With Age of Sorcery, the survival MMO Conan Exiles (Steam, PlayStation, Xbox) gets its latest update on September 1st. And that’s huge. Age of Sorcery brings revamped slaves, skills, and a whole new magic system. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus was able to test it together with the developers before the release.
I’ve now played Conan Exiles for over 360 hours, a good chunk of it on roleplaying servers. Because even for a survival veteran, the umpteenth run gets a bit boring at some point.
I was correspondingly excited when the Age of Sorcery was announced. Magic should finally come into play, something that has been planned since release. Fans were so greedy that they even implemented the system themselves with various mods over the years.
I got to see the magic in Conan Exiles with Lead Designer Dennis Douthett and Senior Content Manager Tor Egil Andersen. The two gave me a tour of the new features and answered a few questions.
Anyone who has lost interest in Conan Exiles in the last 4 years since its release should now keep an eye on the game again. Because what I was shown amazed me throughout.
Age of Sorcery is presented in detail in the video:
Survival MMO Conan Exiles presents the new expansion in detail in the video
This is what magic must feel like in an RPG
This is the highlight of the update: For me, the most important new feature of Age of Sorcery is the eponymous sorcery. It’s finally possible in Conan Exiles to wreak havoc and mayhem with powerful spells. And all of this has its own story.
After killing some cultists and relieving them of their secret documents, we head to a new cave. There I find my ritual staff and a book with the first two spells: detect magic and ice bridge.
Tor Eigil tells me that as the story progresses I will learn more spells, up to powerful lightning storms and more. But what really excites me is the way magic is worked.
What makes magic so special? Magic is not simply “cast” and suddenly there, as we know it from World of Warcraft and Co. Spells are rituals, and they require tools and resources.
As soon as I start casting spells with the staff, I have to choose from up to 5 runes which school I want to cast something from. Afterwards, spells of different levels are available to me.
Many spells have material costs that I have to pay from my inventory. And for the whole duration I’m tied in place and obviously at work. So if you want, you can easily turn me off.
This makes sorcery a tactical element. Wizards are unprotected during their spells, but the strongest fighters are. High risk, high reward. This is also reflected in the way I “level up” as a magician.
Because if I want to become more powerful, I have to deal with dark forces. And that has its price…
Greater power requires human sacrifice… and a piece of one’s soul
Conan Exiles is a dirty game. Brutal and gory, real adult entertainment. Likewise, magic in the universe of Conan the Barbarian is a cruel art.
I can use rituals to awaken undead servants, summon demons, or summon weapons and armor that I can use in battle. Perfect for leading zombie armies into the field or riding an undead horse into battle.
In order to be able to cast better spells, however, I must be corrupted. Corruption has been in the game since release, but will become a new mechanic with Age of Sorcery. The higher my level of corruption, the better spells I can cast.
This reflects that I use dark forces when casting spells, which in turn have an effect on me. Apparently, since the body visually changes the more corruption it has ingested:
Of course, the best way to increase corruption is through human sacrifices. Prisoners can be robbed of their souls via a sacrificial altar. This way I get closer to the dark forces and learn more powerful spells like:
As a pleasant side effect, I can then use the souls to strengthen my attributes. Or more precisely: to spoil them so that they give me new abilities. The whole fantasy of the expansion is built around the idea of powerful black magicians.
Easier to build, better skills and a Battle Pass
This is still in Age of Sorcery: Along with the magic comes the revamped attribute system. Instead of an arbitrary value of any points for leveling up, there is now one attribute point per level and each leveling up always costs one point.
The talents that result from the attributes have also been changed. At levels 10 and 20, for example, there is now a choice of 2 talents each. In addition, strength, vitality and authority can be “corrupted” for even better talents and special builds specializing in magic. In addition, Age of Sorcery offers:
The previously familiar DLCs will probably not be continued in this form. Everything is now done via the Battle Pass and if you skip a pass, you can later buy the content in the shop, slightly modified. However, according to Dennis Douthett, 2 hours a week should be enough to play through the pass.
A great feature of Age of Sorcercy is also the revision of the slaves. Certain abilities and magic allow more minions to be commanded, opening up more possible builds and playstyles.
What’s next after that? The two developers have already revealed that after the “Age of Magic” it should continue with other ages that follow a theme – something like Seasons. But they didn’t want to tell me exactly what’s coming.
Unlike the massive Isle of Siptah update, Age of Sorcery will be a free update for all Conan Exiles and Xbox Game Pass owners. If you already own the game, be sure to check out the new content.
Personally, I can recommend Age of Sorcery to newcomers who like Dark Fantasy, at least based on the first impression. Conan Exiles is still probably the dirtiest survival game on the market and magic is a perfect extension of the systems. Ideal for anyone with a dark warlock slumbering within.