Robert E. Howard’s iconic literary universes are combining together in Conan: The Black Pyramid. Announced today at The Golden Joysticks, the iconic Barbarian is leaping into the ARPG genre in a Hades-like roguelike that combines iconic classic pulp fiction with undeniably brutal combat.
Prior to the game’s announcement, we at FRVR were able to see Conan: The Black Pyramid in action. Just like Hades, the game features Diablo-like action with a roguelike structure, but the iconic Conan the Barbarian and a number of other Howard characters join together to create an epic roguelike.
Alongside the iconic barbarian, and other forms of his, the Howard homage brings in Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes, and others. Unfortunately, Red Sonja will not be playable will not be present “due to more complicated licensing”, but the game will bring in some obscure characters from across Robert E. Howard’s decades of literature.
Speaking to FRVR, the game’s developers explained that Conan: The Black Pyramid is designed to merge a lot of what players know about the character and his world. Since the character’s 1932 debut, Conan has changed a lot: there have been countless books, comics, TV shows, games, and even a stage play.
“The great thing about this game is that we kind of intentionally created a design [so] that we can use all the eras of Conan’s life,” we were told. “We’re actually trying to draw as much from his past stories as we reasonably can.”
This not only leads to the uniqueness of what can be narratively told around the Barbarian and his connected literary colleagues, but also in how the game looks and plays. The Black Pyramid is very obviously inspired aesthetically by the 1982 John Milius film, but it also feels like there’s hints of Glénat’s comic book run in there as well.
“This is really a passion project,” the studio explained. While many Conan fans are hardcore gamers, the team is seemingly quite aware that some fans are not hardcore gamers. Roguelike games can be punishing, and The Black Pyramid can be, but the team is creating the game with a “gradual introduction to the challenge levels” that push players without immediately jerking them into super-difficult territories.
“We are designing this game for the players and for the community,” they said. “We’re planning also like ope playtests where the players will be able to give us their feedback on their opinion of the difficulty level and whether it’s good or bad, it’s really difficult, to find the right balance and make the game accessible yet challenging.”
While currently in early development with a 2027 release scheduled for PC, and consoles after the fact. As you explore the titular Black Pyramid, you’ll encounter stories from across Conan’s life, including the iconic King Conan stories and afterwards. All of this is playable in single-player or co-op, but also co-op, and with changing locations and loot drops with every run, the devs are hoping that this game will offer a large amount of replayability.
Additionally, this is a game that likely will evolve with time. While the team is planning to have a content-rich launch, the game has been designed in a way that should make expansions easy to slide in. “Is this being designed with expansions in mind? Definitely. That’s why we kind of create the system which is kind of modular, we have the characters, we have different eras, the pyramid actually kind of connects basically all across time since the inception of the world. So it’s very complex, mechanical world where we can add new components, but at the same time every component has to fit the other components.”
There’s a sense then that developer Games Farm is focused on the long haul for Conan: The Black Pyramid with a successful launch leading into an expanded take on Robert E. Howard’s universe. It’s unsurprising, really—most modern Conan titles have seen years of post-launch support to appease an eager, often-underserved fanbase. However, as the game brings the iconic Barbarian into an arena he’s not yet faced, at least in game form, it’s an exciting and promising take on a legendary literary giant.
