When it launches on July 2, The First Descendant will enter a style that, currently, has had extra failures than successes. Excessive-profile video games like Anthem, Redfall, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and Marvel’s Avengers all operated in the identical area that the upcoming loot shooter is hoping to enter, and all struggled to make lasting constructive impressions. Even the king of loot shooters, Future 2, has struggled–though developer Bungie simply put out an acclaimed growth, the sport might need been at its lowest level ever only a yr in the past. Loot shooter gamers generally is a robust crowd.
I not too long ago performed about an hour of The First Descendant at Summer time Recreation Fest 2024’s Play Days occasion, which wasn’t sufficient to get a full sense of whether or not developer Nexon will keep away from the pitfalls that appear to doom so many of those video games. It did, nonetheless, give a way of moment-to-moment gameplay that appears to vary considerably relying on which of the 14 characters you play all through the sport. The large quantity of customizations that include weapons, characters, and modifications you can also make to your loadout counsel that The First Descendant will supply a complete selection in methods to play it. That, coupled with what appears like a considerable amount of content material at launch, together with for its endgame, has me cautiously optimistic that The First Descendant can succeed the place so many different latest video games have failed.
I performed as Eseimo within the demo, one of many three new “Descendants” that Nexon is including to the sport at launch, who focuses on utilizing excessive explosives and tanky, overwhelming power. The demo additionally included some new content material coming at launch, and I used to be capable of soar into one of many sport’s dungeons alone and combat by way of it. The mission sends you right into a snowy facility overrun by enemies, culminating with a boss combat on the finish. It gave a fairly good sense of Eseimo’s high-damage, crowd-controlling capabilities, and the way he may contribute in a gaggle.
The core of The First Descendant is third-person capturing, the type the place you do a variety of operating round and dodge-rolling as you combat. The capturing felt stable typically, capturing the identical vibes as one thing like Outriders, with punchy weapons that may simply mow down smaller enemies however require somewhat further effort in opposition to beefier opponents. I largely used an assault rifle that saved the bullets flying as a lot as potential, however The First Descendant contains 11 firearm courses that give some selection to gamers and their loadouts.
As you may count on, Eseimo’s talents embody whipping grenades into crowds–these got here in clutch within the dungeon, the place more durable opponents joined a flood of enemies. The trek by way of the ability included a portion by which I needed to defend a big room that had a giant dome forcefield within the heart whereas ready for a door to unlock. The room flooded with enemies, together with heavy items carrying giant medieval-like shields and even bigger, more durable enemies that took a variety of fireplace to carry down.
You get each a recharging protect and a well being bar in The First Descendant, with the latter changing into susceptible whereas the previous is damaged. The recharge on my shields took fairly some time, nonetheless, which meant that tactical repositioning (operating away) is usually extraordinarily necessary to retaining alive as a solo participant. It made for a quick and frenetic expertise all through the dungeon, and one which I had a fairly good time with.
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Throughout that combat, success required retaining away from smaller melee troops whereas specializing in the shield-bearing troopers to skinny out the numbers of more durable, extra harmful enemies, all whereas being acutely aware of positioning as a result of characters may cross by way of the large forcefield, however it might block bullets and different assaults. When issues actually bought robust, I may activate Eseimo’s strongest lively means, which primarily turned him right into a truck. You cost ahead with a touch transfer that permits you to smash by way of enemies, however you are unable to cease till you set off the power once more to let free a robust explosion throughout you. It was nice for slicing by way of tons of enemies and placing large harm on a few of the tough-to-kill variants.
The dungeon culminated in a boss combat that gave me some sense of what mechanical components The First Descendant will make use of to make its gunfights somewhat extra fascinating. The seven-foot-tall, minigun-wielding fighter was robust to take head-on and, to make issues worse, was flanked by snipers, extra of the roving melee troopers, and enemies carrying shields, which required a variety of operating across the area.
That area was additionally oddly formed, making the already robust combat even more durable. The boss got here up an elevator connected to a cliff face, its path winding round alongside the aspect of a mountain. Staying put wasn’t an choice, because the boss would repeatedly launch mortars that might stun and pummel you in case you did not filter earlier than they landed. But enterprise too far to at least one aspect and it was a lethal fall. Nevertheless, in case you adopted the snaking path upward, you’d attain a place the place you might filter enemies and shoot down on the boss and his minions as they flooded up the trail.
The hardest a part of the combat happened midway by way of, when the boss summoned a set of drones that shielded him from harm. This was the place issues bought a bit extra technical; to destroy the protect, I needed to shoot the drones, but just one was susceptible at a time and solely briefly. Zooming in for a fast sniper shot or two was sufficient to carry the drones down, however with the fixed reinforcements of enemy troops and the mortar and minigun assaults from the boss, a variety of coordination was required simply to remain alive. As a group, the boss combat might need been simpler, given they used cautious coordination to maintain everybody alive and preventing. For a single participant, nonetheless, it may get fairly difficult. Nevertheless, after two rounds of destroying drones, and several other shut calls, I lastly toppled the boss.
The hour-long demo gave me sufficient time to mess with one character and full one mission. What I performed felt good, if somewhat fleeting and exhausting to pin down. From the sounds of issues, although, The First Descendant will supply a variety of completely different content material. A presentation through the demo famous that Nexon has expanded and deepened the story content material within the sport from what was beforehand proven in its beta checks, and might be including particular tales for every of its 14 characters as nicely.
For loot shooters like this, endgame is a significant consideration–it’s the content material that may maintain gamers coming again long-term. The dungeon I noticed is without doubt one of the sport’s higher-level areas, and Nexon stated there might be 16 of these dungeons accessible at launch. They will embody regular and exhausting issue ranges, with the more durable variations meting out higher loot. There are additionally Void Intercept missions, that are The First Descendant’s actual declare to fame. These are battles in opposition to completely large creatures and appear like they’ve the power to create some intense, memorable moments that’ll assist maintain The First Descendant fascinating over the long run.
I did not actually get a way of the loot system in my restricted play time, however I used to be impressed by the extent of customization and build-crafting that The First Descendant appears to make accessible. Along with all of the weapons and the various characters with their very own particular talents, there are “modules.” The First Descendant has one thing like 560 of those, which you’ll equip in several combos to additional customise the way you play with a collection of passive bonuses and alterations to your weapons and skills.
On paper, all of that sounds very robust, and I loved my quick time with the sport and the one mission I used to be capable of play. If nothing else, the demo left me with the impression that The First Descendant is launching with lots to do, stable third-person shooter gunplay, and character-specific components that blend issues up fairly considerably.
The First Descendant launches on July 2 for PC, Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PS4.