"I walk in a land of desperation. A wasteland of the exiled and the outcast. Where the broken strive to build and the weak are crushed while the strong survive."

These are the words of Conan the Barbarian as he strides across a desert wasteland, skulls and bones crushing beneath is sandaled feet.

Conan Exiles is first and foremost a multiplayer game that can be enjoyed on both private and public servers, but it will also feature a single-player mode.

Journey through a vast, seamless world filled with the ruins of ancient civilizations and uncover its dark history and buried secrets as you seek to conquer and dominate the exiled lands yourself. Start with nothing but your bare hands and forge the legacy of your clan, from simple tools and weapons to gigantic fortresses and entire cities.

This ‘domination’ trailer revealing how players must engage in savage war and brutal combat to dominate the Exiled Lands.

“Take control of a towering god and drive your enemies before you as you crush their homes and conquer their land,” says Joel Bylos, Creative Director at Funcom. “That is the epitome of player vs. player conflict in Conan Exiles. We are giving players a huge, detailed open world where they can go out build a village, a city, or a vast empire in their name. If you are on a PvP multiplayer server, just remember there is always someone willing to take that from you!”

Combat is a key aspect of Conan Exiles and players will engage in brutal battles using anything from swords to warhammers and longbows. A violent fatality system ensures that they can slice each other in half or even see their own head rolling away from them in what is a savage and bloody combat system true to the spirit of the world’s most famous barbarian. To dominate the Exiled Lands, players will also have to build cities and fortresses to claim land, and they must go out and capture thralls to help them defend their settlements or create special weapons and armor. To truly dominate Conan’s world, they must also build altars to their god and bring them sacrifices to appease them. If they earn the blessings of their god, players will ultimately get to summon and take direct control of huge, towering avatars of the gods that can roam the world and crush both bodies and buildings under their weight. There will be several countermeasures against avatars and players can also choose to run and play on servers without avatars if they want to.

You are an exile, one of thousands cast out to fend for themselves in a barbaric wasteland swept in sandstorms and besieged by enemies on every side. Grow crops or hunt animals for food. Harvest resources to build weapons and tools. Build a shelter to survive. Ride across a vast world and explore alone, or band together with other players to build entire settlements and fortified strongholds, and wage war against your enemies as you unleash your fury in savage, fast-paced combat that will see limbs flying and heads rolling.

Enslave the bandits of the exiled lands to do your bidding by breaking them on the grueling Wheel of Pain. Sacrifice the beating hearts of your enemies on the blood-soiled altars of your god to seize true power and glory. Summon the colossal avatar of your god and see them lay waste to your enemies and their homes.

You can even align yourself with the Hyborian gods, building altars to their glory and sacrificing the bloody hearts of enemy players upon them to shift the balance of power in your favor. Players will also have to face the purge: a special event where NPC armies from the neighboring kingdoms sweep in to destroy the progress that the exiles have made. Will you stand together with your fellow players against the purge, or will you use it to your advantage?

Just remember: in this brutal land of vengeful gods, bloodthirsty cannibals, and vicious monsters, survival is more than tracking down food and water. Explore mysterious ruins in search of treasure and knowledge, but beware the risk of your mind being corrupted by the dark forces of the world. Traverse vast sand dunes and seek shelter from scouring sandstorms sweeping across the burning sands. March into war against your enemies and unleash your savage fury in brutal combat. Go in unprepared and it will be your head rolling and limbs flying.

Conan Exiles is not an empty sandbox. It is a world rich in history where you must discover the knowledge and secrets of ancient civilizations as you struggle to build your own.