The First Descendant is a new free to play third person looter shooter from Nexon Games Co. After a somewhat bumpy launch things have started to calm down so now is the perfect time to take a look at what makes The First Descendant so special.
So, what exactly is The First Descendant?
From what I have played, the First Descendant is an MMORPG hero looter shooter. Now that’s a mouthful, its like the weird metal sub genres like Heroic Fantasy Power Metal, it’s a lot to take all at once, but somehow it works. So lets break it down into smaller chunks.
I was very lucky not to have any major problems with performance, I didn’t bother turning on ray tracing or changing to Fidelity mode. I did have a few network issues like enemies freezing then teleporting 5 feet and everything is dead, but nothing major.
The story is very hard to follow with a lot of running around talking to various NPC’s to get snippets of what is going on. I found myself skipping almost every dialog scene because there were so many. It has something to do with Descendants, and an Iron Heart and big baddie trying to use it to end the world. On a side not the lip syncing is some of the worst I have seen in a while.
The core gameplay of The First Descendant is great fun. The world is split up into 9 separate areas with those being split into 4 or 5 zones. The movement feels fluid but there is a grappling hook that I found very hard to use, defiantly a skill issue on my part but it would disrupt the flow enough for me to only use it when I had too. One thing I loved was when you approach a mission it gives you the estimated mission time, the rewards and the percentage of how likely you are to get the part you are looking for. This is where the real grind comes in. It’s a free to play game so you must expect some sort of gameplay loop that keeps you coming back. I tried the same level 10 times to get a particular part I was after, it states it has a 20% chance to drop with no luck. Then there is the added tug of the micro transactions giving me the ability to buy that piece I can’t get for the cool $10USD
There is also a Battle Pass. There is both a paid and free version. It doesn’t give you weapons or heroes but just cosmetics. I’m not a fan of the challenge system tied to leveling up the battle pass. Id rather just get XP from playing the game rather than capping it at X amount per day making you come back day after day to complete challenges. I already have Fallout 76 for that.
Speaking of loot, The First Descendant has so much of it. Almost too much, I’m feeling every 10 minutes I’m stopping to clear out my inventory. Sure, I’m getting crafting materials, but there not that many guns yet so it’s a lot of duplicates. They do have different stats but I’m not knowledgeable enough to know if 3.1% increase in weak point damage is much. The loot has different tiers, standard blue, purple and gold. Blue and purple can be found but gold has to be crafted by finding different pieces as rewards in different missions. Once you find them all you spend a bunch of resources and after 4 hours real time you will have your shiny new toy. Oh, you can also spend real money to speed this up. It’s nothing new for those familiar with Warframe. It just sucks you can’t play with your new toy straight away. The shooting feels really good and the 4 hero’s I have unlocked all play very differently.
The modding system is very similar to Warframe where your heroes and weapons can be modded to customize your gameplay the way you like by adding electrical damage to you weapons or more shields, or faster cool downs, these can also be upgraded. I like how once you have modded a weapon it will stay modded through all variations of said weapon. If you drop it for something else and then pick it up again a few levels higher those same mods are still applied.
The MMO and multiplayer part of the First Descendant is done well. There isn’t a lot of sitting in matchmaking windows waiting for games. You can hear gunshots in the distance, so if you just run towards it eventually you will be added to the current mission, if there is room. If there isn’t you must start the mission, and people will join your instance. I had a period of 2ish hours where I didn’t run into anyone else but that might have been a network problem.
All in all, I’m really enjoying The First Descendant. At the start it felt very basic, but the more time I’m spending with it, I feel like I’m only scratching the surface. If you are currently playing something similar it might just be more of the same, but I’m currently taking a break from Warframe and its different enough to keep me coming back for more.
The First Descendant was played on the Xbox Series X and is also available free to play on PlayStation 5 and Pc.
We had a discussion about The First Descendant with some members of our Gamer Social Club community on our Podcast, I was very critical about it, but the more I play the more I love. I will link it below
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