Conan Exiles is making a strong comeback on Steam thanks to a free engine upgrade, reaching its highest player numbers in over three years.
Conan Exilesis one of those survival games that never quite went away. Maybe it’s no longer at the top of the Steam charts every day, but somewhere out there, someone is always building a base and leveling up their slaves.
But now Funcom’s barbarian survival game is experiencing a remarkable second wind: Following the release of Conan Exiles Enhanced, player numbers on Steam have skyrocketed.
According toSteamDB, the peak over the weekend was 47,949 concurrent players—up from 9,250 in April. This marks Conan Exiles’ highest figure in years.
The reason for this is that Funcom has treated the now eight-year-old survival game to amajor free upgrade
What’s in Conan Exiles Enhanced?
Conan Exiles Enhanced was released on May 5, 2026, and upgrades the game to Unreal Engine 5. According to Funcom, this is the biggest visual and technical upgrade since the game’s original launch. The update is free for owners of the Steam version.
The most important new features include:
- full engine upgrade to Unreal Engine 5
- revised materials, meshes, lighting, and effects
- improved character models and environments
- support for DLSS 4.5, FSR 3, and XeSS/XeFG, including Frame Generation
- faster inventory load times
- less stuttering in multiplayer battles
- reduced installation size from 105 to 61 GB
- significantly increased draw distance for distant landscape details
- Compatibility with old Unreal Engine 4 save files
Additionally, the Exiled Lands and Isle of Siptah have been merged into a single connected world—though Isle of Siptah must still be purchased separately. Players who own the expansion can now switch more freely between the two regions instead of having to choose a map when starting a new character.
Thefull patch notescan be found on the Funcom forum.
A fan sums up the mood pretty well
On Steam, one particularreviewis currently drawing attention. The player Omnia has spent over10,800 hoursin Conan Exiles and writes:
I’ve been playing the game since Early Access. And I’ve definitely had my ups and downs with it.
But I just have to express my utmost respect for them for simply releasing such a beautiful version of the game.
Any other company would have sold this as a remaster for 60 euros or so.
Thanks, Funcom.
The review seems to be well-received: Over 600 players found it helpful. In the comments, many are mainly discussing how on earth anyone could rack up over 10,000 hours in a single game.
And yes, one commenter also points out what many are likely to think of immediately when it comes to this topic: Ark: Survival Ascended famously sold its Unreal Engine 5 upgrade as a new game. Conan Exiles is taking a different approach here—and many fans feel extremely well treated by the developers right now.
