Hot (weeks) off the back of Sons Of The Forest and the Resident Evil 4 remake coming out, we're celebrating your bestest best, most favourite survival games this month. Your votes have been counted and tallied, and your accompanying words of praise and affection matched accordingly. But which game has survived to make it to the top of the pile? Come and find out as we count down your 25 favourite survival games of all time.
]]>Funcom have acquired the Cabinet Group, the company which owns the intellectual properties Conan The Barbarian and Mutant Year Zero. Funcom have already developed several Conan games by licensing the IP, including the MMO Age Of Conan and more recently the survival game Conan Exiles.
The announcement also mentioned that a new game is currently in development which will star Conan and "many of the characters in the Robert E. Howard universe."
]]>Bit on the nose, eh? Swords sharpened, muscles glistening, Conan Exiles was ready to make the jump to the Epic Games Store today, arriving with the fanfare of a spot in Epic's free game rotation. Pity, for the old warrior has been knocked back by a mighty blow. Funcom's sword-swinging survival sandbox has been pushed out of its new home indefinitely - and when it arrives, it won't be marching for free.
]]>Tencent are already shareholders in Riot Games, Epic, Ubisoft, and plenty of other game companies. Though already the largest shareholders in Conan Exiles developers Funcom, Tencent want to buy out all other shareholders to gain full ownership. Funcom welcome the move, looking to expand plans for an upcoming Dune game.
]]>What is best in a multiplayer survival sandbox? To crush your enemy, see him driven before you, and hear the adulation of the arena's assembled crowd because all survival sandboxes must end in a fight club eventually. That's now possible in Conan Exiles even on PvE servers, thanks to a new item added in an update yesterday. The new Battle Standards let players create duelling zones where anyone can issue PvP challenges to anyone. Build an arena, slam down the flag, and start rumbling. The update has added more, but frankly my interest is in the inevitable recreations of Kirk and Spock's duel in Star Wars Episode II: Amok Time.
]]>Oh hello! John is away in San Francisco gobbling up gum left on the underside of chairs at the Game Developers Conference, so I'm filling in for our regular rundown of last week's top-selling games on Steam. As is customary for weeks where I need to take over, the charts are full of the surprises he grumbles they never have. What can I say, John - video games must make more of an effort for me. And for goodness' sake, leave that gum. I don't care if Sid Meier himself stuck it there.
]]>Frank Herbert's sci-fi world of vast sand worms and magical spacedrugs and political intrigue and swordfights and Kyle MacLachlan with a pet spacepug and Sting posing in his pants is being digitised again. Funcom, the Norwegian crew behind Conan Exiles and The Secret World, today announced that they're planning to make several video games based on Dune. We best know Dune round these parts for Dune II, Westwood's seminal 1992 real-time strategy game which set the blueprint for Command & Conquer and Warcraft and so on. Funcom's first Dune game is due to be some sort of "open world multiplayer" game, so perhaps another sandbox survival sorta thing?
]]>Run, jump, grab a thousand gubbins, escape from prison guards and hear the lamentations of their women - sounds like a fun weekend. Humble have just unveiled their next three 'early unlock' games for their Humble Monthly subscription service, and it's an impressive little trio. $12 gets you Funcom's survival sandbox Conan Exiles, Gears for Breakfast's Mario-esque platformer A Hat In Time and Mouldy Toof's jailbreak sim The Escapists 2 now, plus a bundle of mystery games at the end of the month.
]]>We've just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It's a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you'll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there.
2018 releases Jurassic World Evolution, Far Cry 5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Warhammer: Vermintide II are wearing some spectacular money-hats, for example, while the relatively lesser-known likes of Raft, Eco and Deep Rock Galactic have made themselves heard above the din of triple-A marketing budgets.
]]>Crom would be pleased to see a game as scrappy as Conan Exiles doing so well. Developer/publisher Funcom declared today that the barbarian fantasy survival sandbox is their fastest-selling game to date, now having shifted 1.4 million copies in total. The studio aren't resting on their laurels either, announcing some new Roman-themed cosmetic DLC, along with reiterating their promise of major free updates to the game, including new dungeons, bosses and a pet-taming system on the horizon.
