When the writer Robert E. Howard created Conan the Barbarian almost a century ago, nobody would say that the character could work so well in a field different from that of literature. After movies, comics or animated series, the Norwegian studio Funcom (The Longest Journey, Anarchy Online, The Secret World ...) had a very good idea to give an online component to the wild hunter, first with Age of Conan and now with this Conan Exiles that we are already playing thoroughly, since they opened their servers at dawn on May 8 and even without a note to go through it carefully before issuing a final verdict .
Contents / Attributes
Conan Exiles is a twist to what we saw in the MMORPG Age of Conan, turning the proposal more towards survival and crafting , but putting dozens of players back into the same online session so they can face each other, cooperate and, In short, survive. Following in the footsteps of the champions of the survival genre, such as Ark, Fortnite or H1Z1 , in Conan Exiles the player not only measures his progression based on levels and completing missions and in encounters with others, but also has at his disposal an important grid of inventory of where all kinds of consumables, equipment items, weapons, power-ups and, most importantly, constructions will come out . This is a game of fortresses and defense of territories, where you can dominate the map against monsters of all kinds, aggressive animals and even other players.
Funcom, despite the problems of the past , has known how to do it in consoles and computer so that Conan Exiles was as polished and well made, animated and developed as possible. For this reason, it has offered several early accesses and open betas in search of feedback and testing of servers, to the point that the proposal today, first moment after final release and finally at a somewhat reduced price , remains quite solid and without Connection problems or optimization, beyond the usual ones of the genre, offering offline solitaire and multiplayer online game. And that this final commercial version is quite different from the one we started playing all, more than a year ago ...
How could it be otherwise, the controversial character editor now has many more options and configurations, so we can give form to the exile or exile we practically want. But once in the vast deserts of Hiboria , what the player finds is a range of options far superior to what has been seen so far in the previous phases of the game, with more fauna, flora and resources everywhere to start creating a first weapons and clothing, which not too many hours will begin to become resistant armor, divine invocations, huts, castles and even entire cities. Conan Exiles has a powerful component of visual progression , where the game starts from the mud and extreme poverty and does not stop going in crescendo until making the player feel like the absolute king of lands much richer, leafy and privileged.
A crucial factor in this type of games is in the combat , based here, as in other MMOs, in the area damages and the ranges and damage points of the weapons, white or distance (bows, crossbows ...). The attributes of the character, his team, his fatigue, his hunger and thirst, or his possible corruption also affect the chances of success in the face of inappropriate or inappropriate confrontations. A great virtue of Conan Exiles is that the scenarios, vast, dense and detailed, are also designed to favor certain tactics and verticality in the fights. The damage received is not self-regenerating -in previous versions yes- and it is important to bring food and drink in the direct accesses of the lower part (roulette consoles) so that there are no scares in multitudinous combats, which should be avoided almost always, less in the first hours. The same for the enemies of more level to ours, in Conan Exiles, like in others of its style, the level of character marks a lot the guarantees of success. But there is much more.
All this creates an experience first of all rolera , with a rhythm of the game where the resources and the equipment to be improved guide the steps of the players, who accept commissions and hunts offered by the NPCs, some old acquaintances of the mythology Conan. The magic also has ended up having in this title a stronger presence than the foreseeable one, being also necessary to gather the hearts of enemies to offer them in sanctuaries to the gods , and to receive certain divine benefits, to the point of being able to invoke legendary creatures or to have armies whole celestials to fight on our side. But this is one of those points that we are still exploring in depth to corroborate their potential over other players and mechanical possibilities in search of a better domain of the kingdom.
The kingdom, by the way, is gigantic, nourished of different ecosystems and that it contains from snowy summits of leafy forests with animals, to punished deserts full of lethal dangers and where the resources of life are scarce. From the map it is easy to place beacons, organize missions, see points of interaction and interest, locate ancient ruins to obtain more knowledge and connection with the gods, etc. Some good words we have for development trees, equipment screens and inventories, or even game settings, graphics, sound, etc. It is comfortable to navigate through all this, also with command in consoles despite the clearly keyboard-mouse nature of this type of video game where the menu will be what we visit the most with so much demand for collection and manufacturing.
