Conan Exiles

Conan Exiles is an open-world survival video game developed and published by the Norwegian studio Funcom, set in the fictional Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories.^[1]^[2] Released in full on May 8, 2018, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One after an early access period beginning in January 2017 for PC, the game tasks players with surviving harsh environments through resource gathering, crafting, base construction, and combat against wildlife, thralls, and other players in both cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes.^[3]^[4] Gameplay features include capturing and commanding NPC thralls as slaves or allies, optional player nudity reflecting the barbaric theme, and extensive modding support on PC, which have defined its appeal to fans of sandbox survival genres.^[1]^[2] The title achieved commercial success, surpassing 1.5 million units sold by mid-2018 to become Funcom's fastest- and best-selling game in its 25-year history, driven by strong early access performance and expansions like the Isle of Siptah DLC.^[5]^[6] While critically receiving mixed reviews with a Metacritic score of 68 for its technical issues and repetitive elements at launch, it has maintained a dedicated community through ongoing updates, including the Age of War expansions into 2024, though player forums have voiced frustrations over server stability and perceived slowing of content development post-2023.^[7]^[8]

Development

Announcement and pre-production

Funcom announced Conan Exiles, an open-world survival game set in the Conan the Barbarian universe, in December 2015 as part of a new partnership with Conan Properties International LLC, granting the studio rights to develop and publish games based on Robert E. Howard's intellectual property.^[9] The announcement highlighted the game's focus on brutal survival mechanics, including crafting, building, and combat in a harsh prehistoric environment, distinguishing it from Funcom's prior Conan title, Age of Conan, by emphasizing player agency over traditional MMORPG structures.^[10] Pre-production commenced in early 2016, shortly following the reveal, with a core development team of approximately 50 members based in Funcom's Oslo studio, supplemented by 10-20 additional staff from the Durham, North Carolina office.^[11] The phase involved prototyping key systems using Unreal Engine 4, drawing inspiration from contemporary survival titles like ARK: Survival Evolved and Rust while integrating Conan-specific elements such as the thrall capture mechanic—allowing players to enslave and command NPCs—and dynamic environmental simulations like real-time sand physics.^[11] Early decisions prioritized a multiplayer-oriented design with optional single-player modes, aiming for procedural generation to enhance replayability in the Exiled Lands setting, though initial builds focused on core loops of resource gathering, base-building, and PvP/PvE interactions.^[11] By mid-2016, pre-production had solidified the game's scope, including plans for mounts, expanded biomes, and lore fidelity to Howard's original stories, with Funcom opting for internal tools over external tech like NVIDIA GameWorks for performance optimization across PC and console targets.^[11] This groundwork paved the way for Early Access entry in January 2017, reflecting Funcom's shift toward survival genres amid the commercial underperformance of prior MMOs like The Secret World.^[9]

Early Access implementation

Conan Exiles entered Steam Early Access for Windows on January 31, 2017, allowing players to access an initial build featuring core survival mechanics, including resource gathering, crafting, base building, and rudimentary combat systems set in the Exiled Lands.^[12] The Early Access phase was designed to incorporate community feedback for iterative improvements, with Funcom committing to 4-6 major updates to refine gameplay elements such as thrall AI, multiplayer stability, and environmental interactions before a planned full release.^[13] Concurrently, an Xbox One version launched via the Game Preview program in May 2017, extending the Early Access model to console players with similar feedback-driven development.^[14] Funcom's implementation emphasized transparency through dev blogs and patch notes, addressing player-reported issues like combat fluidity and server performance in phased updates; for instance, Early Access Phase 2 in August 2017 overhauled the combat system to distinguish light and heavy attacks, enhancing tactical depth based on tester input.^[15] The roadmap targeted exiting Early Access by early 2018, though delays extended this to May 8, 2018, incorporating additions such as new biomes, NPC invasions, and expanded armor sets to bolster content completeness.^[16]^[3] Player feedback highlighted persistent bugs in thrall pathing and inventory management, prompting targeted fixes, while the 40-player server cap remained a structural limit to maintain performance during testing.^[17] This Early Access approach aligned with industry practices for survival games, prioritizing empirical iteration over polished launch, though some critics noted initial grind-heavy progression and optimization shortfalls as common in unfinished builds.^[18] By the phase's end, the game had amassed substantial community data, informing post-Early Access expansions while demonstrating Funcom's reliance on direct player metrics for causal refinements in mechanics like resource scarcity and PvP balance.^[19]

Full release and initial post-launch

Conan Exiles exited Early Access and achieved full release on May 8, 2018, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The launch included a substantial day-one patch addressing numerous bugs, balance adjustments, and optimizations accumulated during Early Access feedback. At release, 225 official servers were available across platforms, supporting multiplayer sessions with up to 40 players per server.^[20]^[3] Commercial performance exceeded expectations, with over 1 million copies sold prior to launch, building on Early Access sales that recouped the $4.5 million development budget within the first week of that phase. By July 2018, total sales surpassed 1.4 million units, marking it as Funcom's fastest-selling title in its 25-year history. The game's sustained momentum reflected strong player interest in its open-world survival mechanics, though server stability and population retention posed early challenges.^[5]^[21] Critical reception was mixed, with a Metacritic aggregate score of 68/100 for the PC version based on 33 reviews. Praise focused on the immersive barbaric setting, thrall system, and building freedom, while criticisms highlighted slow progression pacing, repetitive grinding, and technical issues like AI pathfinding glitches and performance dips on consoles. User scores were higher, averaging around 6.5/10, indicating broader appeal among survival genre enthusiasts despite launch bugs such as crashes and desync in multiplayer.^[7]^[7] Initial post-launch support emphasized iterative improvements, with Funcom outlining a roadmap in June 2018 for major content updates, minor patches, and cosmetic DLCs informed by player data from Early Access. Early hotfixes targeted combat exploits, thrall AI responsiveness, and server queue overflows, while server capacity expanded rapidly to accommodate peak concurrent players exceeding Early Access highs. These efforts aimed to stabilize the core loop amid reports of environmental hazards feeling unbalanced and crafting systems requiring refinement.^[22]

