The free-to-play model is becoming increasingly difficult to accept and enjoy. It has become a trend that free-to-play means competent, polished gameplay combined with limited content and/or numerous microtransactions to slightly speed up otherwise miserable and tedious progression. The First Descendant is another offender in this regard.
First, let me say that The First Descendant has some very positive and promising elements. The core gameplay and gunplay is top-notch, with fast-paced and exciting action mixed with satisfying weaponry that really offers a power fantasy. The Descendants, which are actually Warframe-like class types, are very distinct both visually and gameplay-wise, each bringing something useful and fun to the action to keep it feeling fresh. The build too rivals the best of the looter-shooter genre, offering countless ways to turn a character into something truly special and deadly. The entire game features spoken dialogue, a really nice way to increase immersion and put emphasis on the narrative. The co-op design, which makes working with strangers and friends easier than ever before, is also a huge help. The point is that Nexon has made some fantastic design choices here that need to be highlighted and highlighted.
The problem is everything surrounding these elements. I’ll start with the campaign. It’s a 20-hour story that’s actually a great tutorial. You’re constantly guided through different locations, completing small missions that can largely be attributed to the same quality as a Destiny 2 patrol (e.g. kill a few enemies, defend an objective, smaller things that can be done in about five minutes). All as Nexon’s way of gradually introducing you to increasingly sophisticated game mechanics that appear in Void Intercept’s dungeons and boss encounters. After about five hours with the campaign, it’s pretty hard to maintain interest, and honestly you just want to skip to the end as the narrative doesn’t really keep you hooked either due to the slavish and rather boring narrative.
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The end of the game – and yes, I’m being a little hasty, but there’s a good reason for that – isn’t much better right now, as you’ll largely be doing the exact same quests and challenges you completed throughout the campaign, except on a harder difficulty. Because? To get better loot, and most importantly, one of the waaaaaay too many resources and coins used in the crafting/research kit.
The First Descendant has a pretty comprehensive and extensive loot system, meaning you’ll never be short of exciting and powerful weapons. However, if you want the best tools for the job, or want to unlock a new Descendant instead, you’ll have to put up with the system. It’s one of the most overwhelming systems I’ve ever seen in a video game, and frankly, if you have no intention of spending a dime on The First Descendant, you’re better off spending dozens of hours working through the same in-game activities in the hopes of obtaining an extremely rare crafting material that you can then use and parlay into part of the research recipe you’re looking for. Once you’ve spent too much time assembling the right gear, Nexon puts you through one of my least favorite mechanics in The First Descendant: an actual research timer, of the same type as Clash of Clans and other mobile gamers you’re probably all too familiar with. To summarize briefly: you spend dozens of hours gathering the necessary materials by doing the same activities you did dozens of hours in the campaign, and then have to wait about 16 hours real Hours to unlock the item you fought for… I understand it’s a free game but this is hateful game design.
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There’s a quicker way to get around this, and that’s where monetization comes in. I have no problem with monetizing free-to-play games, but Nexon went overboard with The First Descendant. Unlocking a new character costs around $14 (that’s not including the Ultimate version of the character), and there are tons of cosmetics on top of that. Sure, you can buy the typical Battle Pass to get some things, but if you want other cosmetic items, you better be ready to break the bank. Oh… and speaking of cosmetics, The First Descendant reinforces the trend we often see in games from Asian developers by having female characters dressed enormously and with disproportionate bodies, clearly aimed at attracting a specific audience. We had this conversation back in April with Stellar Blade, and now The First Descendant is here to add fuel to the fire…
I firmly believe that there are too many systems and currencies in The First Descendant, but they can be learned to understand and become familiar with. The same goes for the UI and HUD, which provide a huge amount of information that mostly doesn’t seem relevant or important. It just doesn’t seem intuitive. There is definitely room for improvement and optimization that would do wonders to make this title more accessible.
What will be hardest to fix will be the level design and actual combat mechanics. The gameplay, shooting and running around and blowing things up, is cool, but there’s never much depth to the way you do it. While many other looter shooters have tons of puzzle-like systems to overcome in combat to keep players on their toes, The First Descendant seems to offer the best of a shield system consisting of floating orbs above a boss. Destroy them and the shield will fall. It’s a working system that wouldn’t be the bane of my existence if it were less common, because right now it seems to be. only
Now you will think “This is certainly where the Void Interception battles come into play.” Yes and no. Void Intercept is an activity that pits a team of players against a giant boss. The idea is to perfect your build so you can survive and defeat that boss in 10 minutes. It’s often quite challenging due to the bosses’ health reserves, but there’s not much to write home about in terms of mechanical depth. There are some impressive systems and mechanics, but for the most part, you’re just running around a nondescript arena pumping a large target full of lead. It’s far from the worst activity The First Descendant has to offer, but it doesn’t seem like a good example of this game’s potential, either.
The First Descendant would also benefit from a more free-form level design where you could travel seamlessly between the sub-areas of each location without a loading screen, in the same way that Destiny 2’s locations work, and the ammo also needs a bit of tweaking as it doesn’t seem balanced at the moment. On top of that, the audio mix is a bit off, with some sounds being too loud and others a bit quiet, and the voice acting (so brilliant, given that there is full voice acting throughout the game) is overused, with certain dialogue sequences lasting several minutes and featuring some wacky acting (the crazy, unhinged villain is an image that’s used too often here). But to be honest, all of these criticisms are minor and completely irrelevant compared to how well this game performs and is optimized.
I’ve regularly played a handful of AAA titles in my life that have performed worse than this game. From huge performance and massive frame drops – despite using a PC with hardware well above the maximum system requirements – to stuttering, endless matchmaking queues, some buggy menu systems, and frequent server crashes. I’ve restarted the game, re-downloaded it, lowered the graphics settings, raised the graphics settings, turned ray tracing, G-Sync, DLSS, etc. on and off, updated the PC and graphics drivers, and even restarted my broadband connection, and despite all of that, the game usually only works as expected about 50% of the time. Since then, I’ve tried Destiny 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Baldur’s Gate III, and Atomic Heart, and none of those games have had even the semblance of a performance issue. The First Descendant is simply poorly optimized in its current state.
Although The First Descendant has a strange aesthetic that doesn’t seem to know exactly what it wants to be, a strange mix of high fantasy and dark sci-fi, there are elements of this game that have kept me playing. The weapon handling, the Descendant options, the building, the graphics, the action, the co-operative systems – all of it works perfectly and makes it a promising experience. It’s just that it’s hampered in many other ways, which leaves me frustrated and tired of playing. The performance and optimization issues are a big problem right now, but they can – and probably will – be fixed soon, but the monetization, the monotonous enemy and boss design, the flat level and mission structure, the tiring progression, and the unsatisfying story are the real, fundamental problems currently holding The First Descendant back and preventing me from wanting to spend more time in the world of Nexon.