Conan Chop Chop - What We Know So Far

When Conan Chop Chop was announced on April 1, 2019, it seemed like an April Fool's joke. Publisher Funcom shared a cheeky announcement video for the hack'n'slash rogue-lite on April Fool's Day, boasting the "blood-spattering, eye-melting, ultra-violent high-res gore" of Conan the Barbarian's savage 2D world. With "9 billion randomly-generated dungeons" and "12K and 360 degree virtual virtual reality," viewers were almost certain that Funcom was kidding. As it turned out, the publisher was very serious about Conan Chop Chop.

Two months later, Funcom brought a first look at Conan Chop Chop to E3 2019. The 1-4 player action adventure features ruthless boss battles and endless replayability in its plethora of random maps. Play as Conan the Barbarian or choose from a roster of other warrior gods with a variety of weapons as you embark on quests and explore the world.

Here's everything we know so far about Conan Chop Chop.

Although there is no exact date yet, Funcom announced in December 2020 that Conan Chop Chop would launch in early 2021. "The development is nearly complete. Conan Chop Chop will release in early 2021, bigger and better than originally intended," Funcom's official press release read. Funcom's Chief Creative Officer Joel Bylos also noted in the statement, "If we had launched this year, there'd be half the number of cute pigs in the game. And you can't launch a Conan game without that."

The official release window for Conan Chop Chop comes after a series of delays from Funcom and developer Mighty Kingdom. First, the game was expected in September 2019, but then Mighty Kingdom was given the go-ahead to add online multiplayer, thus pushing Conan Chop Chop to Q1 2020. In the months following, Funcom announced two more delays in order to add finishing touches to the game.

Following the cheeky April Fool's Day trailer, Funcom brought a more serious trailer to E3 2019. The clip opened on a close-up of grass as suspenseful music played and a quote from Dark Zero appeared, which read, "Quite possibly the best Conan game yet." The trailer then revealed that Conan Chop Chop was, in fact, a very real game and not an April Fool's joke. Between gameplay footage, Funcom included a few reviews of the original trailer from various gaming publications. "To be honest, this isn't a million miles off looking like an actually good 2D roguelike Zelda-ish game," a quote from PCGamer read. 

Snippets of gameplay footage included Conan and friends slashing enemies with swords and the bloody aftermath, as well as a few glimpses at some maps to explore. At the end of the video, a boss could be seen twirling into the players, Tasmanian Devil-style. The trailer boasted a Sept. 3, 2019 release date, though that did not come to pass.

Conan Chop Chop will be released on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. In the meantime, Funcom has already published a few other Conan the Barbarian-based titles within the last few years. There's 2017's Conan Exiles, developed and published by the studio for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. This 3D action-adventure survival game is quite different from Conan Chop Chop in that it follows a customizable player who is rescued by Conan and must navigate the dangerous Exiled Lands. 

In 2019, developer Petroglyph Games and Funcom released Conan Unconquered for PC. Conan Unconquered brings players into the barbarian's world as they attempt to awaken the people of Khoraja from apathy and stop an evil wizard named Thugra Khotan from taking over the kingdom. That game used real-time strategy and survival tactics, plus single and multiplayer modes.

In other words, while you wait for Conan Chop Chop to be released, there's a little something for everyone in Funcom's line of Conan titles.