Funcom's Take On Conan's Epic Adventures Harkens Back To The Source Material Ultimately Falling Short Of Such Grand Visage

Conan Exiles, for me, conjures up old memories of watching Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the leading role of Conan in the 1980's film adaptations about the fabled barbarian. The heavy drumbeats, the bloody battles, and the scantily clad females who at some point bared half of their lady parts for the audience to stare at comes to mind. It also reminds me of my favorite artistic masterpieces from fantasy painters such as Boris Vallejo which also featured some mature themes as well as the more tame story driven works of comic book artists presenting their own unique renditions of the hero's many adventures. I can imagine it does the same for a lot of you that are my age. At first glance, and first view it would appear to carry such an inspiration even down to the partial nudity, but as I found out hours into it, it's not quite as purely inspired or directed in that sense.

Before I got into the game I took it upon myself to view the trailers as I tend to do for potential game review prospects, and for me that was the initial selling point. That's what made me want to review "Conan Exiles". What I saw in the cinematic intros was a Conan tale more akin to the original source material, and less like the Hollywood counterpart. A Conan I was truly excited to see. Much like the classic stories, and works of art that surround Conan the barbarian this game did go deeper into the lore through character creation details, and within the world in which you survive, build, and dominate. As the intro catchphrase so boldly states in regards to it's mission directive. For that alone I was impressed. When it came to the actual gameplay aspect though I was thrown a slight curve as it didn't seem to hold that initially inspired passion. In saying that I felt the hours I spent surviving, building, and dominating were more along the lines of a game not as inspired by Conan as it could have been. The core focus of gameplay ended up being mostly influenced by games like ARK though much more refined, and tolerable with a Conan theme tacked on.

When you begin "Conan Exiles" after downloading the hefty 52GB game file, and day one patch on the Playstation 4 you'll be blessed with an amazing cinematic intro which would make any Conan fan shed a tear of delight. It was truly amazing! That is until an advertisement for the official website pops up at the tail end, and breaks all established immersion. I digress though. Within the intro cutscene we get to see Conan freeing an exiled woman, and battling alongside her against fiendish hell hounds. Unusually this introduction to the base tale, or established purpose of the soon to be created custom character is repeated in slightly lesser visual quality showing that your character, like the lady warrior of the intro, was exiled for crimes he/she may or may not have committed. True to the Conan lore said character was crucified in the exiled lands, and left to die. Much like Conan himself. Upon being rescued by the muscular main man, and being given a gruff speech about the character's dire predicament, and surviving you get to customize your character as you see fit.

The customization is quite detailed, and encompasses about every type of character creation tool you could think of. You can alter the gender, and change their base appearance via race selection as well as their name. You can also adjust body features with sliding scales as well as doll them up with make-up or tattoos should you so desire. Where the character customization becomes unique to this experience though is in the inclusion of a chosen deity alignment. By flipping the face of a deified coin, and stopping it on the deity description you like your character will be given bonus perks in-game accordingly. Things like healing abilities, or various other ability buffs will benefit your character as you pay tribute to them via a built shrine. This feature comes mainly into play in the PvP, or online portion of the game where you can worship, and ultimately summon the towering Gods and Goddesses to destroy other players' created buildings.

While religion does play a crucial role in the game, and is described in some rather maturely themed ways via text, your main goal is to survive. By this I mean you will be minding various aspects of your health including thirst, and food intake as well as temperature control. Much like in ARK. You'll also be setting up a home, or base of operations where you can add various features that will help you to craft an assortment of items, and tools that will aid you in your journey across the given map. Unlocking the ability to craft things comes into play when you level up by doing things on your 'Journey' to-do list which is displayed on the upper right hand corner of the screen. These tasks include everything from doing the basic movements early on to crafting certain things, and completing certain objectives in regards to battle. Doing what is listed will award you points that can be spent on "Feats" which are basically the equivalent of ARK's blueprints. There are various tiers of items that can be crafted, and each tier is made available at certain levels, and for certain point values. Some of which can be crafted without the need for workshops, and others that have to have workshops, and other house/building add-ons to function.

As an exiled warrior you will be doing a lot of hunting, and gathering for the basic materials needed to create these things with. You'll find the usual assortment of materials such as rocks, plants, and wood scattered about the landscape in obvious forms. You'll also be hunting humans and creatures for food. To harvest most of it you will have to craft a hatchet first, or simply pick them up from the ground or source. As with most survival games you start of gathering the necessities while picking up basic materials to establish a sustainable inventory of items that can help you make a home in the land you find yourself in while you try to survive. While hunting, and gathering may sound simple you will face many different enemy creatures, and rival exiles who are all out for blood, and your loot. This is what makes surviving difficult in Conan Exiles. You have to spend a good few hours stealthily getting to a point where you can hold your own before you set out to battle, or even to confront the creatures, and exiles that also call the land their home.

