ARK vs Conan Exiles: Which Is Better in 2026?

Both ARK and Conan Exiles are popular survival games that have amassed a steady following over the years. But if your budget only extends to one game, which out of ARK vs Conan Exiles is better?

The choice of whether to play ARK: Survival Ascended or Conan Exiles should be a fairly easy one as they are both aimed at different types of survival players, making it easier to decide.

ARK focuses heavily on creatures, huge maps, technology, and ranged combat, while Conan Exiles leans more toward dark fantasy, melee combat, settlements, and its existing world of lore.

ARK vs Conan: Platforms

ARK: Survival Ascended is available to play on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It supports cross-platform multiplayer, allowing players across PC and console to play together, as well as cross-platform mods

Conan Exiles is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. However, things became a little more complicated in 2026 with the release of Conan Exiles Enhanced.

Conan Exiles Enhanced is currently available on Steam and moves the game from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. Console players can still play Conan Exiles, but Xbox and PlayStation remain on the older Unreal Engine 4 version for now.

There is still no full cross-platform play between PC, Xbox, and PlayStation in Conan Exiles, so make sure you and your friends are on compatible platforms before buying it.

ARK vs Conan: Graphics

Both games are extremely impressive visually. However, Conan still pips ARK to the post in terms of player models, especially for those who want something a little more… adult.

The characters do feature nudity, and the game has a PEGI rating of 18. There is the option to turn off nudity in the settings though if you prefer not to look at a bare naked rear!

At the start of Conan Exiles, everything was desolate and dusky, which didn’t do its graphics any favors. But as the years have gone on and the game has developed, we’ve seen lush jungle biomes and new attractive environments.

Conan Exiles Enhanced has also moved the game to Unreal Engine 5, bringing improved lighting, environments, water, foliage, ground textures, armor, and building pieces.

ARK: Survival Ascended has had a similar transformation, rebuilding the original ARK experience in Unreal Engine 5.

As you walk around ARK’s multiple maps, you soon realize the amount of care and attention to detail that goes into these maps, with many of them even including entirely different biomes underneath the main map.

Some maps also make resource gathering part of the exploration itself. Genesis Part 2, for example, has its rotating Space Biome, where you can farm resources including Black Pearls.

If you get yourself a flyer and start exploring, you will soon see how many diverse biomes there actually are.

There’s a wealth of unique creatures, each living within its own beautiful environment, with no two biomes looking the same.

The downside to all this beauty is the strain the higher graphics settings can have on your computer. Both games have now moved into the Unreal Engine 5 era on PC, so neither should really be considered the obvious choice for a lower-end gaming PC anymore.

In some cases, depending on the features or functions they add to the game, certain mods can cause extra strain too. The more mods present, the more chance of further strain on your PC.

ARK vs Conan: Building and Crafting

If you are anything like me, you absolutely love building in survival games. While I love some PvP, I personally spend most of my time on survival games perfecting my base design. If that sounds familiar, we’ve also put together some of the best 7 Days to Die base designs for another survival game that can absolutely eat hours of your life.

Neither game is hard to build in but, with the addition of some great mods, ARK: Survival Ascended still wins the building vote from me. But you can still make some incredible designs in Conan Exiles too.

The Thralls on Conan are a really cool addition too. While it’s nice having dinosaurs in your base, having workers and fighters actually living around your settlement brings your base to life.

This has improved even further over the years, with Thralls now moving around settlements, eating, drinking, sleeping, and interacting with parts of your base.

Mod Enhanced Building

If you are new to ARK, finding a server that is running some good building mods can completely change the experience. Once you’ve got onto a server with great mods, you might not want to go back to playing without them.

Personally, once I started using Structures Plus back in ARK: Survival Evolved, I found it very difficult to play without building mods. Small features such as ensuring fences are straight on hard terrain amazed me, and they made the game more enjoyable to play.

Building mods can also offer some quality-of-life enhancements, many of which simply take away the dull chores of the game, automating routine tasks without making things too easy.

There are tons of other mods out there too, many of which add finer details, new props, creatures, maps, and game mechanics.

One of the biggest changes with ARK: Survival Ascended is that mods are no longer mainly a PC feature. Cross-platform mods mean PS5 and Xbox Series X|S players can use supported mods too.

While Conan Exiles does have its own mods, I personally still prefer the selection offered by ARK.

For some of us who played Conan Exiles in its earlier days, you will remember having to manually add each mod, which was frankly a real pain.

ARK vs Conan Exiles: PvE

Although ARK has some great bosses, Conan Exiles has one major advantage for me. Its story and lore feel much more present than they do in ARK.

Over the years, we’ve seen more pieces of Conan’s lore and story come together. This detailed history of storytelling from Conan is one of the reasons there are so many RP servers out there.

ARK does have much more story than you might initially realize, with Explorer Notes, Ascension, characters, and storylines spread across its different maps. It just presents much of that story differently from Conan.

The story for ARK hasn’t come to an end either. ARK: Survival Ascended is still receiving remastered maps, creatures, expansions, and new story content in 2026.

Conan Exiles is still going strong too. Following the release of Conan Exiles Enhanced, Funcom started Legacy of the Giant-Kings, a new four-part story arc that continues expanding the game in 2026.

Both games have some impressive bosses and, while I do love ARK, I must admit I have found myself enjoying taking on some of the Conan Exiles world bosses more than the ARK bosses. That said, ARK still has some memorable fights, including the Desert Titan boss.

ARK vs Conan Exiles: PvP

This one is a clear-cut choice for me. Conan’s fighting system, while it has been improved over the years, doesn’t come close to the PvP experience I get from ARK.

While Conan does have mounts, nothing beats the feeling of flying on a jet pack-powered dinosaur, hurling grenades at an enemy base, or riding on the back of a giant turtle with a FOB built on it.

With dinosaurs and ranged weapons, it almost feels like an unfair fight. I have found games that focus on melee combat seem to struggle much more than games with ranged weapons.

Conan’s combat will probably appeal more to players who prefer melee weapons, dodging, and a more traditional fantasy combat system, but ARK’s complete chaos is still much more my thing.

ARK vs Conan Exiles: Which Is Better?

Both games have their own strengths and weaknesses, but no matter how great Conan Exiles is, I always seem to find myself coming back to ARK: Survival Ascended.

The difference in 2026 is that neither game feels like it is simply winding down.

ARK: Survival Ascended is still receiving maps, creatures, expansions, and new content, while Conan Exiles Enhanced has given Conan a huge Unreal Engine 5 upgrade and is still receiving new story content.

If you prefer dark fantasy, melee combat, lore, and building settlements filled with followers, Conan Exiles has a lot to offer.

But if you want dinosaurs, ranged combat, huge maps, cross-platform mods, and the kind of PvP where someone might attack your base from the back of a giant flying creature, ARK is still the one I personally keep coming back to.