Gameplay

Character creation and customization

Players begin character creation by selecting a race, which is purely cosmetic and provides no mechanical benefits or penalties to attributes, skills, or progression. The base game offers seven races—Cimmerian, Darfari, Hyborian, Hyrkanian, Khitan, Kushite, and Nordheimer—each with unique presets for skin tones, facial features, body proportions, and available hairstyles or markings that reflect the Conan the Barbarian lore's ethnic diversity.^[23] Later updates, such as Age of Sorcery in 2021, introduced additional cosmetic options like vampire transformations, but core racial choices remain aesthetic starting points without impacting gameplay efficacy. Gender selection follows, limited to male or female, determining baseline skeletal structure, voice lines, and certain equipment interactions, such as armor fit. Players then access detailed sliders to customize physical appearance, including height (ranging from short to towering), body girth (affecting fat distribution), muscle definition (from lean to bulky), and facial elements like jawline, nose shape, eye spacing, and brow ridge. Additional options encompass hair styles (over 20 variants per race, including beards for males), colors (via RGB sliders for hair, skin, and eyes), scars, tattoos, war paint, and body hair density. These sliders enable highly individualized avatars, with presets available for quick starts but full manual adjustment encouraged for precision.^[23] Religion choice sets the player's starting faith, which unlocks initial access to that deity's altar for crafting religious items, tools, and followers, though all religions can be learned in-game via tomes or NPC interactions. Available religions include Mitra, Set, Yog, Crom (passive, no active benefits), and others tied to racial lore, such as Derketo for Darfari; selection influences early-game resource priorities but does not lock progression, as players often multiclass faiths. Attribute allocation occurs separately in gameplay, with no starting points assigned during creation—players invest feat points earned from leveling into 12 attributes (e.g., Strength for melee damage, Vitality for health) up to a cap of 50 per attribute, independent of appearance choices.^[23] In-game customization expands on creation through equipment and consumables. Armor, clothing, and jewelry directly overlay the character model, with medium and heavy pieces conforming to the underlying physique via dynamic scaling; nudity is default at spawn, emphasizing the game's survival theme. Dyes, crafted from pigments and applied via stations, allow recoloring of gear in 16 slots per item, enabling thematic builds. Update 2.1, released October 28, 2020, added full re-customization via the Orb of Nergal—a craftable or purchasable item that resets appearance sliders, race, gender, and religion without affecting attributes or inventory, addressing player feedback on permanent early choices. This feature requires the "Purge" feat and preserves progression, allowing iterative refinement as players explore the Exiled Lands.^[24]

Survival and resource mechanics

Players in Conan Exiles must maintain hunger and thirst levels to prevent health loss, with dedicated meters displayed beneath the health bar; hunger depletion occurs more slowly than thirst, typically requiring food intake every 2-3 in-game days while thirst demands replenishment within hours depending on activity and server settings.^[25] Full hunger grants a 5% bonus to maximum health, and full thirst provides a 5% bonus to maximum stamina, incentivizing consistent management through consumables like roasted meat or filled waterskins sourced from animals, plants, or water bodies.^[26] Failure to address depletion leads to gradual health reduction, escalating to starvation or dehydration effects that impair combat and movement. Environmental hazards include temperature fluctuations influenced by weather and biome, where extreme cold in northern areas or heat in volcanic regions inflicts damage unless countered by insulated armor, fire sources like torches (which raise body temperature by approximately 2 degrees), or location-specific adaptations; for instance, the frozen north requires cold-resistant gear to avoid frostbite, while the volcano demands heat mitigation to prevent overheating.^[27] Sandstorms across the Exiled Lands reduce visibility and can cause direct health drain, emphasizing the need for shelter or protective measures during such events.^[28] Resource acquisition relies on tool-based harvesting, where specific implements yield optimal results: hatchets for wood from trees, pickaxes for stone and ore from nodes, and sickles for fiber from plants, with yield quantity scaling by tool durability and quality—higher-tier steel tools extract more per strike than basic stone variants.^[29] Animal carcasses provide hides, meat, and bones upon harvesting with appropriate tools, with tougher creatures dropping greater quantities post-combat.^[29] Tools degrade over use, necessitating repairs via crafting or replacement to sustain gathering efficiency. Raw resources are processed at tiered crafting stations for progression: basic campfires smelt simple items from gathered materials like branches and flint, while advanced furnaces convert ore into ingots using fuel such as wood or coal, enabling weapon and armor fabrication.^[30] Thralls assigned to stations accelerate production speeds and unlock superior recipes, reducing crafting times—originally adjusted to half duration in early patches for balance—and minimizing fuel or material waste in optimized setups.^[30] Encumbrance limits inventory capacity based on strength attributes, forcing strategic load management or use of animal mounts and storage structures to transport bulk hauls without mobility penalties.