Once you are established in gear, and setup in a home base you will be able to start branching outward into the world gathering more, and more materials that can be used to craft greater, and greater things. The experience that it is, is relaxing at some points, and intense at others. Should you die along the way you will respawn at your home if you have built a bed there, and will have the chance to regain your lost loot if you can find your dead body. Of course this means trekking through all sorts of hazards with nothing on hand if you are brave enough to rush in that way. You can craft some things to help you, but that would take up some more time.

Combat in the game, as it were, is rather simplified, but weapon specific. You'll find that you can craft a decent variety of weapons ranging from those that are two-handed to those that are single-handed, and even those that are ranged. Each weapon has a basic attack, and a special attack. Some weapons also allow for blocking, or a defensive kick to distance yourself from the adversary. As far as evasive maneuverability goes you do have a dodge roll. The roll, and the attacks all use up stamina, and must be minded along with the depletion caused by sprinting. Aside from that you'll also find that repairing weapons, and even tools is an option that makes constantly crafting the things less than necessary. It's a feature that allows you to keep your focus on crafting other items, and add-ons that might be of more importance to you for progress sake. Of course looting is a third option that can be taken into account as well since downed exiles will sometimes carry loot worth having. Loot is basically anything the exile was carrying in their on person inventory.

When it comes down to menu, and item navigation things can be confusing at first, but don't let that put you off. I know I stumbled about trying to figure things out on my own, but once I did I was enjoying the crafting aspects of the game. What you need to understand most of all is that the main menu system can be brought up by pressing the center touchpad, and that by pressing "L1" you'll bring up a radial dial which houses your assigned quick select tools/items that can be selected by shifting the right thumbstick in a certain direction. Learning the ins, and outs of the menu functionality will take time, but once you take a look at the "Options" menu controller diagram you will be able to do things on the fly, and without much effort. Also to note is the 'Feats' and 'Attributes' tab. The Feats are where you spend earned Journey points to unlock the ability to craft things. The price point for each unlock will vary according to how it adds to your base of operations. As far as the RPG-like attributes go you will earn points for those as well through battle. Points can be spent on things like strength, vitality, encumbrance, grit, agility, and all those gameplay affecting stats. Each stat, or attribute level brings with it a tier of perks that will change how the character is able to function, and survive. The encumbrance attribute, for example, allows the character to carry more items in their inventory without being overburdened. You'll definitely want start off buffing attributes like strength, vitality, survival, and encumbrance as they will allow you to live long enough to build what you need for a home base, and get prepared to face your first fights.

The Settings ...

Being the type of game that it is "Conan Exiles" isn't without it's feature tweaks. You can change things via the main 'Settings' menu such as look sensitivity, the inclusion of partial nudity, volume as well as graphics and displays. Perhaps one of the most interesting changes in-game though is the ability to switch from a third person perspective to a first person one by pressing "up" on the DPad. This changes how the game looks, and plays. I should note that the partial nudity feature did not seem to work offline as it should have. I don't know if the developer patched it out or what. It would be a shame if they did though.

Modes of Play ...

I know you're likely interested in the modes of play at this point in the review, and the game does have it's fair share of modes. Server based modes akin to ARK, if you will. You can play offline solo, or even offline co-op via PSN invite. I played mostly in the offline portion of the game, and found it to be more relaxing as one might imagine it would be. The alternative to this is the online portion of the game where the competitive aspects of the game kicks in, and you are able to wreak havoc on other connected players through the deity worship and summon mechanics. In the online you can set the settings to include host booting in case a player is deemed not welcome. You can also host private sessions locked away behind passwords. To my surprise I even found a clan element in which you can create and name your own clan, and have friends join it. I think there's a little something for all players, but my best bet would be that the offline co-op is what most gamers will enjoy. If not the PvP side of things.

The Verdict ...

This game is not what the cinematic trailers make it out to be. That much I can attest to. Conan Exiles basically bares the Conan look, and lore inspiration, but plays out more like ARK. I know you're probably thinking that's a bad thing, and while I am somewhat disappointed myself I ended up enjoying the game. It accomplished, in my opinion, what ARK was unable to accomplish. It created a crafting, and upgrade system that wasn't so alien it was off putting. I do admit it took a while to get used to, and for me to figure some things out, but once I did I got hooked. I played for three hours straight, and that's not normal for me. Very rarely do I get so hooked on a game that I barely talk when chatting to a friend, or that I can't stop playing, and that most definitely happened.

While I did find the game engrossing I do have to point out it still needs some work. There were certain menu functions that would not operate properly. Such as the highlighting of items that you are trying to move around in slots. That and the partial nudity feature not working at all. It's minor stuff mostly, but stuff that does cause notable issues while playing. When it comes to frame rate drops there's even an issue there though nothing horrible or game breaking (so far). In it's current state I'd say "Conan Exiles" is recommendable, but only if you don't have your hopes set high on it being a truly cinematic Conan experience. It is a survival crafting game at heart with a Conan theme.