Funcom brought Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age to the survival genre with Conan Exiles, which launched from early access in 2018. The game combined standard survival mechanics with the Conan universe’s brutal aesthetic, adding a thrall system where you could capture and break NPCs to serve your settlement. The setting and the thrall system gave it an identity in a genre crowded with zombie and dinosaur-themed alternatives.
Community sentiment is positive with significant caveats. Players praise the building system, the setting, and the unique features that differentiate it from competitors. They consistently criticize the technical state, the DLC strategy, and the inconsistent quality across different game systems. Conan Exiles is a game that many players enjoy despite its problems rather than in the absence of them.
Building an Empire in the Hyborian Age
The building system is Conan Exiles’ strongest feature and one of the best in any survival game. Multiple building material tiers, extensive piece variety, and flexible placement create enormous creative potential. Bases range from functional fortresses to elaborate palaces, and the construction process is more detailed than most competitors offer. The variety of building styles, from sandstone desert structures to reinforced stone castles, gives each base visual identity tied to its materials and location.
The thrall system adds a layer of NPC management that’s unique to Conan Exiles. You capture enemies, break them on the Wheel of Pain, and assign them roles in your settlement. Fighters defend your base, crafters improve your workstations, and entertainers boost morale. Building a workforce of captured NPCs creates a different kind of progression than most survival games offer, and the process of hunting for specific high-quality thralls adds a collection element.
Combat has more depth and weight than the survival genre typically delivers. Attacks, dodges, and combos require timing and positioning, making fights feel more like action RPG encounters than the basic swinging found in many survival games. The weapons variety, from swords and axes to bows and throwing weapons, provides meaningful combat choices.
World exploration rewards curiosity with diverse biomes, dungeons, and points of interest. The map spans desert wastelands, lush jungles, frozen mountains, and volcanic regions, each with their own resources, enemies, and environmental hazards. Discovering new areas and the lore scattered throughout them provides motivation beyond pure resource gathering.
Cracks in the Foundation
Technical stability has been a persistent issue. Performance inconsistencies, server lag, and bugs that affect gameplay are common enough to be expected rather than surprising. The game has improved since launch, but the technical baseline remains below what players expect from a game several years post-release. Server crashes during important moments and rubber-banding during combat are particularly frustrating.
The DLC and monetization model has evolved in ways the community finds problematic. While cosmetic DLC packs were initially well-received for their building piece variety, the introduction of a battle pass system and premium currency in Age of Sorcery updates shifted community sentiment. The feeling that monetization is expanding in a game that still has unresolved technical issues generates consistent criticism.
AI behavior for both enemies and thralls is inconsistent. Thralls sometimes fail to respond to threats, take odd paths, or position themselves poorly. Enemy AI can be exploited through terrain and structure manipulation. The NPC behavior affects both combat encounters and base defense in ways that undermine the game’s other systems.
Solo play is possible but significantly less engaging than multiplayer. The game is designed for shared experiences, and playing alone removes the PvP tension, cooperative building, and social dynamics that give the experience its energy. Solo players can enjoy the exploration and building, but the full Conan Exiles experience requires other people.
Surviving With Style
Conan Exiles’ greatest contribution to the survival genre is demonstrating that setting and aesthetic matter. The Hyborian Age provides a framework that’s more interesting than generic post-apocalyptic or wilderness settings. The themes of power, slavery, and survival in a harsh world are consistent with the source material and give the game a personality that generic survival games lack.
The building and thrall systems reinforce this identity by creating progression paths that feel thematically appropriate. You don’t just survive in Conan Exiles. You conquer and build an empire, which aligns perfectly with the franchise.
Should You Play Conan Exiles?
If you want a survival game with strong building, a distinctive setting, and unique mechanics like the thrall system, Conan Exiles offers things its competitors don’t. It’s best experienced on well-run private servers with friends, where the technical issues are minimized and the social dynamics shine. The building system alone justifies attention from survival fans.
Skip it if technical stability is a priority for you or if the ongoing monetization model is a dealbreaker. If you primarily game solo, the experience loses too much of what makes it distinctive.
The Verdict on Conan Exiles
Conan Exiles distinguishes itself in the crowded survival genre through its Hyborian setting, excellent building system, and unique thrall mechanics. The combat has genuine weight, the world rewards exploration, and the aesthetic gives the game a personality that most survival games lack. Technical issues, evolving monetization, and inconsistent AI are the persistent weaknesses that keep it from reaching the top tier. But for players looking for a survival game that offers something different from the usual templates, Conan Exiles delivers enough distinctive features to earn its place.