Combat, thralls, and progression

Combat in Conan Exiles emphasizes timing, positioning, and resource management in melee and ranged confrontations, with players executing light and heavy attacks, chained combos, and directional dodges while monitoring stamina and health bars. Attacks incur higher stamina costs following the Age of War adjustments implemented June 15, 2023, but benefit from accelerated regeneration to encourage tactical bursts of aggression followed by repositioning. The stun break system, which previously allowed interruptions, was removed to enforce consistent stun mechanics, rendering most enemies susceptible except high-tier variants; hyper armor was curtailed to apply primarily during momentum-heavy strikes from slow, powerful weapons. Weapon reorientation during swings was enhanced for better adaptability against mobile targets.^[31] Ranged options include bows for precision shots, javelins for throws, and crossbows, scaled via the Agility attribute, while melee favors Strength-based swords, axes, and maces in one- or two-handed configurations offering trade-offs in speed, reach, and impact. Mounted combat, introduced in Update 38 on December 5, 2019, permits horseback archery for hit-and-run tactics, spear thrusts, or lance charges that penetrate lines, with saddle types influencing speed, defense, and handling. Enemies inflict amplified damage post-2023 tweaks, offset by reduced player health pools to heighten risk in encounters.^[32]^[31] Thralls integrate as combat allies, with fighter variants—captured via truncheon-induced concussion, fiber bindings, and subjugation in the Wheel of Pain using gruel—deployed as followers that autonomously target hostiles within a 15-meter radius or via direct commands. Tiered from T1 (basic) to T4 (elite), including named individuals with innate advantages, these thralls start at level 0 and cap at 20, accruing experience from proximity kills to gain perks enhancing damage output, vitality, or follow range; base stats vary by faction, with food buffs temporarily amplifying strength. Updates in Age of War Chapter 4, deployed April 2, 2024, overhauled follower behaviors, including improved AI responsiveness and specialization options, while preserving decay timers reset by clan activity to manage server loads. Crafter thralls stationed at bases accelerate resource processing, indirectly bolstering combat readiness through superior gear.^[32]^[33]^[34] Player progression advances via experience from slaying adversaries, gathering materials, and constructing, reaching level 60 to allocate 60 attribute points across seven categories: Strength (melee damage, +0.5% per point to 20, then diminishing), Agility (light weapon and armor penetration), Vitality (health and poise), Authority (thrall damage/health bonuses), Accuracy (ranged damage/cripple chance), Grit (stamina, concussion damage), Encumbrance (carry capacity), and Survival (hunger/thirst reduction). Knowledge points per level fund a feat tree branching into survival, crafting, and warfare specializations, unlocking recipes like advanced armors or abilities such as berserker rage; post-60, Fragments of Power fragments grant 10 extra feat points each, up to 300 total for comprehensive builds. Thrall leveling parallels this, scaling their utility to facilitate deeper exploration and tougher purges, with Authority investments amplifying follower potency in sieges.^[35]^[36]^[37]

Building and multiplayer elements

The building system in Conan Exiles employs a modular, piece-based approach where players craft and place structural components such as foundations, walls, ceilings, pillars, and slopes from gathered resources like stone and wood. These pieces snap into predefined alignment points to form bases, with higher-tier materials—ranging from basic sandstone to advanced black ice-reinforced variants—offering improved durability and aesthetic options. A core mechanic is structural stability, which simulates physical realism by requiring adequate support; unsupported elements, such as overhanging sections without pillars or foundations beneath, degrade over time and collapse under load or environmental stress, necessitating strategic planning to maintain integrity. This system was overhauled in Update 3.0 on August 2, 2022, shifting from earlier voxel-based placement to precise snapping for enhanced creative control and stability calculations.^[38] Thralls, captured NPCs assigned to bases, automate crafting of building materials and can accelerate construction via task queues at stations like carpenters' benches, though manual placement remains player-driven. Bases incorporate functional elements such as storage vaults, crafting wheels for armor and weapons, and defensive features like spiked barricades or archer emplacements. On multiplayer servers, structures subject to decay timers—set to approximately two weeks of inactivity during peak seasons to curb abandonment—require periodic repairs using hammers to inspect and restore health, with full decay removing pieces to reclaim server space.^[39] Multiplayer modes encompass persistent online worlds alongside single-player and co-op options, with official servers hosting up to 70 players in PvE configurations for collaborative survival against environmental threats and AI enemies. Server types include full PvP, enabling unrestricted player-versus-player combat and base raiding at all times; pure PvE, prohibiting player-inflicted damage to restrict interactions to non-hostile cooperation; and PvE-Conflict, which activates timed PvP windows for structured clashes while safeguarding bases outside those periods.^[40]^[41] Players form clans limited to 10 members on official servers, sharing resources, coordinating builds, and defending territories, though private servers allow unlimited sizes, custom rules, and mods via hosting tools. Raiding in PvP demands siege weapons like trebuchets or explosives to breach fortified walls, emphasizing building's role in multiplayer dynamics where bases serve as economic hubs vulnerable to destruction and loot loss.^[42]

