Conan Exiles, a survival game set in the universe of Conan The Barbarian, has been announced via a press release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEIcftl0OZk A trailer uploaded to Funcom's YouTube page reveals very little in the way of details save for the notable phrase "Survive. Build. Dominate."
The official website expands on the game a bit more. Players will be "exiles", or people who have been cast out into the wasteland. They will sustain themselves with standard survival game mechanics such as hunting animals and growing crops, as well as gather resources in order to craft equipment and build buildings.
Single player will be an option, and there will be both public and private servers available for people who are looking for the multiplayer experience.
There is also mention of "sacrific[ing] enemy players on the altars of the gods", so it's safe to assume that there will be some sort of PvP element in the game. There's not yet any indication as to whether sacrificing enemy players will be related to supernatural elements of the game or if it will scale more towards a realistic gameplay. Magic does exist in the Conan The Barbarian universe, although it tends to be more subtle and less flashy compared to most fantasy games.
Conan Exiles will be coming to Early Access on PC in Summer 2016.
Quick Take
Conan the Barbarian is a very old setting with a dedicated fanbase, but I'm not sure if that alone will be enough to make a successful survival game. Although there are dozens (if not hundreds) of these sorts of games available, the continued popularity of the genre shows that there is still a strong market for them. I don't think the license alone will be enough to sell people on the game - it rarely is. This will all come down to what the actual mechanics of the game are and how well they implement them.
What do you think of a survival game set in the Conan The Barbarian universe? Do you feel there are too many games in the survival genre, or do you think that the setting can bring something new to the formula? Let us know in the comments below!
