Conan Exiles: Enhanced Review — Friendship, Thralls, and a Bracelet I Could Not Wait to Remove

I played Conan Exiles: Enhanced with three friends, and after around 64.2 hours, we actually completed the main objective by removing the bracelet. That sounds very heroic when I write it like that. In reality, it was a lot of running, farming, upgrading, getting lost, yelling during a Purge, collecting thralls like we were building a very violent employment agency, and slowly realizing that the real final boss was probably the travelling distance.

This is one of those games where I can say, “I enjoyed the journey,” and also, “I am not sure I want to recommend this to most co-op campaign players.” Both are true. Conan Exiles gave us some genuinely fun survival moments, especially because we played as a group. But it also constantly reminded me that this is an older survival game with clunky systems, bugs, and a story that feels like it is technically there but not exactly fighting for screen time.

By the end, I landed on a 5/10. Not terrible, not great. Just very, very mid — but mid in a way that still somehow ate 64 hours of our lives.

What kind of game is it?

Conan Exiles: Enhanced is an open-world survival game set in the Conan the Barbarian universe. You start as an exile left to die in the desert, Conan frees you, and then the game basically says, “Good luck, idiot,” before throwing you into a huge world full of crafting, base building, enemies, dungeons, bosses, resources, and survival systems.

The Enhanced version updates the game with Unreal Engine 5 visuals and technical improvements, but the foundation is still the same survival sandbox: gather materials, craft better tools, build a base, capture thralls, explore different regions, fight bosses, and eventually gather the keystone pieces needed to remove the bracelet and escape the Exiled Lands.

For us, the game became a co-op progression checklist. First, we focused on upgrading equipment and making our base stronger. Then, once we felt maxed enough, we started hunting the bosses one by one for the keystone quest. That structure worked because we made our own plan. The game itself does not exactly deliver a cinematic campaign or a strong story push. It gives you the world, the tools, and some lore breadcrumbs, then expects you to create your own motivation.

And honestly, with friends, that can work. Alone? I am not so sure I would have survived the boredom, never mind the monsters.

What worked for me

The best part of Conan Exiles for me was the sense of group progression. At the start, everything felt rough. We had weak gear, limited resources, and very little idea what we were supposed to prioritize. Slowly, we started learning what mattered, improving the base, upgrading weapons and armor, and preparing ourselves for harder areas.

That struggle to progress was enjoyable. There is something satisfying about going from “we are barely surviving” to “we have a proper base, upgraded equipment, and an army of thralls ready to throw hands with anything that walks too close.” Conan Exiles understands that survival games are often at their best when the player can look back and see how far they have come.

The thrall system was easily one of the highlights. Capturing enemies and turning them into workers, guards, or fighters adds a lot of personality to the base. It makes the world feel more useful, because enemies are not only obstacles — some of them are potential employees, whether they applied for the job or not. There is a weird satisfaction in building up a base full of thralls and watching them become part of the whole survival machine.

Exploration was another strong point. The Exiled Lands have several biomes, and moving into a new area often gave us a fresh experience. The desert, greener zones, snowy areas, dangerous ruins, and other regions each had their own feeling. Even when the game was clunky, there was still curiosity pushing us forward. What is over there? Can we survive that area? Is this place important? Are we about to get destroyed by something we were absolutely not prepared for?

Usually, yes. Yes, we were.

The game also works better because of co-op chaos. When four people are dividing tasks, building, exploring, fighting, and making questionable decisions together, the rough edges become easier to laugh at. Some of the best moments were not carefully designed story beats. They were just us reacting to things going wrong.

The biggest example was the Purge. We were not ready. Suddenly, enemies attacked, our thralls were fighting outside the base, and everyone started shouting at each other to protect the base, revive each other, and figure out what was happening. It was messy, loud, and chaotic in the best way. That moment felt like the game actually came alive because everything we had built was under threat.

For a while, Conan Exiles was at its best when it made us panic.

What did not work for me

The biggest issue is that Conan Exiles is clunky. Even with the Enhanced version, it still feels like an older title underneath. Movement, combat, UI, bugs, and general interaction can all feel rough. Sometimes the game works well enough, and sometimes it feels like you are fighting the systems more than the enemies.

