Conan Exiles does a brilliant job of capturing author Robert E. Howard’s Conan Universe that is full of dangers necessitating the fight for survival. It’s an open-world survival game that’s set in the land of Conan The Barbarian.
The storyline of the game
Conan Exiles begins with you being cast out as a crucified criminal who is left to die at the side of a broken highway. A brief entry is made by Conan, but only so that you can be cut away from the corpse tree and set off into the Exiled Lands where you will carve out your own adventurous tale.
Left by yourself in such a brutal land, you must learn to fend for yourself and keep enemies away by protecting yourself. There are various aspects of the gameplay that allow you to work on developing the skills needed to be able to protect yourself, but your objective is not just to survive. You must learn to build so that you can eventually dominate the exiled lands.
Is it worth your time?
The game can get as dangerous as you want it to be, but the uniqueness of the adventure makes it worth your time. Here are all the reasons why Conan Exiles is worth your time:
Gameplay
When you start off, you’re going to have to pick a character out of numerous aesthetics. There are colors for you to choose from for your armor, outfit, and you get to make decisions about other aesthetic features of your chosen character.
You’ll also have to choose a God to worship, which will come in handy later as you’ll have to create an altar for your God to make offerings and sacrifices later in the game so that you can craft certain items and weapons. Different Gods allow for the crafting of different items in the game that’ll leave you curious about making the right choice.
When you start, you’ll face the wrath of the harsh environment, and this is where the game’s crafting and foraging mechanics come into play. You’ll have to learn to forage from what the environment offers and fetch your own food. You’ll also need to find resources with which you can craft tools and weapons while building a shelter for yourself.
You’ll be targeted by monsters and other warriors who want to kill you, but these also offer great opportunities to get some profits, if you manage to survive the attacks, that is. You can either explore the vast lands on your own or team up with other players and build settlements and strongholds so that you can withstand invasions. When you’re strong enough, wage war in an attempt to dominate the lands.
You can choose between different weapons and skills to engage your enemies in combat and let your anger out by dealing them with crushing blows that tilt the balance of power in your favor. Sacrificing enemies at the Altar of the Gods will also bring you good fortune in the game. With the experience points you gain from defeating your enemies, you will be able to gain stat points and unlock various new crafting recipes. A build-up of experience points is what will help you craft your workstations and structures.
An enormous world to explore
The world of the Exiled Lands is massive, and the adventure you embark on after being outcast allows you to explore an enormous landmass and its various nuances. Although you start off beside a river with many islands, there’s a lot of terrains you’ll need to cover. Further north from here, you’ll find the desert just before a green wooded region. North of that is the region of ice and snow, while further north will take you to the region of the volcano. This vertical map has plenty of terrains to cover with unique experiences awaiting your arrival.
Prevent clans from destroying your work
PvP servers make it possible for other players to wipe out hours of your hard work in the game, which makes it all the more challenging for you to plan a good defense for your base. Siege engines, as well as boiling oil in cauldrons, are good options to prevent other players from destroying your work if you’ve got the crafting skills to be able to make use of these.
Graphics
The beautiful graphics of the game make it even more enjoyable. You may find yourself feeling like it’s a huge oasis that you’ve landed in, and the special challenges, monsters, warriors, lands, and large animals will provide you with ample opportunity to appreciate the carefully crafted and detailed graphics.
Hidden storyline
Conan Exiles also has a “hidden” storyline woven throughout the adventure targeted towards you learning more about the Exiled Lands and exactly why you’re bound to them. There are journals, re-enactments by ghosts, lore obelisks, and some NPCs who can provide you with clues about the next step of your journey.