Funcom, the developers behind the Age of Conan MMO, have announced new Conan the Barbarian game, Conan Exiles. The game is described as an open-world survival game. According to the game’s website, players are tasked to “survive, build, and dominate,” which could mean a number of different things in terms of gameplay. Its reported by Game Informer that the game can be played single player or online multiplayer, with the promise of fast-paced combat gameplay. Gameplay details are unclear now, but hopefully this new game can have the excitement that the movies had. Early Access is announced for Summer 2016, with an official release to follow soon after.
From the description on the website, it sounds like the game will incorporate combat, RPG elements, and perhaps Sim City like town maintenance. The line “Harvest resources to build weapons and tools” seems to suggest that you might be commanding your own army in the game, perhaps something like an RTS. What’s interesting about the game is how it promises players to “Ride across a vast world,” so we can expect an map similar to Age of Conan. It’s probably good that Funcom isn’t making a full on MMORPG, considering there are too many risks for developers to enter the maket. Based on that information alone, it looks like the game might be handling too many genres at once. I’m reminded of Brutal Legend or the Fable series and how they kind of flip-flopped between okay combat and okay RPG. Hopefully this game won’t be spread to thin and turn out like Mad Max. In my opinion, they should just make a God of War with Conan, but that game already exists.