The first major expansion for Conan Exiles was released into early access on September 10, 2020, and was met with mixed reviews from the community. Conan Exiles: Isle of Siptah left some players impressed by its massive new landscape while others felt the expansion heavily favored PvP over PvE. Funcom has since taken into account what Conan Exiles' community wants from a DLC like Isle of Siptah and has made some major improvements that will go live on April 22.
The main focus of the Isle of Siptah overhaul is bringing more PvE elements, and Screen Rant was given a guided tour of the isle to see these changes firsthand. The update will add 40 new NPC camps and other points of interest that can be raided by players. In these camps, players will encounter three new factions of NPCs: Stygian Mercenaries, Black Corsairs, and The Accursed. Enemy camps will have plenty of new activities to partake in including boss fights, rescuing thralls from cages, and looting corpses and supply caches.
In addition to new camps, updated 2.4 increases the size of the Isle of Siptah by roughly 20 percent. The isle already provided a massive area to be explored, but now there are three new biomes to explore including Ashlands, Floodlands, and Savannah. There are also new ports dotted around the map which allow Thralls to be obtained much easier than before. As well as expanding the land, players can now use their weapons while in water. Previously, water would act as a safe haven for players as they couldn't be attacked while swimming. However, the new update allows for one-handed combat while swimming.
New mechanics have been added and pre-existing ones have been reworked to shift the Isle of Siptah's focus towards PvE. Vaults are now repeatable end-game activities that have new enemies and rewards. Surges are now activated by players instead of occurring randomly, and Purges have been added to Siptah to introduce even more ways to acquire loot and Thralls. Small statues that are randomly found throughout the map can be collected and used at the new Black Pools. These statues will summon powerful monsters with unique rewards including some that can be used to learn exotic crafting recipes.
There are plenty of new weapons and armor sets that can be found or crafted, and a creepy religion has been added to the game called The Cult of Zath. Zath is the spider god that can be summoned to decimate its enemies. The massive eight-legged monstrosity melts enemy structures with an acidic spray, and he grants players the ability to summon human-sized spiders to fight alongside them.
The Isle of Siptah is also adding a number of quality-of-life improvements that will make the experience more enjoyable. Single-player offline mode has been added, character transfers are available, and the lighting in various locations around the map has been improved. It's now possible to build within the storm which adds a massive area for bases built. The Isle of Siptah's end game activities have also been reworked to allow players to explore them as they wish. The vaults and surges no longer have to be done in a certain order allowing for a more customizable experience.
Overall, Funcom is delivering on what fans have requested for Conan Exiles: Isle of Siptah. The amount of content being added is staggering and it will provide numerous hours of content to the Isle of Siptah. Update 2.4 will be released in early access on April 22, and a date for the DLC's official release will be announced at a later date. For those who weren't impressed by Isle of Siptah during its initial release, this massive update is worth giving the expansion another shot.
Conan Exiles: Isle of Siptah is currently available in early access on PC. Screen Rant was provided a digital Steam code for the purpose of this review.