Conan Exiles Enhanced Goes Live on Steam With a Free UE5 Upgrade and a Major New Era for Funcom’s Survival Hit

Funcom has officially launched Conan Exiles Enhanced, a free Unreal Engine 5 upgrade for Steam players that delivers the biggest technical overhaul in the survival game’s 8 year history. The studio says the update is live now for all current and future Steam owners, and the Steam page has already been updated to reflect the new Conan Exiles Enhanced branding.

The visual upgrade is substantial. Funcom says Conan Exiles Enhanced adds Unreal Engine 5 features including Lumen Global Illumination, Nanite Geometry, and Virtual Shadow Maps, while also improving foliage, water, lighting, ground textures, armor, and building pieces across both the Exiled Lands and the Isle of Siptah. NVIDIA support is also part of the package, with the launch trailer and official materials highlighting DLSS support and other PC focused image quality improvements.

This is not just a graphics patch. Funcom’s official feature page confirms that the Exiled Lands and Isle of Siptah are now connected for players who own the DLC, allowing travel between both regions with the same character by talking to an NPC instead of maintaining separate map specific characters. The update also adds multiple character support, a revamped user interface, improved crafting and building that can pull materials from nearby storage, and day one modding support with several popular mods ready at launch.

That world integration may be the most important gameplay shift in the entire update. For long term players, it fundamentally changes how progression and exploration work by making the game feel more like one broader survival sandbox instead of 2 disconnected destinations. Funcom also says players can keep their progress, characters, owned DLC, Bazaar purchases, and Twitch Drops when moving into the Enhanced version on Steam.

There is a major platform catch, however. Funcom says the Unreal Engine 5 upgrade is only available on Steam right now. Its official FAQ states that there are currently no plans for an immediate rollout on Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, Xbox, or PlayStation, though those platforms are being considered for later. In a separate forum statement, the company said the reason is capacity, explaining that a simultaneous multiplatform release at this scale would stretch the team too thin and risk a worse experience.

Steam players will also notice a split between the new and old versions of the game. Funcom says the Unreal Engine 4 edition now sits under Conan Exiles Legacy on Steam, and players can still access it through the game’s version settings. However, Funcom also warns that the Bazaar will be disabled for the UE4 PC version, Crom Coins will no longer be valid there after the update, and the Legacy PC version will no longer be the main path forward.

For console users, the situation is less severe than many feared, but still disappointing. Funcom says console players continue to have access to the current version of the game, including official servers, the Bazaar, and critical bug fixes, while the studio evaluates whether Enhanced should expand beyond Steam later. That means PlayStation and Xbox players are not losing access to Conan Exiles, but they are being left on the older branch for now.

The timing of the update is symbolic too. Funcom is pushing Conan Exiles Enhanced just ahead of the game’s May 8 anniversary, framing the release as both a celebration of the title’s long survival and the start of a fresh phase for the game. The official launch messaging describes it as the most significant visual and technical overhaul since release, which feels justified given how much of the game has been rebuilt under the hood.

For Steam players, this is easily one of the most meaningful free upgrades a long running survival game has received in recent years. For everyone else, it is more of a waiting game. Whether Conan Exiles Enhanced reaches consoles and other PC storefronts may now depend heavily on how stable and successful this Steam only launch proves to be.

What do you think about Funcom making Conan Exiles Enhanced Steam only at launch, smart rollout strategy or a frustrating move for the wider player base?