]]>Please sit down. Make sure you have a friend with you, or available on the telephone. Plunkbat isn't at number one. Somehow, it's something even more boring. But the rest of the charts are a splendid sight! No GTA, no CS:GO, no Witcher 3, no Skyrim!
]]>A pleasingly fresh collection of games dominating the top ten Steam moneymakers this week, along with the shock absence of Counter-Strike: GO! No shocks at the #1 spot, but a couple of surprising appearances in the top 5.
]]>Hallo! John's away so I'm taking over for our latest weekly rundown of the biggest-selling games on Steam over the previous seven days. Familiar faces are here, of course, but the charts also include more survival games than I've seen in yonks. The slightest peek of sun outside and you lot start acting as if it's the end of the world, eh?
]]>Fantasy sandbox survive 'em up Conan Exiles left early access and launched properly yesterday, and evidently it proved more popular than developers Funcom had anticipated. With the game peaking at almost 29,000 concurrent players yesterday and official servers filling up, Funcom hastily launched extra servers - and it sounds like more might still be needed. Turns out, people quite like the idea of building settlements, fighting monsters, crafting, enslaving NPCs, currying the favour of the gods to summon monstrous avatars, and crushing their enemies, seeing them driven before them, and hearing the lamentations of the players controlling the characters.
]]>Open-world survival affair/one-eyed trouser-snake simulator Conan Exiles has spent over a year in early access, initially hitting it big thanks to a combination of brutal low-fantasy setting and a whole lot of hullabaloo about winkies. Its full release is almost upon us - 14 months is a pretty brisk turnaround as these things go, especially given that devs Funcom reckon the game's doubled in size during that time.
May 8 is the due date, but last week's early access patch already introduced the big new features we can expect to see in it. The bad news for long-time players/murderers is that the official servers are in for a wipe on release day. The bad news for on-the-fence players is that the price will jump by 25% on the 8th.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>Early access survival game Conan Exiles [official site] added a new chilly region called the Frozen North this week. It brings with it new weather types including rain and snow, alongside a temperature system that will affect the whole game: you'll have to wrap up warm in the new area and strip off in the game's desserts.
There's shiny weapons to swing at new beasts, including wolves, bears, frost giants and mammoths, fresh dungeons to crawl and new materials to find and cobble together into shelters and items. Plus, you can now summon an Avatar (Exile's versions of embodied Gods) called Ymir: Lord of Storm and War, who is a giant frosty dude with a big beard, antler horns and a huge axe that can level whole towns.
]]>Blood for the blood god, it's only the weekly Steam charts! These are the ten games which sold best on Steam last week.
The debate has raged for an eternity. The infinite dilemma that has defeated even humanity's greatest minds.
Which is best: guns or swords? Today, I have a definitive answer for you.
]]>Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, it's only the weekly Steam charts! These are the ten games which sold best on Steam last week.
Warning: we have reached Peak Charts. Peak Charts warning. Containment about to be breached. Please evacuate the premises.
]]>'Til all are one, it's only the weekly Steam charts! These are the ten games which sold best on Steam last week.
It's one of those 'just copied and pasted all the HTML from last week' kind of weeks. This is GOOD because I am lazy but BAD because there is little new to say. Fortunately, I've brought a friend along with me this time.
]]>Mod support has arrived in Conan Exiles [official site], letting players futz with the guts of Funcom's craft-o-survival game. A few hiccups aside, the developers seem pretty pleased with the launch, announcing that the game sold over 320,000 copies in its first week on Steam Early Access. That's enough sales that "all development costs have been recouped", they say. Goodness me!
]]>By the power of Grayskull, it's only the weekly Steam charts! These are the games which sold best on Steam last week.
It's all gone a bit 2015-2016 in here again, I'm afraid, but fortunately cavalry of a sort arrives in the pendulous form of some big ol' swingin' dicks.
]]>Conan Exiles [official site] developers Funcom have temporarily shut down the game's official multiplayer servers while they switch to a new host. The majority of servers for the early access survival sandbox game are unofficial player-run ones, mind, but perhaps you're a good little warchild who sticks to the playground and never jumps the fence to play in the woods. This switch is part of Funcom's battle against online lag, which was one of our John's complaints after he played but far from the only one. Funcom have also released a flurry of patches aimed at tackling lag in other ways.
