Conan Exiles Isle of Siptah
Funcom
When Conan: Exiles debuted a few years ago, my gaming friends and I couldn’t get enough of it. Instead of being set in yet another post-apocalyptic environment like most other survival games, it used Robert E. Howard Hyborian Age setting. Funcom did a great job of world-building the game enough so it matched Howard’s vision—the only thing missing was sorcery (which they’d originally planned to include).
Needless to say, I was pretty excited when Funcom debuted a sequel of sorts (you still need the base Conan Exiles game to play it), set in an entirely new place—a sprawling island with a landmass almost a large as the Exiled Lands of the base game.
Isle of Siptah takes place on an…(wait for it)…island! After you create your character, you find yourself shipwrecked on the shores of Siptah. From there, the usual survival gameplay loop ensues, i.e. scrounging around for resources and finding a place to build your first base—which is expected. This beginning period of your digital avatar’s life can be fraught with peril since Siptah is one dangerous place.
Fortunately, if you’ve already played the base game you’ll be relatively familiar with the similar gameplay mechanics in Isle of Siptah. Your character still levels up and gains experience points for different sorts of unlocks. Likewise, the inventory and crafting systems are relatively the same, which are already some of the best I’ve seen in a survival game. The main draw here is the island itself.
Siptah is chock-full of lush forests, craggy mountains and cliffs, streams, and meadows. There are your typical fantasy denizens to combat, such as skeletons, werewolves, and the like. There’s also a gigantic, sinister-looking tower in the middle of the map that is reminiscent of the one from Isengard in the Lord of the Rings franchise.
Instead of the sandstorms in Exiles, the tower of Siptah regularly spews out rolling storms that transform the environs to what seems to be an interdimensional terrain—complete with bizarre, otherworldly creatures. Once these entities cross over into Siptah, they begin to attack whatever’s in their way—whether that be you, other creatures, or even your base. This gives the Isle of Siptah a tense atmosphere since you never quite feel safe.
Siptah has also added some more new content in the form of vaults. These sprawling, labyrinthian dungeons acclimate higher-level characters to the Siptah’s endgame content. They contain ancient, subterranean temples that are filled to the brim with all sorts of dastardly dungeon-dwelling denizens (try to repeat that three times in a row).
But as players clear room after room of these forbidden lairs, they’ll find increasingly valuable loots. Of course, if your character is defeated, you’ll have to trek all the way back to the spot he or she died and attempt to pick all of your gear back up. This can be especially difficult if the enemies that killed you in the first place are still lingering around.
In the end, Conan Exiles Isle of Siptah is a fantastic addition to the base game and offers a wealth of exciting new content. There are many new vistas to see, dungeons to explore, and challenges to meet and Funcom is constantly adding more features to it. If you’re into high adventure and fun gameplay, this title has you covered.
SCORE: 8.3/10
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