Gameplay
Surprise how Funcom has looked for playable depth in a lot of aspects that in other survival are not taken into account. The food, for example, has expiration time limit, all weapons and armor are damaged, the manufacturing times -in real time- are very measured so that it never leaves free to build things, the enemies pursue everything necessary in a suitable IA exercise, the inventory is filled soon to force us to elaborate and build, etc. In addition, our exile is gaining skills but from very early on he has been granted the power to freely climb , almost any surface, so it is interesting to soon get a good height to build a shelter, and from there go in search of more and more power and presence.
Conan Exiles, how could it be otherwise drawing the universe he draws, is a wild game also in his violent images and values, clearly +18 at recommended age. The dismemberment, torture, blood and obsessive revenge are persistent in every encounter and line of dialogue by the way. The primitive nature of these lands makes traps, explosives, forms of mutilation and cruel sieges a veritable bath of viscera and anger . Conan fans would not expect less, and Funcom really knows how to give what it should in these terms, with some missions and even unpleasant sequences that help create this hostile climate where you can survive at all costs, sometimes abusing certain weapons and items that are radically better than others.
It gives us that this can generate some imbalance and that some parameters will have to be updated in search of a more plural and distinctive experience, because at the moment it is easy to find a majority of players all with the same team given its undisputed efficiency . But Funcom has already said - and its work in previous projects guarantees it - that it will be on top of any necessary balancing so that the world of Conan Exiles feels varied and nourished, with power distributed among all its components and with frequent updates that balance what necessary. It is logical, until you have entered the avalanche of players to the final final version can not begin to see these possible seams or unevenness.
Now, the construction part is another pleasant surprise full of possibilities. Make with wood, stones, metal, skins, etc. we are opening a series of menus and editors that allow us to shape the architecture that we have in mind with enough agility and comfort, also with control. For the time being, this one seems to be the most important part of Conan Exiles and the one that most stings to lose before enemy sieges, especially in open online servers. All the typical management of a RTS, with the forge for weapons, barracks, camps that enhance the food of the region, etc. It integrates incredibly well in the game mechanics, with combat and collection. In addition, visually it has been achieved that each construction feels solid but in danger, in case of invasion, collapsing anything under the proper pressure, crumbling into heaps of stones what so many resources cost us to seek, think and build.
That constant danger , that effort shattered in an instant, is what also generates a gameplay of protection and conservatism in the face of courage alone. This is especially noticeable when playing on open servers, but remember that Conan Exiles also allows local gaming, and even private games where the administrator can configure a lot of parameters and particular rules to generate a fully customized gaming environment, for example choose how animal respawn works, what bars of life are seen and which do not, or how valuable is the meat when it comes to feeding and stocking.
Technicals
Going into technical matter, we must recognize that Funcom is seen more comfortable working for current systems. Conan Exiles has had the good fortune to move in early access and betas, to be able to test servers and performance in computers and consoles, and to be built on Unreal Engine 4 for the benefit of all, since this, as you know, is a multi-purpose engine and firm for the open worlds. The game today feels finished and fairly stable, without bugs or crashes but the usual frame rate jerks when visiting new areas, with defined drawing distances and animations and lighting that are enriched with a section of music and captivating sound effects. It does not feel like an overproduction but you can see that Funcom has put a lot of effort into capturing through the senses also the possible new players who have never experienced Conan games or who have never dared to survive even if they like the character and its rich wild universe.
Conclusion
It is still early to issue a final verdict and note Conan Exiles. Your servers opens only a few hours after of survival MMORPG, requires more game time so that we can evaluate it with justice. But we can tell you that Funcom has given birth to the best videogame of Conan the Bárbaro to date, with a successful bet for survival and free construction above any other playable component also well taken, such as fighting or the search for sanctuaries and divine invocations. They only seem to splash the endemic technical evils of the genre.
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