Conan Exiles: More Rust and Less Skyrim Means Huge Disappointment

     I had been pretty excited for a new brutal and violent Conan game when it was announced in December, but this new trailer has given me great pause.  A couple days ago when Conan Exiled put up their first in game trailer, I saw that the survival/building gameplay is highly reminiscent of Rust or Ark: Survival Evolved and those are games I just don't enjoy.

THE BAD

     What gets me is the fact that the world building aspects of this game look to be a necessity.  Having to build a shelter instead of exploring the land isn't something that interests me at all- and I definitely don't want to be forced to do it.  I was really hoping to be getting a Conan game that was a lot more like Skyrim.  The Hyborean Age era from the Robert E. Howard books is more than large enough to create a game of the same scale as any of the Elder Scrolls games, so who made the decision to go the Rust route?  Not everyone wants another damn crafting game.

THE GOOD

     I do think Funcom got the combat relatively right.  The trailer is from pre-Alpha footage so I can't be 100% sure yet.  Some of the spear thrusting and movements are still clunky, and the characters in general look fairly bland, but there's still time to get better.  Th beasts are decent, such as the bat monster.  And of course we might surmise that the giant serpent is a Set creature at a temple.

BY CROM!  

     Conan should be about killing, not crafting!  I mean the Playstation 3's Conan in 2007 was actually pretty damn good, and Age of Conan on Steam is still fun as well.  So why go with crafting as a major gameplay element?  This really baffles me.

     Overall the game has a nice polish and I'll still give it a go when it hits PC's via Steam on September 13th.