Travelling was also a major pain point. The map is big, and while that helps exploration feel adventurous at first, it can become tiring when you need to go back and forth for progression. There is a difference between “epic journey across a harsh land” and “please, not another long trip just to get one thing.” Conan Exiles often falls into the second category.

The campaign and lore also did not feel impactful. To be fair, we did not go in expecting a deep narrative RPG. This is clearly more of a survival sandbox, and it feels like it is probably tuned more toward PvP or player-driven stories than a crafted co-op campaign. But because we were playing it as a group PvE campaign, the lack of strong story presence stood out.

The world has lore, but the story does not hit hard. Removing the bracelet is a clear final goal, and hunting bosses for keystone pieces gave us something to chase, but emotionally it did not feel that meaningful. We were doing it because it was the objective, not because the narrative made us desperate to escape.

The environment also felt less interactive than I wanted. Some places looked interesting, but they did not always feel alive. The city areas especially could have used more NPC interaction. When you enter a location that seems important, but there is barely anyone meaningful to talk to or engage with, it makes the world feel like a stage set rather than a living place.

That is probably the biggest reason the game felt mid to me. It has a big world, several biomes, bosses, survival progression, and base building, but the world itself often does not respond enough. It gives you places to visit, but not always enough reasons to care beyond loot, progression, or curiosity.

The bracelet quest and our endgame run

Yes, we actually completed the main objective and removed the bracelet.

Our route to the ending was very practical. We did not rush the keystone quest immediately. First, we focused on upgrading our base and equipment. We wanted to become strong enough before properly chasing the final objective. Once we were maxed and felt ready, we went boss hunting one by one, collecting what we needed for the keystone.

That part gave the game some needed direction. Conan Exiles can feel very open-ended, so having a concrete endgame checklist helped. Go here, find this boss, survive this fight, get the piece, move to the next one. It turned the last stretch into a group expedition.

But even then, the actual emotional payoff was limited. Removing the bracelet should feel like a huge moment. After all, the entire premise is that you are trapped in the Exiled Lands. But for me, the ending felt more like checking off the final box. We did it, we escaped, roll credits in our heads, uninstall maybe.

I am glad we finished it properly, because otherwise the whole journey might have felt incomplete. But I cannot say the ending elevated the game. It was more satisfying as proof that our group survived the grind than as a story conclusion.

The co-op experience carried it

If I had played Conan Exiles alone, my score might have been lower. The co-op experience carried a lot of the game for me. Playing with friends made the grind easier, made exploration more entertaining, and made the bugs and clunkiness more tolerable.

When something annoying happened, at least we could complain together. When travelling took forever, at least someone could get lost or say something stupid. When the Purge hit, it became a shared disaster instead of a solo inconvenience. That matters a lot.

This is also why I struggle to recommend it. If someone enjoys base building, survival progression, and making their own fun in a sandbox, then yes, maybe Conan Exiles is worth trying — especially with friends. The thrall system and exploration can give you a lot to do.

But if someone is looking for a strong co-op campaign, meaningful story, lively NPCs, polished combat, or a world that feels deeply interactive, then probably not. Conan Exiles has campaign-like goals, but it does not feel like a strong campaign game. It is more like a survival sandbox that happens to have an ending.

That difference matters.

Final thoughts

Conan Exiles: Enhanced was a strange experience for me. I enjoyed the 64.2-hour journey with friends. I liked building up our base, upgrading gear, exploring different biomes, collecting thralls, and slowly preparing for the final keystone quest. The Purge gave us one of the funniest and most chaotic moments of the entire playthrough, with everyone shouting, reviving, defending, and watching our thralls fight outside like the base had turned into a medieval nightclub brawl.

But the game is also clunky, buggy, and not very satisfying as a co-op campaign. The lore and story are barely there in terms of impact, the world is not interactive enough, and some locations feel emptier than they should. It is a game with good survival pieces, but not enough polish or narrative weight to make the whole thing truly memorable.

So my verdict is simple: Conan Exiles: Enhanced is fun with friends, but mostly because friends make it fun. If you love base building, survival grinding, and sandbox progression, you might get a good time out of it. If you want a polished co-op adventure with a strong campaign, I would be careful.

For me, it is a 5/10. A mid game, a decent journey, and a bracelet I was very happy to finally remove.