Setting and lore

The Exiled Lands environment

The Exiled Lands constitute the primary open-world map in Conan Exiles, a vast and perilous region enclosed by the immense Cursewall, a magical barrier that binds exiles within its confines and prohibits escape.^[43] Players awaken crucified in the southern burning deserts, where scorching heat, limited water sources, and aggressive wildlife demand immediate attention to basic survival needs such as hydration, shelter, and fire-building.^[43] ^[2] The terrain enforces a dynamic temperature system, with daytime heat sapping stamina and vitality unless mitigated by clothing or shade, while nocturnal chills in elevated areas require insulating materials or heat sources to prevent hypothermia.^[2] Geographically, the Exiled Lands transition from arid southern deserts northward into more varied biomes, including the Highlands featuring snow-capped mountains, increased greenery, and relatively milder climates compared to the pervasive dunes.^[13] Eastern sectors encompass river valleys teeming with pirate encampments and thieves' dens along waterways that provide essential resources but harbor ambushes.^[43] Western expanses include sprawling, decaying Stygian cities occupied by mercenaries and relic hunters, riddled with gloomy streets, fortified walls, and subterranean chambers.^[43] Northern territories, often claimed by nomadic groups like the Dogs of the Desert, feature rugged highlands and frozen expanses that amplify environmental severity through blizzards and avalanches.^[43] ^[13] The landscape is punctuated by remnants of a long-lost ancient civilization, manifesting as towering spires, crumbling bridges, mystical shrines, gladiatorial arenas, and deep tunnels infested with monstrous inhabitants and traps.^[43] Sandstorms periodically scour the deserts, reducing visibility and inflicting damage, while corrupted sites emanate dark sorcery that players may harness at the risk of mutation or demonic encounters.^[2] External threats materialize via the Purge, scripted invasions by organized enemy forces from bordering realms intent on raiding settlements and purging exiles.^[13] These elements collectively foster a hostile ecosystem where resource scarcity, territorial conflicts among NPC factions, and supernatural anomalies compel adaptive strategies for long-term habitation.^[43]

Integration with Conan the Barbarian universe

Conan Exiles is set during the Hyborian Age, the mythic prehistoric era outlined by Robert E. Howard in his 1932 essay "The Hyborian Age," which posits a post-Atlantean world of barbarism and nascent civilizations spanning Eurasia and Africa.^[44] This framework underpins Howard's original Conan stories, featuring wandering barbarians, sorcerous cults, and ancient ruins, all of which inform the game's atmosphere of unrelenting survival and conflict. Funcom, holding the Conan intellectual property since acquiring full rights in September 2021, positions Exiles as an extension of this universe, emphasizing fidelity to Howard's themes of human savagery against eldritch horrors and imperial decay.^[45] The core setting, the Exiled Lands, represents an original addition not derived from Howard's tales, portrayed as a vast, wall-encircled wasteland where empires dump undesirables, fostering a microcosm of Hyborian strife through tribal warfare and resource scarcity.^[1] Integration occurs via layered lore: in-game tomes and environmental storytelling reference Howard's cosmology, including the Cataclysm that reset civilization millennia prior and the rise of Hyborian kingdoms from barbarian tribes. Deities such as the grim Cimmerian god Crom—who grants no favors—or the serpentine Set of Stygia are invocable for rituals, mirroring Howard's depictions of indifferent or malevolent pantheons that demand blood sacrifices.^[1] Cultures draw from canonical nations; players select origins like Cimmerian hill-folk or Aquilonian soldiers, with thralls hailing from analogs to Nemedia, Hyperborea, and the black kingdoms south of the Styx River, evoking Howard's ethnographic sketches of migratory peoples clashing in a pre-iron age world. Historical depth ties into Howard's prehistory through factions like the Giant-Kings, an extinct race of colossal builders whose obelisks and vaults litter the landscape, predating the Hyborians and echoing the Thurian Age remnants Howard wove into his timeline.^[46] Sorcery mechanics, unlocked via corruptive tomes, align with Howard's portrayal of magic as a perilous force derived from demonic pacts or forgotten elder gods, avoiding benevolent wizardry in favor of body-warping rituals and summoned abominations. Conan himself manifests as an NPC in the game's Unnamed City, a ruined nexus of sorcery where players can ally with or betray the barbarian, directly linking player agency to Howard's protagonist archetype of a self-reliant wanderer unbound by kings or gods. While purists note anachronisms—such as golem constructs absent from Howard's mythos—these serve gameplay without supplanting core tenets, as Funcom's creative leads have affirmed the intent to capture the "savage realism" of original pulp narratives over strict literalism.^[47] Expansions like Isle of Siptah further embed this by introducing sorcerer-kings and void-touched artifacts resonant with Howard's tales of Thoth-Amon and cosmic dread.

Expansions and content updates

Isle of Siptah expansion

The Isle of Siptah expansion for Conan Exiles introduces a distinct new map separate from the original Exiled Lands, requiring ownership of the base game to access.^[48] Released in early access on September 15, 2020, for PC via Steam, it marked the first major paid expansion from developer Funcom, emphasizing exploration and survival on a storm-ravaged island dominated by the ancient sorcerer Siptah's tower.^[49] The full release occurred on May 27, 2021, across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms, coinciding with console parity updates.^[50] Central to the expansion is the Isle of Siptah map, a vast, foreboding land encircled by the Maelstrom—a massive, magic-fueled vortex originating from the central Tower of Siptah that periodically spawns extradimensional horrors and otherworldly creatures for players to combat.^[51] ^[52] Players begin shipwrecked on the island's beaches, tasked with uncovering vaults containing ancient secrets, harnessing surge events for resources, and mastering the Maelstrom's cycles to secure thralls and materials essential for progression.^[53] The map features over 14 dungeons, diverse biomes blending ruins and wild terrains, and enhanced thrall-capturing opportunities tied to the storm's surges, altering traditional survival loops by prioritizing event-based harvesting over static resource nodes.^[54] New assets include hordes of unique monsters, such as dimension-spawned beasts exclusive to Maelstrom events, alongside a rhino mount for traversal and two thematic building sets for construction, enabling fortified bases resistant to the island's perils.^[49] While the expansion adds select craftable items accessible in the base game, its core content remains map-specific, offering a refreshed gameplay experience focused on dynamic threats rather than direct integration with Exiled Lands mechanics.^[55] Post-launch, Siptah received compatibility with subsequent updates like mounts and pets but has not been prioritized for exclusive feature expansions beyond its foundational systems.^[56]

