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Open-world survival games continue to be popular, and for good reason. What’s better than a massive map to roam while battling the elements and gathering resources to keep your squishy little character alive? There are plenty of big games hitting Early Access or preparing to launch in 1.0 in 2026, making this a great year for fans of the genre. And now, an 8-year-old modern survival classic that’s somewhat fallen off the radar is making a major bid for a comeback.
On May 5th, Funcom dropped a massive free overhaul updating Conan Exiles to Unreal Engine 5. Called Conan Exiles Enhanced, the free upgrade delivers a huge graphics overhaul along with a ton of QoL improvements. It’s released in celebration of the game’s upcoming 8-year anniversary, which officially hits on May 8th. Already, the update is bringing players back to the game to check out what’s new and relive what made the game one of the early survival hits when it released back in 2018.
Conan Exiles Enhanced Upgrade Sparks Resurgence for the Modern Survival Classic
Conan Exiles Enhanced is a massive rework of the 2018 survival hit. Specifically, it brings the game over into Unreal Engine 5, giving the game a huge visual refresh. Not only that, but the game’s UI has been fully redesigned. The update also expands the game’s map, combining its two regions into one massive world. Crafting and building got a major overhaul, along with a multitude of other quality-of-life tweaks. For Steam Deck users, the game’s performance on the handheld, as well. And from the looks of it, this enhancement is bringing the 8-year-old game back to the forefront of players’ minds.
Conan Exiles got a mixed reception at launch. While the game now boasts a Very Positive review average on Steam, critical reviews were solidly middle of the road. However, many survival fans fell in love with the game, earning it a dedicated fanbase even 8 years after release. Prior to the major update, Conan Exiles was still hitting a Steam player peak of between 7K to 9K players on a weekly basis. For a game that’s lingering on in years, that’s not a bad following. Yet many fans wonder why the survival game hasn’t maintained a higher player base. After all, it offers robust survival gameplay for single players or co-op. But as newer games like Enshrouded and Valheim have taken center stage, many have fallen off of older games.
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Now, it looks like the major free Conan Exiles Enhanced update is bringing fans back to the survival game. Following the launch of the new enhanced edition, the player count jumped up to over 26K users – nearly triple the prior 24-hour peak. While not quite as high as the game’s Early Access peak of 53K, it definitely shows that gamers are eager to see what the new and improved version of the survival game has to offer.
Conan Exiles Enhanced is available now on Steam. It is a free update for anyone who already owns Conan Exiles. For those wanting to jump into the game for the first time, it costs $39.99 at full price, with a launch discount of 25% off now through May 18th. So far, Funcom hasn’t revealed plans to bring the new enhanced version to consoles, but you can play the original Conan Exiles on Xbox One or PS4.
Have you played Conan Exiles in the past? Will this update bring you back? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the Forum!
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