This review is based on playing Conan Exiles PvE because it’s a challenging and brutal world that adding the complication of PvP is not for me. You start with nothing, crucified and dying until Conan rocks up, frees you and then leaves you to your own devices. As with most survival crafting games you start gathering grass fibres, sticks and stones and then make your first simple stone tools and weapons. Everything you do earns you XP and there is a guide in the form of milestones to achieve which boost that and provide the basics of what you need. Build a grass fibre bed, make some grass fibre clothes etc.
Nearly everything you meet will try and kill you except deer, they just run away if you hit them. As you earn XP you get points for Attributes and Feats. Attributes are your ability scores so these can be tailored to suit your play style. Things like Strength, Encumbrance, Vitality, Agility etc.
Feats are your recipes for how to make things. Early on, you will want to learn how to build a base and then how to build various work benches to make new things. Once you are established you will need iron, lots of it and so on in the grand grind for resources that all of these games require.
Once you have decent weapons and armour and are not being mauled by the local wildlife every time you leave the safety of your base you can start to look to acquiring Thralls at the NPC camps. It’s very Flintstones, Bash ‘em on the head until they pass out, then drag them back to your Wheel of pain where they’ll learn the meaning of calling you Master. Once done, they can follow you into battle or work at one of the crafting benches depending on what type you acquired.
You can also tame the local wildlife although you cannot knock them out; you need to find a young version of the animal you want and snatch it away from its parents to add it to your Taming building where it too will grow up to growl you Master and follow you into battle or be a pack animal for your harvesting trips.
On the original map, you must be mindful of the Sandstorm that rips through the air from time to time; it will kill you if you are caught out in the open while your minions don’t seem affected by it oddly. And then there’s The Purge! The Purge is an attack on one of your bases by some powerful NPC’s and their goal is just to annoy you to give up the game or rage quit until the purge is done. Seriously, they are a good source of resources if you can defeat them. The Purge does not just happen like the Sandstorm, it is directed by the Purge Meter that you can see in your inventory, it is a reflection of how much activity there is on the server; the more progressed you are, the sooner a Purge will arrive. You get a ten-minute warning (as standard) of the Purge coming and where it is going on the map.
Nearly everything is adjustable in the server options; you can turn the purge off, make it so it only happens when x number of players are online or between certain times of the day. You can adjust the resource rates, the difficulty of the NPC’s the day/night cycle or, you can let someone else sort that out and join their server.
You can even play on your own local version of the game to try it out before venturing out with other people.
There is loads of paid DLC for the game but most of it is cosmetic, the only paid for you may need is the expansion map Isle of Siptah. This was launched last year but was a disaster. Taking into consideration feedback from the player-base, the makers have re=populated the map and it is now much more playable.
Conan Exiles is an entertaining survival game were you can even charge into battle mounted on a horse or Rhino. On the former, you can even wield a lance and perhaps even joust with your mates.
Originally published on 31 March 2021.
Ackros6/10