Age of Sorcery update

The Age of Sorcery update, version 3.0, launched on September 1, 2022, across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox platforms, marking the largest free content expansion since the game's initial release. Developed by Funcom, it introduced a sorcery system allowing players to embrace Corruption—a permanent trade of health for supernatural powers—via rituals at a Sacrificial Stone, fundamentally altering progression and combat options in the Exiled Lands. This shift emphasized thematic integration with the Conan universe's occult elements, including summoning demons and undead thralls, while overhauling core mechanics like attributes and introducing a battle pass model to replace traditional DLC packs.^[57]^[58] Central to the update is the sorcery mechanics, divided into three schools: Ritual Magic for summoning entities like golems and demons (e.g., a flyable bat demon mount), Alchemy for potion-based effects, and Spell Casting for direct abilities such as conjuring storms, thunderclaps, or invisibility. Players accumulate Corruption points by self-sacrifice, unlocking tiered perks that enable these powers but impose penalties like reduced maximum health and vulnerability to anti-magic effects. New workstations facilitate this system, including the Thaumaturgy Bench for crafting spells, Chalk Circles for rituals, Shallow Graves for undead raising, and Transportory Stones for teleportation. Integration into gameplay allows corrupted players to deploy demons as pets or combatants, with summoning requiring specific reagents and altars, though balanced by resource costs and Corruption's escalating risks.^[58]^[59] The update revamped character attributes into six categories—Strength, Agility, Vitality, Authority, Grit, and Expertise—allocating one point per level up to 20 per attribute, with perks unlocked at 10 and 20 points to encourage specialized builds like pure sorcerers or hybrid barbarian-mages. Corruption provides access to enhanced sorcery-specific perks, but follower thralls received nerfs, including 50% damage reduction and lowered health pools, to prevent over-reliance on non-player allies in PvP scenarios. Additional features include a dedicated building interface, unrestricted Creative Mode for base construction, an events system for dynamic world activities, and the Black Lotus Bazaar in-game shop using Crom Coins for cosmetics and DLC bundles.^[58] Funcom transitioned to an "Ages" model with Age of Sorcery as the inaugural era, featuring free core updates supplemented by seasonal Battle Passes divided into chapters (e.g., Chapter 3 released March 14, 2023), offering free and paid tracks with daily challenges for cosmetic rewards like skins and emotes, purchasable via real money but non-essential for progression. This structure aimed to sustain long-term content delivery without paywalled mechanics, though it introduced monetization for vanity items. Subsequent patches addressed performance issues, such as a February 2023 optimization hotfix, and expanded sorcery with golem variants and visual fixes.^[59]^[60]

Age of War chapters

The Age of War represents a series of four major free content updates for Conan Exiles, released by Funcom between June 2023 and April 2024, emphasizing enhanced combat mechanics, base defense systems, and thematic invasions by Stygian forces.^[61] These chapters built upon prior expansions by introducing revamped purges, new building sets, events, and optional Battle Passes offering cosmetics and resources, while maintaining the game's core survival and multiplayer elements.^[62] Each chapter included balance adjustments, bug fixes, and platform-specific optimizations, with updates rolling out across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.^[63] Chapter 1, launched on June 22, 2023, initiated the era with modifications to the Purge system, increasing its frequency and introducing scalable difficulty based on player progress to heighten base defense challenges.^[62] It added legendary weapons and armor that degrade permanently upon breakage, encouraging strategic use over indefinite repair, alongside a new Battle Pass featuring 60 tiers of rewards like emotes, skins, and building pieces.^[62] The update also included combat tweaks for better responsiveness and new cosmetic options tied to Eastern-themed treasures.^[64] Chapter 2, released on September 21, 2023, expanded on defensive gameplay through a comprehensive Purge overhaul, allowing players to select invasion types and incorporating destructible elements for more dynamic sieges.^[63] Key additions encompassed improved loot distribution across progression tiers, new dungeons for exploration, combat adjustments to weapon handling, and a pyramid-inspired building set for aesthetic variety.^[65] A corresponding Battle Pass introduced Stygian-themed cosmetics, with challenges focused on purge participation and resource gathering, lasting approximately 13 weeks.^[63] Chapter 3, deployed on December 14, 2023, centered on offensive capabilities with the Siege of al-Merayah, a destructible Stygian castle event enabling players to assault fortifications using siege weapons and coordinated attacks.^[66] It introduced customizable taverns as functional buildings for buffs and social hubs, alongside balance changes to thrall AI and resource yields.^[66] The Battle Pass emphasized tavern-related tasks and siege rewards, running for about 110 days and culminating in preparations for subsequent content.^[66] Chapter 4, concluding the era on April 2, 2024, incorporated the Sacred Hunt event for temporary power-ups via ritual hunts, a Fatality system for cinematic finishers in combat, and further Purge refinements including multi-stage invasions.^[64] Additional features involved expanded loot tables, new armor sets, and optimizations for larger-scale multiplayer engagements, with the final Battle Pass focusing on heroic treasures and endgame viability.^[64] This chapter marked the transition toward the subsequent Age of Heroes, sustaining player engagement through iterative warfare-themed enhancements without requiring paid DLC.^[67]

