It has been an amazing journey over many years, countless memories and frustrations to go along with them but is it time to bring development to a close on Conan Exiles as it has reached its peak with unreal engine 4 and the game framework as it has been a long journey of trial, error and experimentation to create a concept we truly cherish. Although the game is truly cherished it is not without its rather serious development struggles that have arisen along the journey.
I believe i speak for large number of people that feels the same. There is very little that can be added to Conan Exiles at this point without causing a wave of problems no matter how well intended the change may be because of the restrictions and years of rework. I guess you could say the code for conan exiles is true to Robert E. Howards vision of cyclical ages in the Conan world. The code for the ages is paved straight over the old with many remnants left behind haha.
My point is all these years of learning what works and smoothing it into a flourishing and vibrant game world should be taken and become the foundation for the next generation of Conan sandbox
My Concept
CONAN: EXILES UNBOUND
Bring a closing age to Conan Exiles. (the Age of Broken Bonds).
bring upon an age where the exiles finally can use Chaos mouth and relinquish their bonds. The Unbonded ones can venture beyond the slave wall and effectively tear them down. Bringing an end to the exiled lands free all those who are bonded.
this would bring a sense of closure after all these years and a final sense of accomplishment to all us faithful players.
Conan: Exiles UnBound could be a direct follow up to exiles in which the slave wall is no longer and exiles venture out in all directions fighting to make a foothold amongst the different cultures that where sending slaves to the exiled lands in the first place. The players could be at war with the many races that are trying to push the exiles back where they belong. Imagine a Conan world with many more cities and settlement all built upon a clean new foundation using all what has been learnt from Conan Exiles over the years. All these new and amazing features would see their full potential with a new development.
with the announcement of the close of Conan exiles development announce the Development of Conan Exiles 2 and watch the fanbase go berserk with excitement. I promise their would be very little backlash if you offer the fans something new to sink their passion into. The only thing fans want more than a finally finished Conan Exiles is a Conan Exiles 2. Many of the fanbase have put the game down a long time ago but would jump at the chance for new and improved. The concept of Conan exiles is perfect but if it was to be updated for the massive leap that game dev tech has taken over these years it would become another Golden title.
A CE2 would be not a great idea. Despite the love many of us have for the Conan stories, lore, and theme, its a very niche franchise. Its barely above a cult following in status.
When CE came out and it was at its most popular. The draw was the survival genre. A genre that is now saturated. Adding another, even if its a brand new game would not likely draw in the same numbers. At best it might see Age of Sorcery numbers. And I don’t see that being enough to warrant a half a decade of development into a new game.
I’d love to see more Conan themed games. But in reality its better for Funcom’s subsidiary to simply license the rights out to smaller production companies who don’t have the same overhead and risk of volatility. And they’ve actually been doing this, as we’ve seen Conan Chop Chop and Conan Unconquered.
Where I think Conan has the best shot is in the table top area. Pretty much all table top players are Conan fans of some sort or another. So that is a great venue for it.
Much of this has already been accomplished by modders and cluster servers with advanced custom content and multiple maps to explore. If anything, Conan Exiles needs to be left alone for a good long while ,so that modders can keep doing their magic without the frustration of their work being broken on a regular basis.
Also consider that many fans of the game have spent a lot of money on their DLC’s, bazaar items, and batttlepass. Canning
the game is not a good idea.
Where I hear your points i respectfully disagree. The survival genre has been saturated for sure but it is far from dead. As you stated Conan in its prime was a very popular title due to survival being the hit thing. The point I was stating is that part of the reason why the player base has moved on is because the engine is really starting to show its age in comparison to other open world sandbox developments that definitely currently have cult following status. You are correct in stating that the survival genre is stretched thin which is why i believe moving on to a new sandbox project that takes advantage of modern technology would be a big hit. Its no secret that the RPG and creative elements to the Conan world is what has kept it alive to this day. the sheer mass of individuality and expression a person can display in the game is what makes Exiles a gem. If a new title was to offer that same sense of design and individual flare with unreal engine 5 and things like Lumen and Niagra, Metahuman ect the immersion of said world would be next level and the engine would be running more optimal systems that are integral to unreal (or whatever dev engine is used). Conan as it stands is mighty impressive visually but with modern graphical capabilities it would become next level. A very large portion of Conan exiles publicity is streamers showcasing their aesthetic builds, build comps, RP servers ect. One of the biggest issues i encountered over the years is that players found the world empty and lifeless. If the exile lands was to expand past the slave wall into flourishing npc cities (much like what already exist but have not seen full potential due to limits) the players would have more connection and it wouldn’t feel as empty, breaking away from the stereotypical survival genre.
While i hear you about Conan taking to the table top area as a focus don’t agree. As much as I love table top myself it is far more niche than what survival/sandbox is. I don’t believe the Conan games are best in any specific genre i would love to see more title in all areas. The best thing about Robert E. Howards Conan universe is the diversity of titles and stories with no specific genre theme and how they have been adapted in a diverse range of ways. They are all great title in my opinion.
