Online game "Age of Conan: Unchained"

Since its release in the spring of 2008, Age of Conan has stood apart in the genre. The Norwegian company Funcom, which also released The Secret World, has no other way. Having before us examples of successful MMORPG, these developers are still reinventing the wheel to add novelty to the familiar gameplay. And here they went through all the elements - from the style in which the virtual world is designed to the combat system. It is no coincidence that their view of the universe "Conan" came to public liking, and the game itself is not once mentioned in the popular culture - for example, it passed the evening heroes of the TV series "The Big Bang Theory. Let's figure out what is remarkable about the project, which in 2011 received the subtitle Unchained and became conditionally free.

From personal experience, we should note right away that to run Age of Conan: Unchained, it is better to create an account on the official website and download the game from there as well. If you download the client from other platforms, even from Steam, it can be faulty and will not start after installation. Having coped with this, you get to the menu of server selection - there are PvE and PvP, and both function separately. But the real identity of MMORPG is revealed in the character editor, where there are two genders, four races, four classes and twelve subclasses, but you can not combine anything with anything here.

The fact is that the classes and specialties of heroes are strictly tied to their origin. For example, the Cimmerian will be an excellent soldier - you can develop the skills of a guardian, dark templar or conqueror, depending on which subclass to choose. Representatives of these people are available and all branches in the rebel group - barbarian, assassin and ranger. On the other hand, the Cimmerians are not very good at magic. On the other hand, sorcery is practiced by the natives of Khitai - they can be very good demonologists or necromancers, but barbarians and conquerors they do not turn out. Other fighters from Aquilonia and Stygia are also represented. However, it is easy to predict the choice of a fan of books and movies about Conan - the stern warrior, played in the movies by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was from Cimmeria.

On top of that, the game offers an assortment of tweaks to tweak the figure, facial features, height, hairstyle, add tattoos and other trappings. And it all takes place aboard a galley, which, after exiting the editor, is wrecked in a storm. There are not so many original ideas in the genre, so that the creation of the character flows smoothly into the story. Nevertheless, here Funcom's creative fervor is only gaining momentum. Some force saves your hero (or heroine) from death in a sea abyss and throws him or her onto a deserted beach. Nearby is the mutilated corpse of a rower, crabs eating him, and a scrap of oar that will do him good as a weapon. Thus begins the adventure at the gates of the town of Tortage, ruled by slave traders, pirates, evil sorcerers, shamans of the Picts and other shady characters.

Because the game is based on the works of Robert Howard, its setting is far from the usual fantasy. There are no fairy tale races like elves and orcs or knights in shining armor. The writer, who lived in the first half of the 20th century, created his world not according to medieval molds, but according to the cultures of prehistoric times. The action of his stories takes place in Highbury thousands of years before the first civilizations. Nevertheless, some countries and peoples are easy to recognize: Khitai is obviously China, Stygia is drawn from Egypt, Aquilonia and Cimmeria are located on the site of modern Europe, and Turan is in Central Asia. There are also more native but anachronistic motifs. For example, in one of Howard's stories Conan leads a gang of Cossacks on the Zaporozhka River.

All of this is reflected in the game - a touch of savagery and primal cruelty pervades Age of Conan. Here the braves are not fighting a dragon for a treasure chest, but killing giant gorillas for a handful of bananas, ripping out the golden teeth of the defeated bandits and putting their heads on stakes. Good and evil are very concrete: life and death, freedom and slavery. The atmosphere is complemented by a gorgeous soundtrack that aptly mimics the compositions of Basil Poledouris from Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer.

The world of the game has enough locations to reflect the diversity of Robert Howard's universe. You begin in Tortage, with quests designed to introduce the user to the local rules. The hero, for example, is not allowed into the city until he is free from the remnants of the shackles left from the galleys, because the attitude to the slaves in these parts is quite contemptuous. And if someone claims to be a free man, he'll have to prove it with action. At the very least, help the blacksmith with the ore supply so that the master can knock the damn iron from his wrists. Just the initial part of the story takes dozens of hours - you can spend days exploring the slave shores before heading to Cimmeria, Aquilonia, and Khitai.