Post-2024 developments and pauses

In January 2025, Funcom announced a temporary pause on developing new content and features for Conan Exiles to prioritize technical stability, bug resolutions, and quality-of-life enhancements, with a major update targeted for spring 2025.^[68] This decision followed the launch of the Age of Heroes chapter in October 2024 and aimed to address longstanding player-reported issues with performance and gameplay reliability, as outlined in the official Producer's Letter.^[68] Community discussions on platforms like Reddit and Funcom forums expressed concerns over potential long-term abandonment, though Funcom emphasized the shift as a foundational step to sustain the game's viability.^[69] The spring update, released on March 25, 2025, delivered on this focus through extensive fixes and tweaks across gameplay mechanics, without introducing significant new features or expansions.^[70] It included optimizations for server stability, adjustments to thrall AI, and refinements to resource gathering, aligning with Funcom's stated goal of improving the overall player experience in the Exiled Lands.^[70] Subsequent patches maintained this maintenance-oriented approach. An August 19, 2025, update incorporated bug fixes (e.g., hotbar item stacking issues), performance optimizations, and minor quality-of-life additions, alongside limited new Bazaar cosmetics.^[71] Hotfixes followed in April and May 2025, targeting event-related bugs post-Sacred Hunt and Bounty Hunt conclusions.^[72] Seasonal events resumed, such as the Sacred Hunt relaunch on October 22, 2025, providing temporary content boosts without altering core progression systems.^[73] As of October 2025, no roadmap for major content chapters has been detailed beyond ongoing stability efforts, reflecting Funcom's resource allocation toward refinement over expansion.^[68]

Release and distribution

Platform launches and versions

Conan Exiles entered early access on Microsoft Windows through Steam on January 31, 2017, allowing players to test core survival mechanics in the Exiled Lands while developers iterated based on feedback.^[74] The early access period featured phased development, with Phase 1 focusing on foundational building, combat, and exploration systems, followed by Phase 2 starting August 10, 2017, which revamped combat, expanded the map northward, and prepared for console integration.^[29] On August 16, 2017, the game launched in Xbox Game Preview on Xbox One, enabling Microsoft users to access a version aligned with PC early access progress at that time, including multiplayer servers and content updates synchronized across platforms where possible.^[75] PlayStation 4 skipped early access entirely, with Sony requiring a more polished build for launch approval. The full 1.0 version released simultaneously across Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on May 8, 2018, marking the end of early access and preview programs after approximately 15 months of iterative development that incorporated player data on stability, balance, and feature completeness.^[76] This version introduced finalized thrall AI, sorcery elements, and administrative tools, with digital distribution via Steam, Microsoft Store, and PlayStation Store; physical retail copies became available shortly prior on April 24, 2018, in select regions.^[3]

Platform	Early Access/Preview Date	Full Release Date
Windows (PC)	January 31, 2017	May 8, 2018
Xbox One	August 16, 2017 (Game Preview)	May 8, 2018
PlayStation 4	None	May 8, 2018

Post-launch, versions evolved through numbered patches (e.g., 2.0 for major expansions like Isle of Siptah in early access on PC from September 15, 2020, before full cross-platform rollout on May 27, 2021), emphasizing bug fixes, performance optimizations, and content parity across platforms via unified update cadences from Funcom.^[77] The game remains playable on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 through backward compatibility without native next-gen launches as of 2025.^[75]

DLC, Bazaar, and monetization model

Conan Exiles operates on a buy-to-play monetization model, where players purchase the base game outright for access to core survival mechanics, multiplayer servers, and initial content, with no mandatory subscriptions.^[1] Optional downloadable content (DLC) packs expand this with themed cosmetics, including armor sets, weapons, emotes, and building pieces drawn from Hyborian lore, priced individually at approximately $10–$20 each or bundled for discounts.^[78] These packs, such as the Jewel of the West Pack (focused on Aquilonian motifs) and Architects of Argos Pack (featuring maritime structures), provide exclusive visual and decorative options without altering balance or granting progression advantages.^[78] The Isle of Siptah expansion, released September 1, 2020, diverges by adding a new map, storyline, sorcery mechanics, and vault systems, functioning as paid content expansion rather than purely cosmetic.^[2] Introduced alongside Update 3.0 on September 1, 2022, the Black Lotus Bazaar serves as an in-game microtransaction store accessible via the inventory or H key, offering rotating cosmetic bundles like pet skins, decorations, armors, and weapons purchasable with Crom Coins—a premium currency bought directly with real money.^[79] The Bazaar features seven timed slots for items, which cycle periodically (often weekly), with bundles providing discounts if prior components are owned; all acquisitions are account-bound and require an online connection for verification.^[79] Developers maintain that Bazaar and DLC content remains strictly cosmetic, aligning with early assurances against pay-to-win mechanics in the competitive multiplayer environment.^[80] This approach supports ongoing development through voluntary purchases, with Crom Coin packs scaled for varying investment (e.g., smaller amounts for single items, larger for bundles), though rotations have drawn player feedback on perceived urgency from limited-time availability.^[79] No core gameplay elements, resources, or power boosts are gated behind monetization, preserving parity across player investments.^[2]

Reception

Critical reviews and scores

Upon full release on May 8, 2018, Conan Exiles received mixed reviews from critics, with aggregate scores reflecting praise for its atmospheric world-building and Conan the Barbarian-themed brutality alongside frequent criticism of repetitive gameplay loops and technical shortcomings.^[81] The PC version holds a Metacritic score of 68/100 based on 33 critic reviews, while OpenCritic aggregates 68/100 from 68 reviews, classifying it as "Fair" and placing it in the bottom 34% of reviewed games.^[81] Console ports fared worse due to optimization issues; the PlayStation 4 version scored 55/100 on Metacritic from fewer reviews, with critics highlighting frequent crashes and performance instability.

