Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10
- Offline: 49 (1000 )
- Online: 0 (0 )
- Approximate amount of time for 1000: 15-20 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
- Number of missable achievements: 0
- Glitched Achievements: Mob Massacre, Strength of 10 Men, Losing his Mind.
- Do cheats codes disable achievements?:No (except the master moves achievements)
Conan is a very linear hack and slash game which should give you a certain 1000 if you play it smartly. If you don't play it smartly, you will probably need a few more playthroughs, but since it is a fairly short game, you are not looking at a major time commitment. Most of the achievements are do "action X" a certain number of times, which would be so simple if the count stacked through your playthroughs. Since they don't stack, it is at least a time commitment even if it is not a challenge.
Step 1: Prepare
Familiarize yourself with the guides to the Bosses and Maidens, Runes & Chests. These will be invaluable, since some of the chests are very well hidden, but will become obvious once you know where they are. There are also a lot of achievements stemming from these (10 for 180 ), so it is worthwhile to check first, or look through the guide as you progress.
You don't need to worry about cheats unless you have already passed the game on medium or higher, but they are unlocked from the main menu by going to Extras > Unlockables. Once you have the basic idea of the game, just jump right in because the first level is a tutorial.
Step 2: Hard Playthrough
Hard difficulty is not that hard, so don't feel daunted by the name. The main reason I died on hard was because I was trying to kill an enemy in a specific way for achievement hunting purposes. During this play through you are going to want to focus on a few achievement lines, don't try and do everything at once. You will get nine achievements (200 ) just for finishing this playthrough and dumb luck will lead you to another half dozen at least.
There is not enough experience handed out in this game to unlock all the moves in all three weapon styles, so pick two to focus on for this play through. I would recommend the one handed blade and the two weapon styles, since you can start the former at the beginning of the game and the latter is simple to max out. One-handed should give you the disarm achievements and the two weapon should give you the dismemberment achievements. The only reason to pick up a two handed weapon in this playthrough is to get the Parry Farm achievement.
In this playthrough, try to find all runes, maidens and chests. Refer to the guides above if you are uncertain. This is also the playthrough to get the achievements on the Giant Squid battle, about three quarters of the way into the game. These are the grapple kills achievements, the throw achievements and Bring Out the Gimp. Doing this will also get you about 60,000 points on this level, guaranteeing you the two point based achievements. After this playthrough, you should have about 40 achievements worth about 750 .
Step 3: King Playthrough
After completing the game on Hard, you will unlock King difficulty and 3 cheats: Master all Moves (self explanatory), Song of Death (song of death is always active), and Infinite Power (armour powers do not deplete energy). Personally, I would avoid the master all moves cheat, but Infinite Power is very valuable. If you get into a tight spot or just get fed up with fighting the rubber monkeys, activate a power and kill them instantly. It will also give you a number of chances at Strength of 10 Men during the final fight with Graven.
During this playthrough, try and focus on the impaling achievements and Master Two Handed Swordsmen. With the cheats, this difficulty is not that hard either, so long as you don't try to mop up everything on this playthrough. Just focus on a few achievements and getting through the game. This should net you another few achievements, but you will still have a few missing.
Step 3: Achievement mop up
After passing the game on King, you unlock the invincibility cheat which makes mop up a snap. Finish the last few achievements, like Untouchable, Rock of Ages, and Losing his Mind. Check the guide below if you want to know where to find the best place to get these achievements.
Glitched Achievements:
There is good news for completionists in this game - the achievements are glitched in your favour. For me, Mob Massacre and Strength of 10 Men unlocked during my fight with Graven, despite the fact that only two enemies died. Still not sure why, but it saved me a full playthrough just to try. Also, I have heard that the Losing his Mind achievement unlocks without actually decapitating the captain. I haven't experienced this, though.
Conclusion:
If you have any other achievements missing, perhaps Enemy Appetizers or Meat Market, you may need to start a second mop up playthrough, but given that the game only takes between 5 and 8 hours (less with invincibility), it is not a huge time commitment. Refer to the guide below to find the best place to get your missing achievements if you are not sure. A final note about Meat Market, after you kill Bone Cleaver for the second time, you fight ghosts and statues almost exclusively, which cannot be dismembered, so try to get this early in the game.
That's it, 1000 , no annoying online achievements, no massive time commitment, just a simple and fun game to complete. Enjoy.