]]>Oh, Early Access!
Sorry, just stubbed my toe. Yes, it's certainly worked in places, but goodness me if it isn't sometimes the most infuriating way of releasing barely functioning games for a fee. Time was it cost a developer lots of money to have their game concepts tested and QAd - now they charge £27 for the privilege. That's how much it'll cost you to get into Funcom's Conan Exiles [official site] right now. The store page describes a game where you discover ancient secrets, enslave your own army, ride around on rhinos, build entire cities - it sounds stunning. Right now it's a game where you're more likely to die because a menu won't load. [Nudey Warning: There are some pictures of naked characters below]
]]>Funcom today announced that their craft-o-build-a-murder-e-survival sandbox Conan Exiles [official site] will support mods with official tools. They should be available right when it hits Steam Early Access on January 31st, letting folks get right down to fiddling with it. Conan Exiles is looking more polished than a lot of survive 'em ups, on paper/in slick trailers anyway, and mod support is a fine addition. I'll gab more about mods in a mo but, first, let's remind ourselves of its town-building and summonable godpals:
]]>As Old Father Time grabs his sickle and prepares to take ailing 2016 around the back of the barn for a big sleep, we're looking to the future. The mewling pup that goes by the name 2017 will come into the world soon and we must prepare ourselves for its arrival. Here at RPS, our preparations come in the form of this enormous preview feature, which contains details on more than a hundred of the exciting games that are coming our way over the next twelve months. 2016 was a good one - in the world of games at least - but, ever the optimists, we're hoping next year will be even better.
]]>We're not short on multiplayer open-world survival games but coo 'eck, I can't think of many with spectacles like Conan Exiles [official site]. Funcom today announced they'll launch their new MOWSG into early access on January 31st, 2017 and celebrated this with a new trailer showing such delights as a metal colossus stomping through a scrappy fort to punch a giant snake in the face. Good stuff. My dream is for fantasy monsters to look like Harryhausen stop-motion animated models and real reptiles composited into scenes but hey, if wishes were thrushes beggars would eat birds.
]]>Funcom were late to the post-World of Warcraft MMORPG rush with Age of Conan, and now they're coming late to the multiplayer sandbox survival fad with Conan Exiles [official site]. What can it offer that Rust, Ark: Survival Evolved, and others don't? Well, Conan Exiles is quite shiny and pretty, it has nice-looking simulated sand which deforms with each footstep, gore flows freely and bodies are lopped in half, its building and building-destruction look swish, and it's got some totally \m/etal scenes with giant snakes and crucifixions. Here, have a peek in this first gameplay trailer:
]]>Funcom's enemy-crushing, lamentation-hearing MMORPG Age of Conan arrived years too late in the MMO rush, just another wanderer scavenging for scraps in the lands World of Warcraft pillaged and salted. Funcom today announced that they're joining in the fun of 2013's hottest craze with Conan Exiles [official site], a multiplayer open-world survival game set in the barbarian fantasy world. This summer it'll launch into early access, as open-world multiplayer survival games will. Still, I do like the sound of sacrificing players to please gods.
]]>There's a scene in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian where the musclebound protagonist asks chum Subotai about religion. "Who do you pray to?" he asks. "I pray to the four winds, and you?" his pal replies. "To Crom... but I seldom pray to him, he doesn't listen." Subotai laughs. Conan ain't happy. Alas, sometimes prayers go unanswered. But maybe you enjoyed Funcom's 2008 MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - and its subsequent 2011 free-to-play guise Unchained - so much that you prayed they'd return to Cimmeria. You did? Friend, your prayers have been answered.
]]>Books! They're like films without pictures, or games that are all cutscene. Old people and hipsters really like them, teenagers think they're like totally lame, and quite frankly we should all read more of them. There are countless games inspired by books - most especially Tolkien, Lovecraft and early Dungeons & Dragon fiction - but surprisingly few games based directly on books. Even fewer good ones.
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