Conan Exiles dev diary showcases its 'freeform' building and crafting system

Last month, Funcom detailed incoming survival adventure Conan Exiles' survival mechanics—a list which included crafting weapons, hunting animals, and enslaving Thralls. The latest developer diary focuses on how you'll build your own villages and cities, how you'll customise them, and, crucially, how you'll defend them.

"Conan Exiles has a really nice freeform building system," says creative director Joel Bylos in the following video. "Basically we've tried to create a building system which is as flexible as possible. That means that it allows you to build buildings almost anywhere."

Lead designer Oscar Lopez Lacalle adds: "Building is a very important aspect of the game because it is the main way to secure your goods. One of the cool features we have is that you can build a house on a mountainside, if you want."

While it appears Conan Exiles' visuals are still a little rough around the edges, I must say I admire its ambition at this early stage. If it can deliver on what it's promising, it'll be onto something good—something which should only get better and more sophisticated over time, given it's set to enter Early Access pre-full release.

Conan Exiles is due to launch on Steam Early Access on January 31, however if you fancy a closer look at its world building Funcom is hosting a dedicated livestream later today at 10am PT/6pm GMT over on its Twitch channel.