Conan Exiles launched on Xbox Game Preview almost a year ago, and since then has gone through a number of important changes. Not only has the game received a larger map, but there are added mechanics like hunting and cooking which greatly enhance the experience.
The title is set to leave Xbox Game Preview — and Steam Early Access — on May 8, 2018 and today, developer Funcom released a major update on Xbox One which overhauls the animations, visuals, and much more. The world is increasing in size, new features and systems are being introduced, hundreds of new items are being added, and there is a new brutal combat system.
Some of the changes in the latest patch which brings the download size to 45 GB are listed below. You can read the complete patch notes, including the countless bug fixes, on the developer's forums.
Upgraded Combat
- The new combat system is very different and a huge improvement over the old one. A specialized team of veteran designers and animators have spent months working on it.
- The combat features a new visual style. All weapons are getting their own attacks and animations. The attacks consist of lunges, sweeps, jumps, cleaves, and slashes. This makes taking out enemies much more fluid and engaging.
- All weapons have different light and heavy attacks which can be chained one after the other.
Farming and Shelter
- By obtaining seeds from plants and making compost through a heap, it is now possible to plant and harvest your own crops.
- The building abandonment system has been updated with sophisticated mechanics. Certain structures will decay overtime if you don't live in them or maintain them.
Updated Interface
- Health and stamina are now shown as bars as they're essential in combat. Stamina will replenish over time when you're stationary, but now health doesn't.
Fast Travel
- The new world map is rather large and traversing it can be a problem. Players can now build a map room to teleport all over the place.
- It is shaped like a map of the Exiled Lands and is quite large and detailed.
- As you explore the world you discover monoliths. Once your bracelet is attuned to a particular monolith, can teleport to that point from your map room.
- Unfortunately, you'll still have to walk back to your settlement as teleportation only works one way.
Global Event
- The "Purge" is a global event that sends frost giants, locusts, undead, relic hunters, gorillas, and other creatures to attack your base.
- The type of enemy attacking your castle depends on where you have built it. The southern areas of the map won't get attacked as that's where you start out in the game.
- You have a purge meter which fills up depending on your activities. The longer you play, the more you build or kill, the faster your meter will increase.
- Defeating some of the enemies that attack your structures yields legendary rewards.
Conan Exiles can be experienced in both single-player and online multiplayer. Those who purchase the game on Xbox Game Preview for $49.99 — the PC version currently costs $29.99 — will receive Conan's Royal Armor. Long after his adventures through the Exiled Lands, Conan became King of Aquilonia and this was the armor he wore when defending his kingdom.
Hopefully the game will live up to expectations when it launches in May. We've been playing it for the past few months and despite the fact that the early access build is rough around the edges, it's still a lot of fun. Conan Exiles is one of the most accessible survival games out there and is easy to pick up unlike Ark: Survival Evolved. The developer just needs to optimize the performance, especially on Xbox One X which currently runs at 1440p.
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