Conan Exiles Gets New Combat-Focused Screens, Early Access Delayed to 2017

Funcom has released new images for the upcoming Conan Exiles, showcasing things like combat mechanics and the game's sandy open world. The other piece of news around the game is that its Steam Early Access release has been delayed to January 2017; it was previously pegged for September.

Regarding the delay, Exiles creative director Joel Bylos explained in a Steam post (via DualShockers) that, after considering fan feedback, the developer decided it would "like to spend a little more time" working on the game. He added that Funcom recently "secured additional funding," which means the developer is in a "much more flexible" financial situation.

Gallery

"We want to take advantage of that and move Early Access to January 2017," he said. "With the extra time in development, we believe we can make a better game for you, the fans."

He went on to say that Early Access games often trend in two different directions. On the one hand, some Early Access games are "buggy, unstable, and unfinished." Others can be more stable and feature-rich.

"Our aim is to deliver a game that is firmly in the second situation and creates a quintessential Conan experience," Bylos said.

"Conan Exiles is a different type of game for us and we have approached its development with an eye for the mechanics that make the survival sandbox genre so compelling, while attempting to bring the style and flavor of the Conan universe," he added.

As announced previously, you don't play as Conan the Barbarian, but rather as an "exile" who has been crucified and left to die. In keeping with the Conan tradition, Exiles aims to be brutal as it relates to violence.

"You see heads coming off, you see arms coming off, you see blood, you see gore, you see dents in armor," Funcom said previously. "These are the things we're aiming for."

Exiles is described as an open-world game. It is multiplayer-centric, though you can play alone, too.

The game will launch for PC at first. A console version is also in the works, but Funcom has not provided any details on it outside of announcing its existence.