The First Descendant Enjoys Big Player Numbers on Steam Despite ‘Microtransaction Hell’

Korean firm Nexon, which is behind different multiplayer-focused free-to-play video games equivalent to Kartrider: Drift and Maplestory, launched The First Descendant with a packed money store that sells the whole lot you’d count on from a recreation of this sort: a premium battle move, new characters, premium character and weapon skins, and even expertise boosts and elevated stock capability.

New characters, referred to as Descendants, are offered for real-world cash, however the premium digital forex, Caliber, is offered in bundles that are available slightly below the price of a brand new character itself, forcing gamers to purchase extra digital forex than they want and, thus, having some left over.

Caliber can solely be obtained by shopping for it with real-world cash or by shopping for the premium battle move. There’s at the moment no solution to earn it via gameplay alone.

When you can grind (quite a bit) for brand new characters, it can save you time by spending cash to purchase them. You too can pay to achieve fast entry to an ‘Final Descendant’, which is a Descendant with higher stats and an unique pores and skin. Anticipate to pay upwards of $55 for one.

The First Descendant additionally locks a paint to a pores and skin, which implies if you wish to re-use a paint you’ve already obtained, maybe from the premium battle move, it’s a must to spend real-world cash on it once more.

Some gamers have referred to as The First Descendant “predatory” due to its monetization, whereas others have stated it’s par for the course in relation to video games from Nexon. On Steam, The First Descendant has a ‘combined’ person evaluation score, with lots of the unfavorable critiques focusing on the microtransactions, however others are additionally delivering their verdict on the gunplay and mechanics. One Steam person referred to as the First Descendant “microtransaction hell.” One other stated: “This recreation launched with extra actual cash purchasable gadgets than precise gameplay mechanics.”

Even those that have spent cash on microtransactions are having a troublesome time, Nexon apologized to gamers who’ve but to obtain gadgets they paid for by providing compensation. “We are going to proceed to attempt to supply a extra secure service,” Nexon stated.

Listed below are the compensation particulars:

• Gold Acquire Enhance +30% (Period 3 days)
• Kyper Shard Acquire Enhance +30% (Period 3 days)
• Descendant EXP Acquire Enhance +30% (Period 3 days)
• Weapon Mastery EXP Acquire Enhance +30% (Period 3 days)
• 2 x Matte Pink Paints

Despite all this, The First Descendant hit a Steam concurrent participant rely of 229,257, which was sufficient to place it within the high 5 most-played video games on Valve’s platform. The recreation additionally launched on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, however Sony and Microsoft don’t make participant numbers accessible.

Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.