Conan Exiles

Lore & Background

The game is set in the fictional prehistoric Hyborian Age. Player characters begin as convicts sentenced to death and crucified under the desert sun, only to be rescued by Conan. As exiles, they must navigate the Exiled Lands, a harsh desert landscape. Later updates added biomes including the Frozen North, the Highlands, a Volcano area, and with the Isle of Siptah expansion, the Savannah, Floodlands, and Ashlands. The base game world is approximately 53 km².

Reader's Guide

Conan Exiles became Funcom's biggest and fastest-selling game, with over 320,000 copies sold in its first week of early access on Steam and over 480,000 net copies within 28 days. By July 2018, it had sold 1.4 million copies. The game received mixed or average reviews on all platforms according to Metacritic. Its notable features include a detailed character creation system with sliders for breast and penis size (the latter censored in North America by the ESRB), a religion system allowing allegiance to deities such as Set, Yog, Mitra, Ymir, Derketo, Crom, or Zath, and a thrall system for capturing NPCs. Major updates added pets, mounts with mounted combat, and new biomes. The game's backstory, revealed by the Warmaker Klael, tells of ancient Giantkings who ruled the Exiled Lands and created the bracelets worn by players, which bend will and prevent escape.

Did You Know?

• The game sold over 320,000 copies in its first week of early access on Steam.
• Players can summon avatars of deities as a pinnacle form of offense.
• The base game world is around 53 km² in size.
• A mount system with mounted combat was added on 5 December 2019.

The Exiled Lands: A Survival World in Layers

Conan Exiles drops players into the prehistoric Hyborian Age as a condemned criminal crucified beneath a merciless desert sun. After Conan the Barbarian intervenes, the character is thrust into the Exiled Lands—a sprawling 53-square-kilometer wasteland where the core loop revolves around managing hunger, thirst, and constant threats. The map has grown considerably since launch. The original arid terrain was joined by the Highlands in 2017, a high-level Volcano region in the northernmost corner by mid-2018, and the Frozen North, which introduced Star metal for superior gear. The Isle of Siptah expansion in early 2021 tripled the variety with The Savannah, The Floodlands, and The Ashlands. Hostile wildlife ranges from crocodiles and rhinoceroses to fictional dragons and dinosaur-like shalebacks, while aggressive human NPCs populate small villages and can be captured into the thrall system for crafting bonuses and combat support. PvP servers add another layer of danger, making every resource run a potential ambush.

Faith, Flesh, and the Path of Power

Before a single sword is swung, players shape their exile through a surprisingly deep customization suite. Gender, voice, and a series of physical sliders for head and body allow fine-tuning of appearance, while a roster of races—Cimmerian, Stygian, Hyborian, Nordheimer, and others—anchors the character's cultural identity. The game also includes sliders for breast and penis size, the latter of which was censored in North America by the ESRB. Beyond aesthetics, faith is woven into progression. Players swear initial allegiance to one of seven pantheon gods: Set, Yog, Mitra, Ymir, Derketo, Crom, or Zath. Crom functions as a deliberate null choice, granting no in-game benefit. A hidden eighth deity, Jhebbal Sag, is unlocked only through a specific NPC dialogue and dungeon. Each god offers unique crafting recipes, and once enough offerings are gathered, the player can summon the deity's avatar as a devastating offensive force, typically deployed against rival player bases. Progression itself eschews a formal class system; experience earned through combat, gathering, crafting, or simply waiting unlocks attribute points and new recipes at each level.

The Giantkings and the Making of the Wasteland

The deepest layer of Conan Exiles lore is delivered by Warmaker Klael, the last surviving Giantking—the ancient rulers who once held dominion over the Exiled Lands. According to Klael's account, humans first arrived as refugees, and the Giantkings granted them the frozen northern territory to settle. There, the humans constructed a city among the trees, pursued what Klael calls weird sciences, and worshiped demon gods. For a millennium, the two peoples traded and coexisted in peace. Human greed shattered that accord, igniting a war that reshaped the world. To control their human prisoners of war, the Giantkings forged the bracelet every player character wears: it bends the wearer's will, grants comprehension of the Giantking tongue, and seals off any escape. The humans were pressed into labor and combat service. Near the war's end, the humans unveiled a weapon forged of science that obliterated Giantking troops and encased survivors in stone. In desperation, the Giantkings performed a ritual that unleashed a Sandstorm, scorching the land into the desert wasteland players now traverse. Every Giantking perished except Klael. Millennia later, Conan arrives to question the Warmaker and set out in search of the Serpent Ring of Set.

From Early Access to Engine Overhaul: A Commercial Story

Funcom, the developer and publisher behind Conan Exiles, launched the title in early access in early 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The commercial response was immediate: the first week on Steam alone saw over 320,000 copies move, and within 28 days the net figure, after returns and chargebacks, crossed 480,000—just 7,000 short of what Funcom had projected for an entire first year. By July 2018, total sales had reached 1.4 million, cementing the title as the biggest and fastest-selling game in the studio's history. The full release followed on 8 May 2018. Post-launch, the game continued evolving: pets arrived in a 2018 update, and a long-planned mount system, initially shelved due to console performance constraints, landed on 5 December 2019 with both travel and mounted combat. An enhanced build for Xbox Series X and Series S shipped on 8 June 2021, and Conan Exiles Enhanced, rebuilt on Unreal Engine 5, is slated for 5 May 2026. Despite this commercial success, Metacritic aggregated reviews as mixed or average across all platforms.