Review: Conan Exiles has great depth but lacks in areas that count the most

Platforms: Xbox One (reviewed), PS4, and PC

Publishers: Funcom

Developers: Funcom

MSRP: $49.99 on consoles, $39.99 on Steam

We live in a brutal world but we have rules that keep a general sense of order in our society. Imagine if you threw those rules and that order out the window, created a world where it’s literally survival of the fittest and savages were the ones who came out on top. That’s the world of Conan Exiles.

You’re a criminal, crucified and stuck out in the desert to die a slow and painful death to pay for your evil deeds. As your final moments begin to twinkle in your eye, the mighty Conan comes and cuts you down and then leaves you all alone out in the desert to survive whatever hell awaits you.

Conan Exiles takes a page from survival games like ARK and Minecraft but puts a far more brutal twist on the genre with terrifying abominations that will rip you apart, NPC and players thirsty for blood, and barbaric actions like enslaving people to do your bidding. This is a fairly grim game in its basic premise but its one that makes a fair attempt to keep you locked in its world.

Whether you’re playing in single player or surviving in a world filled with other players, Conan Exiles is bursting at the seams with life in its barren wastelands. It’s rich with lore that tells stories of a time that has been long forgotten, travelers who have been slain by the horrors that lurk the lands, and the other mystical elements that help put the game’s fantastical elements into context. There’s a surprising amount of depth to the world created here, unlike in other survival games that just throw you in head first and say “Hey, here’s some weird shit. We don’t have a reason for it but have fun!” There’s a sense of care being put into this extremely unnerving world.

To survive the dangers of Conan’s universe, you’ll need to craft weapons, tools, shelters to protect you from harsh weather conditions like brutal storms, hunt for food, drink water from rivers and lakes, and much more. The problem is that the UI in the menus for the crafting and inventory aren’t exactly slick and the later items become extremely tedious and complex to build but not in a way that feels fun. There are many different layers to better armors and weapons so you have to craft multiple things like padding for chest plates and more crafting stations to help build your gear.

It can end up feeling like a chore to just craft the actual item when you have the things you need but you also have to consider the hunt for the tools you need whether it be stealing it from players or picking it off animals or something of that nature. Given this tediousness, I mostly just stuck with one set of weapons and armor instead of crafting more because the combat itself wasn’t worth the trouble either.

While it isn’t unbearable, the combat in Conan Exiles is something that lacks the depth of the rest of the game which is fairly ironic. For a game all about its brutality and savagery, the combat is the place where it feels a bit barebones. The attacks are too basic, just swing light and heavy attacks with a fairly broken dodging system and the animations aren’t engaging enough to make it feel fun and fluid or pack the punch of something truly brutal.

Another RPG like Skyrim features somewhat similar melee combat but the difference is there’s a feeling of weight and impact. The sound effects allow you to feel how deep you cut someone’s skin, your swords clash creating an echoing roar in caves and dungeons, and there’s a major variety of finisher animations that feel satisfying and deliver that brutality of the Norse world. In Conan, there’s really none of that. It mostly works for what it sets out to do but other than that, the combat is pretty disappointing due to its simplicity and jankiness.

Conan has lots of jagged edges and we’re not talking about the ones on the mighty blades you plunge into the chests of your foes. The animations are fairly one-note, graphically the game isn’t much of a looker, it’s not ugly but given that this is a smaller game it doesn’t do anything visually that will leave you gawking, and there’s some inconsistency in how much depth there is in this survival game.

Hardcore fans of the survival genre may find it really fun to try and build a small empire in the exiled lands of the Conan universe but newcomers may find that it is uneven and janky. This is fairly expected amongst these games now but the complexity of building your character and fortresses/settlements may be daunting for people who aren’t looking to grind for hours on end, especially with a combat system that lacks. Those that appreciate a world rich with lore will definitely find lots to love here but that’s one of the few things keeping Conan Exiles from being a tedious bore.