To elaborate on you Table top topic. That would be amazing to develop i have planned many table tops over the years and can see the value in it. especially with advancements in 3D printing.
I didn’t say Can it. I said bring development to a close and move on with what has been learnt. That doesn’t mean close servers ect that means get them optimized and leave them alone. Bazzar items could even still run as their is little involved in producing them and wouldn’t require much upkeep. I hear you about people spending money on the Bazzar but that kind of has to do with my point. More people would spend their money on a NEW bazar that has been in place since that start of the new game release. Sadly all games end no matter the love and passion for them and no matter the money spent collecting goodies. The best thing we can hope for is to always have access to these purchases but we should cling onto them and detest anything new due to the investment. Its selling yourself short of something new and possibly even better.
I hear you about the modders content but it is entirely irrelevant as it is not official development and is not quite the same as it is just extensions of the same framework on the UE4 engine. What I am talking about is developing with all new framework within a modern engine like UE5. When Conan exiles started development Unreal 4 was at the end of its life already so it is really starting to show its age and cannot be compared to its modern counter part. Development of Conan exiles is so slow and buggy as its a UE4 development. UE5 is worlds apart when it comes to speed, development ease and accessibly technology that is simply not available on the older engine.
Amazing vid link thanks. Its very relieving to see the team is already covering many of the topics i mentioned and their potential future developments.
It’s a love and hate relationship when I think about Exiles 2…
I’d buy it straight away if it would be a back-to-the-roots survival game with expanded world (more realism, more mechanics) and Unreal Engine 5.
So far in my opinion they are going in a wrong direction with this game and they decided to apply the same principles to Dune.
If Exiles 2 is to be an overly easy and simple game with blind enemies etc, I’d pass on it…
Exiles was their greatest success, so Exiles 2 is going to happen 100%.
I hope it’s going to be compatible with Pippi.
Well yes, development doesn’t happen over night and the reasoning behind their time frames is stated. I don’t understand the hate. Do you not want to see a future development where the devs have taken what is learnt and create something new?
If you are aware of the limitations of unreal engine 4 then you would be aware that it isnt so much crude development as it is limitations of the old engine. Many of the points i haver raised cover this topic as well as the devs themselves covering the topic in the video. The only way to push forward past this is to close development and start a new project with the modern Unreal engine 5 on a clean foundation. If you understand the limitations of unreal engine 4 and potential of unreal 5 then this is a non brainer.
I understand the limitations of UE4 well enough. I also understand that there are many problems with Conan Exiles development that are in no way tied to the technical limitations. Abysmal QA practices, widespread and consistent lack of attention to details, and appalling communication will not be solved by upgrading to a newer version of the engine.
Just because you want to “see a future development where the devs have taken what they learned and create something new”, it does not mean that they will do it properly.
Wanting or hoping has nothing to do with something coming to fruition. To use a metaphor I can want for world peace. That doesn’t mean it will happen but i certainly shouldn’t stop hoping and neither should others. Hope and wants are what drive projects to happen. If nobody wanted or hoped for anything then we would never get anything new. You are taking a very sinical approach as if the devs dont have a passion for their creation when it is entirely opposite Conan has only gotten as far as they have due to dev passion keeping it alive. You are only pointing out PR issues and honestly PR is the least important of the development process and only really comes into play after a full release. These issues are in no way related to the limitations in EU4and simply come down to the staff operating at the time. who is is to say the same team would even develop the next title? When you look at the grand scope of things Conan has been a mighty successful title no matter the issues along the way and a follow up title will be a hit no matter the direction taken.
I doubt they are going to sell as much copies of Exiles 2 as they sold original Exiles.
Game and community has been badly neglected, modders treated like an obstacle and ignored.
How many times can you disappoint your customers?
Ask Ubisoft and Bioware.
As CodeMage said, there are more urgent things to be fixed before we can talk about any future success.
They do when they have an influence on those projects. If I “hope and want” a book about mushrooms, there are things I can do about that. I can go buy one, or I can write one myself, for example.
When you “hope and want” for Funcom devs to take the lessons they learned here and make a good sequel to Conan Exiles, you can’t do anything about it except talk at them. And that’s where my cynicism comes in, from the results of years of Conan Exiles players talking at Funcom.
If you think that QA and attention to details are “PR issues” in software development, then you’re either not in that industry or you’re part of the problems the industry has.
“Simply”? Do you really think that the staff – and their organization – are something you can wave away like that? If it’s really just as simple as that, then you can take your wants and hopes and bring them to fruition yourself: just find the right staff and organize them. Should be simple, right?
If you replace the team that learned the lessons from Conan Exiles with a new team, how does that work towards your idea of seeing “a future development where the devs have taken what they learned and create something new”?
Oh, I see. Faith trumps logic. In that case, I’ll leave you to your worship. No point in trying to discuss anything.
