah received heavy criticism on Steam. Players felt the island was too empty for its size and felt forced into PvP. The developers want to respond to this criticism and improve everything.
With previous patches and a new update, the developers aim to address player concerns. During a tour, they showed me what has changed and how Isle of Siptah should be good by the release.
New Map, Building Components, and Gameplay
What’s in Isle of Siptah: The main feature of the DLC is the vast island of Siptah, which is dominated by the tower of Siptah in its center. The island offers an alternative to the Exiled Lands, where you normally start.
A storm constantly emanates from the tower, the Maelstrom, which envelops the center of the map in an anomaly. In this anomaly, stronger enemies and monsters appear that provide special loot. The monsters are heavily inspired by Lovecraftian horror, and you need the loot for another new mechanic: the Surges.
With the Surges, portals open in the world through which people from the Exiled Lands stream onto the island. At release, this was the only way to obtain the popular thralls. Surges either occur randomly or can be summoned intentionally.
The third major feature is the vaults, dungeons with special challenges. In the vaults, you have to solve puzzles and defeat enemies to secure strong loot. They have a slightly higher requirement for players than the dungeons in the original map. Moreover, Isle of Siptah offers some new opportunities for building and crafting:
- two new building sets in different tiers
- new weapons and armor
- additional mount options
We spoke to Game Director Scott Junior before the Early Access, and he revealed to us 3 things that make the new DLC of Conan Exiles so special.
Big World with Plenty of Nothing
How Isle of Siptah fared in Early Access: The initial reviews of Isle of Siptah were mixed to negative. Players were not satisfied with what they received. Even today, the reviews on Steam are not particularly good.
Isle of Siptah currently has a rating of “Mixed” with 48% positive votes from 1,002 reviews (via Steam). There are recurring issues that particularly bother players.
The criticism was: Despite the size of the map, it felt empty and lifeless to players compared to the Exiled Lands. There were no NPC camps and few places to explore.
Apart from the vaults, the storm, and the surges, not much happened, and building a proper base hardly seemed worthwhile since there was no one to defend it against. At the same time, progression was slow because thralls could only be acquired through the surges.
The biggest problem with Isle of Siptah was, however, that the focus of the expansion was too much on PvP. The surges were the only source for thralls, and it was evident on the map when and where a surge occurred.
This caused players to literally fight over thralls at those locations, and only a few skilled PvP players could secure the thralls. Additionally, this content was very challenging.
Both the storm and the surges, even the vaults, were aimed more at experienced and strong players in the endgame. The enemies were tough, and to summon a surge on your own required many hours or even days of grinding.
And even if you successfully summoned a surge, your survival was not guaranteed – as the enemies were so strong and other players also wanted to get some thralls. So, there was never a guarantee to get your own thralls.
You obtain thralls by incapacitating human NPCs and dragging them back to your base to break them on a Wheel of Pain. In Isle of Siptah, this was only possible through the surges.
Patch 2.4 – Everything New and Better
This is how Isle of Siptah looks now: With several patches and the upcoming update 2.4, many of the criticisms that players have raised so far are being addressed. Already there are:
- 40 new NPC camps and places to explore on the map
- new NPC factions
- access to the tower in the middle, which was previously locked, for particularly strong loot
- new workbenches and specializations for thralls
- improved vaults with new enemy types and rewards
- attacks from sprinting to make fights more dynamic
- an offline mode for single-player
Additionally, purges have made their way to Isle of Siptah. Purges are a system from the Exiled Lands where enemies storm and attempt to destroy your base in waves.
Through purges, you now have a reason to build a better base while also having a source of special loot that the attackers can carry. However, changes have also been made regarding the most significant criticism of the DLC.
Finally Humans to Enslave!
How is the big problem being solved? With the new NPC camps, there is finally a way to obtain thralls on Isle of Siptah without having to fight with other players in surges.
The camps offer various types of thralls, and with the different factions, new variants also appear. You can now find cages in the camps that you can open with keys from thrall masters. This way, you free companions who do not need to be enslaved first but can follow you voluntarily.
The random wild surges have been removed, and it is now easier to summon your own surge, as the necessary materials are no longer only found in the storm. New enemy types even provide loot in the open world. This allows you to better decide when and where you want to obtain more thralls from surges.
As a result, the emphasis on PvP has blurred. Surges and other features are still beacons for PvP fights, as they are displayed on the map. Whoever wants can happily fight with others. But those who prefer to avoid PvP can now experience Isle of Siptah without player conflicts.
What’s next? With the upcoming update 2.4, the developers have even more content planned to make Isle of Siptah better. The biggest of the new features are new areas in the south of the map.
Here you will find three new biomes and new NPCs along with their camps. With the new area, Isle of Siptah reaches a size of nearly 92-94% of the Exiled Lands. At EA release, it was only around 75%.
Additionally, you can find statuettes all over the island. These are needed for the “Black Pools,” a new PvE mechanic. With the statuettes, you can summon huge world bosses at the pools, which are normally only found as tough opponents in the storm.
This feature is aimed at endgame players with good equipment and possibly a group, but provides particularly strong loot. Furthermore, there are:
- the cult of Zath, a new religion around a giant spider that you can summon as an avatar (you can see its temple in the title image)
- more NPC camps and exploration locations
- new NPC races
- improved lighting effects and prettier visuals – you can see some comparisons in the gallery
Additionally, the journey will receive some new steps specifically targeting Isle of Siptah. The journey is a feature from Conan Exiles that gives players a guide for tasks they can pursue next – especially when they have no goals of their own in mind. You can find the entire journey of Conan Exiles and how to complete all steps on MeinMMO.
Patch 2.4 goes live on April 22, 2021. Upon the release of Isle of Siptah, it will also be possible to switch your character between the two maps, although with a cooldown.
When will Isle of Siptah be released? The developers have not yet been able to tell us exactly when Isle of Siptah will officially be released. However, shortly, you will find a video in collaboration between MeinMMO and GameStar about Isle of Siptah on YouTube, summarizing all the changes and showing new gameplay.
Much better than initially feared
In my opinion, Conan Exiles has done many things better with its PvE mechanics and features like the journey compared to other survival games. Instead of being thrown into a gigantic sandbox with the comment: “Here, do it yourself,” Conan Exiles offers a story, a lot to explore, and always new tasks.
In Isle of Siptah, this was missing so far. The island was precisely what Conan Exiles did not want to be: a big field where players were supposed to entertain themselves. A huge playground with few toys for players to fight over.
What I’ve seen in the new updates now seems much closer to the spirit of Conan Exiles. There is a real story, much to see, and tons of things to do. PvE fans and friends of crafting, building, and exploration are finally well taken care of here.
Personally, I am particularly attracted to the new religion, partly because spiders are just cool and partly because religions in Conan Exiles bring really interesting details. Religious sacrifices are received in different ways for each god, and the huge avatars mix up the gameplay, especially in PvP.
The Black Pools also sound like an interesting endgame feature that can surely excite some friends. The Lovecraft inspiration rounds it all off nicely. After initial skepticism, I am now genuinely looking forward to Isle of Siptah.
Benedict Grothaus
Author and survival expert at MeinMMO
Conan Exiles is already among the best survival games available, and Isle of Siptah will certainly contribute to its quality with the new changes. How long the content will keep players engaged remains to be seen, but at least the vaults and the Black Pools sound like something that will still be fun even after repeating them several times. You can find more games in the genre in our list on MeinMMO:
The 25 best survival games of 2021 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC
