Age of Conan
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (referred to as "AoCHA", or simply "AoC") is an upcoming "online action roleplaying game" based on the Conan the Barbarian series of fantasy pulp novels written by Robert E. Howard. It is being developed for the PC by Funcom, creators of the science fiction MMORPG Anarchy Online and the critically-acclaimed adventure game The Longest Journey. While the game appears to have many of the markings of a traditional MMORPG, Funcom has never explicitly referred to it as such, instead preferring "online action RPG".
The game will be split into two sections. The first will be a single-player experience that is played while connected to the game's servers, but without interacting with other players. It will see the player creating a character and then guiding that character through a traditional single-player roleplaying game. Funcom has predicted that some may purchase the game solely for the single-player experience. The second section takes the character created during the single-player portion online, where the player can then interact with others. The online world promises to be dynamic, as players may take over territories and erect cities, which are then vulnerable to attacks by both humanoid NPCs and player characters.
Funcom is focusing on developing content for the "end game", the time at which characters have reached maximum advancement, rather than the "grind", which sees players investing many hours into advancing their character's level and equipment to competitive levels, and promises a fast leveling process.
Aside from the single-player campaign, Age of Conan's main draw seems to be the "Real Combat" system, which promises greater player interaction during combat than previously seen in online roleplaying games. The player is able to direct the swings of his character's weapon during combat to attack six separate target zones. Funcom has stated that this system will be easy to learn even for veteran MMORPG players who are used to "click and wait" combat, but the actual workings of this system have yet to be revealed to the public. Other features include battle formations, which will impart bonuses to the group using them, and mounted combat, which will also use the "Real Combat" engine.
Funcom promises that the graphic nature of Robert E. Howard's work will not be toned down for the game and that they expect Age of Conan to receive an ESRB rating of 'Mature'.
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is slated for release during the first half of 2006.