Play Age of Conan free forever

By Robert Purchese Published 15 December, 2009

New 20-level trial lasts indefinitely.

In a fresh bid to ensnare players, Funcom's revealed a new 20-level free trial for Age of Conan that lasts forever.

Anyone downloading and playing the special trial client between now and 1st January 2010 will be given unrestricted access to the first part of the MMO, the Island of Tortage. Numerous characters can be created and both PvE and PvP content explored.

You'll only be asked to upgrade to a full, subscribed account upon deciding to venture away from the Island of Tortage and beyond level 20. Funcom hopes you'll enjoy the "sexy and brutal" world.

This is the latest move by an aggressive Funcom to entice new players. Earlier this year, bulk subscription costs were slashed and Veteran Points introduced to reward, on a monthly basis, anyone who takes the monetary plunge.

The MMO has also undergone significant content changes during 2009 and is preparing for a meaty Rise of the Godslayer expansion sometime next year, presumably - no date has been given.

Our Age of Conan gamepage below has all the info.

Is Age of Conan your favourite game of 2009? Then vote for it now!

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Widge #1 2 years ago

    This worth checking out for 20 levels. Just concerned that it would be 20 levels of grind and then a "please start playing" screen.
    I'm also a bit of a solo-er when it comes to play. Not got time to get involved in clans and whatnot.

  • oerhoert #2 2 years ago

    As far as opening sections go, I believe the one in AoC is relatively non-grindy. But I only ever got to level 9, so I can't guarantee it.

  • Sunyavadin #3 2 years ago

    Kind of like the AO Fr00b option then.
    Except not as good, because it ties you to the newbie area.

    Well, a step n the right direction.

  • Mkwone #4 2 years ago

    How long would it take to get to level twenty and how much can you do/how mcuh of the game is the initial island?

  • Drogul #5 2 years ago

    Soon they will pay you to play the game.

  • login_name #6 2 years ago

    I don't think I've ever subbed to an MMO that doesn't have a trial (or at least a beta invite/open beta). I like the sound of this "unlimited" style of trial. 7 - 14 day trials can be a useless if you suddenly find yourself busy that week.

  • Antaios #7 2 years ago

    Huzzah! Good move and I'll definitely be giving this a try then.

  • Widge #8 2 years ago

    I take it applies to this:
    http://store. steampowered.com/app/6340/

  • Xeopuppy #9 2 years ago

    I tried it a while ago, (because I got it free from Eurogamer) but like other MMO's I have tried I just don't like them...

  • xexuxjy #10 2 years ago

    The tortage starter area is pretty big, it's not just the town there are a few dungeons and fair size wilderness areas to play in as well. There are also a lot of quests and things to do, the first 20 levels / starter missions feel more like a single player game in terms on content then an mmo. Would definitely recommend it if you can face the download :)

  • paulf #11 2 years ago

    when i played it back at launch the first 20 levels were the best bit, got bad shortly after that though

  • Toothball #12 2 years ago

    That reminds me, what happened to the Ten Levels series that was going on here? That seemed to vanish entirely just as it got started.

  • mkreku #13 2 years ago

    Yeah, I tried the Eurogamer trial thingie they had a while back too. I think I spent more time downloading it than playing it..

  • drxym #14 2 years ago

    Interesting concept, although Funcom gave away Anarchy Online for nothing too and even at that price it was barely worth the effort. Conan has gotten better reviews however and has much better lore so its certainly worth investigating.

  • j-bo #15 2 years ago

    Would be good, if it wasn't so shite:/

  • Lunatic4ever #16 2 years ago

    desperate times ask for desperate measures

  • Saxo #17 2 years ago

    The first 20 lvl's of AoC are indeed very good, and not grindy at all, its pretty much like an singleplayer rpg. First time through i think i did it in 12-20 hours, and the fastest time i did 1-20 in 6 hours, if you only do the required story missions and skip all other.

    Ive read that AOC has gotten very good beyond lvl 20 also, so i might want to go back sometime in the furture. But its def worth to download the client and play the first 20 lvls for free.

  • xexuxjy #18 2 years ago

    Yep it is good past level 20, well at least up to 52 which is as far as I've got, playing it very much as solo rpg though :) Did like the fact that getting to 50 let me create a new level 50 char in a different class.Normally play a conqueror but rolled a tempest of set last night and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing

  • skullstorm #19 2 years ago

    As others have said the first 20 levels are good and worth playing through in my opinion. I haven't played in a while but they have made loads of changes/fixes and added loads more content to the later game. The expansion looks quite promising too, adding to the current game and not developing beyond it.

    Yes it was a tragedy when it began and yes for most its probably 'too little, too late' but they really seem to be trying hard to fix it. I don't think they are trying to compete or take over the market, I think they have admitted their mistakes and are now happy with the state of the game and are doing their best to shape it up into the game they originally wanted for it's players. Plus they got rid of that gobshite Gaute Godager.

  • dither #20 2 years ago

    My 7 day trial on this ended yesterday. I literally only played about an hour, and it was bloody boring.

  • iokthemonkey #21 2 years ago

    If you DO go beyond Tortage, don't subscribe for any longer than a month until you're sure you want to continue. The quality of the game nose-dives after Tortage and it's not really a good indication of the overall (rather low) quality of the rest of the game.

  • Rubarack #22 2 years ago

    Interesting, when I played the first 20 levels were so far and away the best bit I never wanted to leave. They'll need to really ratchet up the 20-30 content if they want to get any subscribers out of this.

  • Atropos #23 2 years ago

    I gave iokthemonkey a "+" since that was quite restrained coming from him about AoC. Have to encourage that kind of behaviour, really :-)

    Personally I'd agree with him if it was a year ago, the post-20 content is pretty cool nowadays. Some of the quest-lines have been amongst the best I've played in any MMO.

  • ukdm #24 2 years ago

    This game keeps appearing in the bargain bin in Morrisons for £5.99 if anyone is interested in picking it up. Not that you need it for the free trial...
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 13:34

  • hiddenranbir #25 2 years ago

    Is tortage cut off from the main player base? I heard the beginning was instanced or something...

  • xexuxjy #26 2 years ago

    nope don't think it's cut off, I've gone back with higher level characters and seen people running through the quests. I think the 'tortage at night' quests are though

  • AOFanboi #27 2 years ago

    Yeah, the intro zone is the best part of what I experienced, with voice_acting and semi-interesting plots which disappear when you get off Tortage and into the "kill X foozles and loot Y giblets" standard MMO gameplay.

    Tortage is sort of like they did with Anarchy Online, which has instanced starter zones. Though there you can return to the Shadowlands starter zone until you hit some level cap.

  • dither #28 2 years ago

    Oh dear, negged for an opinion. EG community at work, ey?

  • cairbre1977 #29 2 years ago

    Dither I gave you a plus +. Speak your mind. :-)

  • hiddenranbir #30 2 years ago

    I'll probably play this just to have the humour of running around in the nude like I do in Mount and Blade Warband.