Platform	Metacritic Score	Number of Reviews
PC	68/100	33
PlayStation 4	55/100	13
Xbox One	62/100	10

IGN awarded 6.7/10, commending the game's capture of the source material's savagery through elements like thrall slavery and dismemberment but faulting "weak combat and grindy crafting" that render progression "slow and arduous."^[82] PC Gamer gave 65/100, noting its appeal as a "fantasy RPG past its grind" with strong environmental storytelling but criticizing the survival mechanics' tedium, where resource gathering dominates playtime without sufficient variety or payoff.^[83] GameSpot issued a low 3/10, describing it as "dull and dense" with unwieldy combat lacking impact and crafting systems so overburdened that they overshadow exploration, deeming it one of the reviewer's least satisfying experiences.^[84] More positive outlets emphasized its depth for genre enthusiasts; Critical Hit praised the "deep and rich survival experience" bolstered by complex crafting and emergent multiplayer dynamics, appealing to fans of open-ended base-building and lore-driven conquest.^[85] Eurogamer highlighted its "handsomely sculpted" visuals and epic siege potential, though acknowledging resource-focused gameplay as laborious.^[86] Overall, reviewers agreed the title excels in immersive brutality and customization freedom but struggles with pacing, combat fluidity, and launch-era bugs that diminished accessibility, particularly on consoles where frame rate drops and input lag were recurrent complaints.^[82]^[83]^[84]

Commercial performance and player metrics

Conan Exiles achieved significant commercial success shortly after its early access launch on January 31, 2017, selling over 1 million copies within its first month across PC platforms.^[5] By July 5, 2018, the game had sold 1.4 million units in total, marking it as Funcom's best-selling and fastest-selling title in the company's 25-year history at that time. This performance was driven by strong initial interest in its open-world survival gameplay set in the Conan the Barbarian universe, with sales bolstered by early access on Steam and subsequent full release on May 8, 2018.^[5] Subsequent estimates from third-party analytics platforms indicate higher cumulative sales figures. Sensor Tower reports approximately 3.1 million units sold on Steam with $78.2 million in gross revenue as of recent data.^[87] Gamalytic estimates total revenue across platforms at $88.4 million from 4.7 million units.^[88] These figures encompass sales through 2025, reflecting ongoing monetization via base game purchases, expansions like Isle of Siptah, and in-game Bazaar items, though exact totals remain unconfirmed by Funcom beyond the 2018 milestone. The game's multi-platform availability on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and later versions contributed to broader reach, but Steam accounted for the majority of tracked metrics.^[89] Player engagement metrics highlight sustained but fluctuating popularity, primarily tracked via Steam. The game reached an all-time peak of 53,402 concurrent players on February 1, 2017, during early access hype.^[90] Monthly average concurrent players stabilized around 5,000–6,000 in 2025, with September 2025 averaging 5,507 and a peak of 9,452.^[91] Recent 24-hour peaks hovered near 8,000–9,000, indicating a dedicated core audience amid periodic updates, though overall player counts have declined from launch highs due to competition in the survival genre and shifts in Funcom's development focus.^[91] Cross-platform data is less granular, but official servers supported thousands of players regionally by 2018, with player-hosted dedicated servers expanding community access.^[92]

Community feedback and modding

The Conan Exiles community has expressed appreciation for the game's core survival mechanics, including building, exploration, and crafting, often highlighting these elements as more engaging than in comparable titles.^[93]^[94] However, persistent complaints center on technical instability, with players frequently reporting unbearable bugs that disrupt multiplayer sessions, leading some to downgrade Steam reviews from positive to negative.^[95]^[96] In 2024, feedback intensified around update-related issues, such as those in the Age of War chapters, which players described as poorly executed and contributing to a decline in server playability.^[97] By early 2025, opinions remained mixed but leaned toward recommending the game for solo or modded play, with new players noting strong initial immersion despite ongoing stability concerns.^[98]^[99] Funcom has solicited direct player input through official surveys to shape content like the 2024 Age of chapters, though implementation of feedback has drawn criticism for not aligning with test server preferences.^[100] Community discussions on platforms like Reddit and Steam forums emphasize that while official servers suffer from population drops and queues on high-population instances, private servers with custom rules sustain engagement.^[101]^[102] Modding plays a central role in extending the game's longevity, with official support limited to non-official servers via the Steam Workshop, which hosts over 4,100 mods as of late 2024.^[103] Players install mods by subscribing through Steam and configuring load orders in server files, often using tools like SteamCMD for dedicated setups.^[104]^[105] Popular mods address quality-of-life improvements, thrall enhancements, and content expansions like Immersive Armors, which add hundreds of new items; these are frequently recommended in community guides for mitigating vanilla shortcomings.^[106]^[107] The modding ecosystem, including Nexus Mods alternatives, has been credited with keeping player interest high into 2025, particularly on role-playing private servers where mods enable custom experiences.^[108]^[109]

