‘The First Descendant’ launches to mixed reception

15 July, 2024

'The First Descendant'.

The First Descendant launched earlier this month and has been met with a mixed reception from fans.

The First Descendant is a free-to-play third-person looter shooter from Nexon Games, with players tasked with fighting for the survival of humanity against waves of invaders.

It launched last week (July 5) and the team behind The First Descendant has now revealed that over 10 million players logged into the game in its first week.

“Thank you all for your tremendous support and love. It means everything to us. We will do our best to bring you great experiences. Can’t wait to continue this journey together,” the post continued.

However, not everyone is having a brilliant time with the game. As it stands, The First Descendant has a “mixed” rating on Steam, with 26,000 negative reviews and nearly 30,000 positive ones.

Fans have praised the fact every character can be earned within the free-to-play game without having to spend physical world money, while the grappling feature “provides a fresh take to the looter shooter genre”. However, others have criticised how much of a grind it is to unlock certain characters, and how much Nexon are charging to bypass that.

Fans have also criticised the fact The First Descendant requires players to install two different anti-cheat systems to play the game, with Nexon Game Security featuring questionable use of user data.

“It’s a shame,” reads another review. “The gameplay is surprisingly solid. It is a fun, dynamic looter-shooter. Unfortunately, everything else about the game is awful. The story, writing, and voice acting are all pretty terrible. “

Since it was first announced, The First Descendant has been drawing comparisons to Destiny, which weren’t helped when several icons in The First Descendant were seemingly copied straight from Destiny 2, via open-source repository Iconduck.

“The First Descendant, as a looter shooter game, was developed with a deep affection and respect for other games in the genre,” Nexon said in a statement [via PC Gamer]. “Destiny 2, being a globally renowned looter shooter game, is also personally admired and respected by the team, and it has served as an inspiration during the development process.”

“We have taken the concerns raised seriously and decided to make adjustments to ensure that the imagery that may appear similar clearly reflects the unique identity of our game. We will continue to improve the game for fans of the looter shooter genre,” they added.

In other news, an interview with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has resurfaced, with many fans worried GTA 6 could be more expensive than your typical AAA game.

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