And get ready to read a lot - after all, Age of Conan is based on literary works. Without knowledge of English it will be a problem, because the characters use figures of speech and do not know how to express themselves in short phrases, as in the Chinese MMO for smartphones. Of course, with the translation will help amateur patches, but here everyone acts at his own risk. It is also necessary to understand your own answers, because most dialogues have several lines to choose from - you can ask a clarifying question, say something diplomatic, be rude to your interlocutor or immediately interrupt the conversation if you are not interested in the task that is offered to you.

It seems to be nothing extravagant, but here again Funcom employees have distinguished themselves. Tasks in their project are divided into day and night: the first are made in the "kill and bring" style, and the second concerns the dark affairs, criminal life, disclosure of secrets and dungeon exploration. And the life of the locations strictly depends on the time of day - at night the guards disappear from the streets, and behind the walls panthers come out to hunt. To quickly wait for sunset or dawn, just go to the tavern (in the same Thirsty Dog at the gate Tortage) and talk to the innkeeper. This character will turn the hands of the clock for you personally - the other inhabitants of the server will not notice the change of light to darkness.

As you can easily guess, in most quests it is necessary to unpack weapons and read spells. That is, to fight. Age of Conan battle mechanics is also arranged in an unusual way - at least from the point of view of modern gamers. On the one hand, you can directly control your character, like in slasher. You can walk in different directions by pressing the WASD buttons, jump, speed up, dodge blows. On the other hand, there is a non-target system, and all types of attacks, including special moves, are assigned to the numeric keys.

This means that for effective action the hero must be positioned exactly opposite the enemy and alternately press the buttons on the keyboard. A step to the right, a step to the left - and your attacks go "into the ground". And it's not very comfortable to swivel when you're fighting a group. At the same time "steer" with the mouse, as we are used to do in contemporary role-playing thrillers, you can not - the manipulator only controls the cursor and the position of the virtual camera, but not the character. This is convenient for collecting trophies after the victory, but during the battle itself it seems to be a very old-fashioned solution. But this scheme is perfect for laptop users who want to hammer in their favorite MMORPG away from home, but do not want to carry a mouse. And fans of the classic Gothic series will be satisfied - there is a similar system.

Where the game is true to tradition is in the role-playing system. Character development occurs as you gain experience, levels, and equipment items. Each class has a growth schedule - you cannot take a mage at the start and turn him into an axe-slinging machine. And you can only create one hero for free, so the initial choice should be taken very carefully. Experience points in Age of Conan bring quests and defeating enemies, and new levels add types of tricks, passive skills and points of basic characteristics like attack and defense. Some boosts are hand-assigned perks, but armor and weapon items have a much greater impact. These can be picked up from dead enemies, but not all items are designed for every class. Also available in Highborea are professions that bring money and honor.

Over time you will be given a riding animal to move around the virtual world. However, you can also get a horse at once, if you pay a certain amount of money. Unlike most other MMORPGs, there is a point in this project when you need to invest real money to develop your character further. It comes around level 70, and you can not avoid it if you want to perform decently in PvP mode. Also there are several additions with stories and locations that can not be obtained for nothing. Of course, this layout will not please everyone, but you should pay attention to two things. First, the game does not sell bonuses aggressively - offers to buy some kind of "Sword of a Thousand Truths" and the Turanian camel does not hurt your eyes. Secondly, there is enough content to high levels - you can enjoy adventures for a long time without investing a penny.

If you decide to have fun with friends, pay attention to the starting choice between the servers with PvP and PvE. World on both the same, but the activity is different. In the first case, you can take part in duels, storming fortresses and clan battles, and in the second - to gather a team to go to the boss or sweep dungeons, such as the "Black Castle" or "Abode of the flaming souls. Each guild regularly conducts raids, which they let you sign up for in advance. It's not just a sortie against the next monster, but a long series of battles for 24 participants - not everyone is able to pass such a test to the end. But it's a sure way to get the best equipment for PvP.

Once Age of Conan: Unchained was predicted to be the "World of Warcraft killer" because it offered everything the same, but had a more mature character - here you'll find cruel massacres of enemies, and beauties in revealing outfits, and strong language in the dialogue. But on release it was let down by poor technical realization. Since then a lot of water has flowed - MMORPG by the works of Robert Howard has received all the necessary patches and has become just a distinctive representative of the genre, which, however, has acquired over the years of cult status. If you are a fan of multiplayer RPGs or the "Conan" universe, the game is worth a try.

Zarium. June 2023