Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures Preview

When it comes to anticipated massively multiplayer online games in the year 2007, The Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is right up on the list. Developed by Funcom and published by Eidos Interactive, Conan was on display at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference week-long event.

The title is, in almost every facet, a showcase title for DX10. This is a game with a rich storyline and is faithful to the world created by Robert E. Howard.  

The Funcom team showed off the character creation process and how deep it promises to be, then moved into some online play with characters in the upper teens in levels.

As for customization, players will be able to create a fairly unique look to their characters. There is no initial archetype and players will be able to choose from three human races. At level 5 players will have the first opportunity to select an archetype, of which there are four.

During the demonstration, a Stygian zone was revealed as well as a quest. In the quest, a villager was dismayed because he had just lost his wife.

“It is the will of the gods,” was the Stygian player avatar’s retort. But the villager pleads and the quest in undertaken to find the alligator that ate the wife, slay the beast, cut it open and bring the remains of the woman back to the villager. 

That, in itself, demonstrates that Conan is not for the weak of stomach, or those with a gentle nature.

“We have embraced the Mature rating,” the Funcom reps stated, smiling.

A concerted effort was also made to create a game that was “easy to learn, difficult to master.”

The game does have a nice progression. At level 6, players will enter their first village where they can meet and interact with other players. Though you can team up with other players, the majority of the quests up to level 20 (level 80 is the cap) can be accomplished by one player.

Back to that Stygian zone. At the end of the trail is a village, with a scout class at the entryway. That scout will call for assistance as you try to work past him, and the mission will ramp up depending on both level and number of players that you have brought along. That one zone, alone, holds approximately 150 hours of gameplay.

While a visceral experience, the game also features a dynamic musical score that keeps tempo with the on-screen action.

As players level, they will acquire new abilities, but only eight may be carried into a zone at any one time. There will be player-versus-player combat, and blood money (earning money through killing other players) will be part of the game.

The visual quality of the game is very good, and the game is on track to release to retail on October 31, 2007.

The Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures promises to be a triple-A MMO that will not cater to the squeamish but should offer a solid and wonderful adventure.