Controversies

Mature content and thematic elements

Conan Exiles carries an ESRB rating of M (Mature 17+) with content descriptors including Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Nudity, Language, and Use of Alcohol.^[110] In Europe, it holds a PEGI 18 rating primarily for Extreme Violence, reflecting depictions of gross violence against human-like characters involving blood, dismemberment, and fatal injuries.^[111] These ratings stem from the game's core mechanics and themes drawn from Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian lore, emphasizing a brutal, pre-civilized world of survival, conquest, and savagery. Nudity is an optional feature, allowing players to enable full-frontal exposure of genitals for characters, though partial nudity (e.g., exposed breasts or buttocks) is default without it.^[1] This led to platform-specific restrictions to maintain the M rating and avoid an Adults Only (AO) designation, which would limit distribution; for instance, Microsoft and Sony censored full nudity in certain regions like North America on consoles, adding underwear or blocking the option entirely.^[112] Full nudity remains available in PEGI and USK territories but is unavailable on official servers in some areas due to regional policies.^[113] Combat features intense, graphic violence with blood splatter, decapitations, limb severing, and visceral animations, often against human NPCs or players in multiplayer.^[111] Gore elements include harvesting body parts for crafting or consumption, aligning with mechanics like cannibalism recipes that provide buffs but evoke the barbaric setting.^[114] The thrall system enables capturing human NPCs via non-lethal takedowns, dragging them to a Wheel of Pain for psychological and physical breaking (depicted as torture), and subsequent enslavement as laborers, guards, or companions.^[115] Players can also perform human sacrifices at altars by slitting the throats of thralls or enemies to appease gods like Set or Mitra, yielding resources or buffs in a mechanic tied to religious warfare and purges against rival faiths.^[116] These elements have sparked player criticism for normalizing slavery, torture, and ritual killing as gameplay incentives, with some describing the thrall-breaking and sacrifice processes as morally uncomfortable or a line-crossing glorification of real-world atrocities, despite defenses citing fidelity to the source material's themes of dominance and ritual violence.^[117] No widespread external backlash or regulatory bans occurred, but the mechanics contributed to regional content variations and community debates on thematic excess.^[118]

Technical issues and stability

Upon its full release on May 8, 2018, Conan Exiles required multiple hotfixes to address bugs, exploits, and optimization shortcomings, with Funcom implementing balancing changes and performance improvements in the weeks following launch.^[119] The game has faced ongoing performance issues, including frame rate drops, stuttering, and lag, particularly in player bases or densely populated areas, attributed to suboptimal engine utilization and high resource demands from building systems and AI.^[120]^[121] Community-recommended solutions involve graphics settings adjustments, driver updates, and server configuration tweaks to mitigate CPU bottlenecks and GPU selection errors.^[122]^[123] Server stability problems have persisted, encompassing frequent crashes, disconnections, and rubber-banding, often linked to journey step displays causing lag spikes, cheater exploits, or insufficient hardware resources on hosted servers.^[124]^[125]^[126] Building mechanics exhibit vulnerabilities, such as unexpected decay or stability loss, which updates have sometimes exacerbated rather than resolved.^[127] In 2024, player reports indicated heightened instability, with accumulated bugs contributing to a decline in overall quality, prompting Funcom to announce in January 2025 a shift toward bug resolution and stability enhancements via a spring update dubbed the "Age of Bugfixing."^[128] Subsequent 2025 hotfixes targeted crashes and update-induced issues on PC and consoles, though some patches reportedly introduced new glitches, underscoring challenges in maintaining long-term fixes.^[129]^[130] Console versions, especially PS4 and PS5, have encountered additional crash frequency, with workarounds shared in community troubleshooting.^[131] Despite iterative patching, technical reliability remains inconsistent, influenced by the game's complex procedural generation and multiplayer demands.^[132]

Monetization practices and support cadence

Conan Exiles operates on a buy-to-play model, with the base game requiring an upfront purchase typically priced at around $39.99 USD on platforms like Steam, granting access to core survival mechanics, multiplayer servers, and the Exiled Lands map.^[1] Optional downloadable content (DLC) packs, released periodically since 2018, expand this with exclusive assets such as building sets (e.g., Riddle of Steel or Architects packs), armor kits, weapons, pets, and mounts, often costing $4.99 to $19.99 each or bundled for higher prices; these provide new recipes and items that players can craft and share on servers via thralls, though ownership unlocks full utility.^[2] Over 20 such DLCs have been issued by Funcom, generating significant revenue—estimated at millions through Steam sales data—while free updates add major features like sorcery systems or attribute overhauls to maintain baseline accessibility.^[90] The in-game Bazaar, launched alongside the Age of Sorcery update on September 1, 2022, functions as a microtransaction store where players buy Crom Coins (premium currency) in packs from 250 coins for $4.99 up to 7,000 for $99.99, redeemable for cosmetic building pieces, armor appearances, emotes, and bundle sets often priced at 500–2,000 coins each.^[133] This system drew criticism for perceived high costs—equivalent to $5–20 per item after coin conversion—and opaque pricing, as bundles require exact coin matches without refunds, though items remain purely aesthetic without impacting gameplay balance.^[134] A battle pass feature, introduced in 2022 for seasonal "Ages," offered tiered rewards unlockable via in-game challenges or coin purchases to skip progression, but Funcom discontinued it in June 2024, shifting to direct Bazaar sales and sporadic free events to streamline monetization.^[135] Funcom's support for Conan Exiles has included consistent patching since early access in May 2017 and full release on May 8, 2018, with free major expansions under the "Age of" banner—such as Age of Calamitous (2019) adding corruption mechanics or Age of Heroes (2024) introducing perks—delivered quarterly until mid-2024.^[136] In June 2024, the cadence adjusted to major chapter updates roughly every six months, supplemented by monthly hotfixes and quality-of-life patches for bugs, server stability, and balance tweaks, as evidenced by over 50 patch notes logged on SteamDB through 2025.^[135] ^[137] Recent examples include the March 25, 2025 update focusing on experience improvements and the August 19, 2025 release with optimizations, new minor content, and event support, confirming active maintenance into late 2025 without an end-of-support declaration amid Funcom's focus on related titles like Dune: Awakening.^[70] ^[138] This pattern prioritizes long-term viability over rapid content dumps, sustaining a player base through cross-platform compatibility and modding tools rather than aggressive live-service pivots.^[73]