Roguelite action RPG Conan: The Black Pyramid announced for PC

During the Golden Joysticks Awards on November 11, 2026, Games Farm revealed Conan: The Black Pyramid, an action roguelite RPG coming to PC via Steam in 2027 with console versions to follow. The Košice-based studio, which has over 50 staff and more than 20 released titles including Vikings - Wolves of Midgard and Shadows: Awakening, is publishing through Grindstone Entertainment, a spin-off created in 2017. The game casts an aging Conan who has stepped down from the throne of Aquilonia and follows whispers to the Black Pyramid, a structure described as existing across ages and shifting beyond space and time, blending sword-and-sorcery with cosmic horror. At launch Conan is playable, with other Howard heroes arriving later including Solomon Kane, Kull of Atlantis, and Dark Agnes de Chastillon.

Combat centers on three-hit combos (two slashes and a finisher) for both primary melee and secondary ranged weapons, each chargeable for area-of-effect attacks. A parry, dash, and execution mechanic driven by a filling bar pair with a dismemberment system the team says underlines combat brutality. Parries can stagger enemies and reflect projectiles including magic bolts, though tougher foes require repeated parries. The Nexus serves as a hub between runs for meta progression, permanent skill trees, and lore. Characters have multiple loadouts called Veils bundling different weapon sets and skills; the demo showed a two-handed primary and a one-handed sword-and-shield with blocking and shield charges, with two-handed maces and throwing weapons also mentioned. Veils unlock through exploration, and completing a run unlocks a new Veil family.

Runs are room-based like Hades or Curse of the Dead Gods. Players clear rooms sequentially, choose the next destination from offered rewards — gold for a merchant, combat mastery totems upgrading parries, combos, and charged attacks, or artifact rooms — and work toward two mini-bosses and a final boss per floor. Artifacts grant unique powers and reset each run. A dice mechanic adds a twist: dice collected during a run can be pooled and rolled to push reward rarity upward, with the demo using three or four dice to land a legendary item. Because the pyramid shifts time, each section drops Conan into a different era; the demo moved from swamps to the Pictish wilderness to a medieval village overrun by cultists and rats, with difficulty climbing era to era. An entity named Stan, a longtime pyramid resident who knows its secrets, taunts Conan throughout.

Games Farm is targeting higher visual fidelity than the genre norm, citing Hades and Curse of the Dead Gods as inspirations but noting those are typically low-poly or hand-drawn, while they aim for Diablo- or Path of Exile-level production values, similar to their approach with Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel in the Vampire Survivors space. Two-player online co-op is planned with a playtest coming. Minimum specs per the factsheet are Windows 10 64-bit, an i7-6700 or Ryzen 5 2600X, 8 GB RAM, a GTX 960 or Intel Arc A380, DirectX 11, and 20 GB storage. In a Q&A, Games Farm described Veils as the class system, each offering different weapons, skills, and combat feel. They positioned the game as a hybrid between narrative-driven ARPGs like Shadows: Awakening and survival-like experiences like Jotunnslayer, leaning toward roguelite action with short, accessible runs. The studio said they aim for a more intense and faster combat experience than typical roguelikes, wanting players to feel a "combat dance" that is dynamic, floating, and fluent. They acknowledged Hades as an inspiration for its fun combat, charismatic characters, voice acting, and well-portioned narrative, while striving to bring something unique to the market. Peter Nagy, CEO of Games Farm, said they are "thrilled to bring a legendary hero like Conan back to the modern gaming world" and are approaching Howard's stories "with all the care and respect they deserve." Marcos Cronander, president of Heroic Signatures which licenses the Conan IP, highlighted "eldritch horrors, reality-warping sorcery, ancient beings from other worlds" as lesser-known but cool aspects of Conan that players will finally experience. Polygon noted Arnold Schwarzenegger announced earlier in 2026 he is returning to the role in King Conan, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie at Disney's 20th Century Studios.