The First Descendant
Last updated: 2025-08-12
- Engaging core gameplay and combat
- Fair free-to-play monetization
- Repetitive and limited content
- Poor optimization and frequent crashes
- Severe character balance issues
- Lacks originality compared to competitors
Emotions
Players are highly satisfied with the game's overall quality, including its engaging gameplay loop, satisfying gunplay, and impressive visuals. The free-to-play model, fair monetization, and consistent developer responsiveness with improvements and new content are also major contributors to player satisfaction.
Frustration primarily stems from persistent technical issues such as poor optimization, frequent crashes, and performance drops, especially after updates. Tedious and repetitive grind, low drop rates for desired items, and aggressive monetization practices for skins and character unlocks are also significant sources of player frustration.
Players express disappointment due to the game's lack of engaging endgame content, repetitive missions, and uninspired story. Poor optimization, high prices for cosmetic items, and a perceived focus by developers on monetization and 'fan service' over core gameplay improvements also contribute to this emotion.
Players enjoy the game's core gameplay, including its combat flow, character progression, and the fun of playing with friends. The appealing graphics, engaging story, and the overall entertaining and captivating experience contribute to a positive gameplay experience.
Excitement is driven by the game's dynamic gunfights, engaging abilities, and compelling world. Players are also excited about the potential for future content, new updates, and the overall promising direction and growth of the game.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 64% · Negative 36%. Score: 36 / 100
Positives:
- Players consistently praise the game's core gameplay, finding it highly enjoyable, fluid, and satisfying. The gunplay, movement mechanics, and overall combat experience are frequently highlighted as strong points, contributing to an addictive and fun experience.
- The game's free-to-play model is highly praised for being fair and not pay-to-win. Players can obtain all gameplay-affecting items, including characters and weapons, through in-game grinding, with real-money purchases being primarily for cosmetics.
- A significant positive is the developers' strong responsiveness to community feedback. Players appreciate that the development team actively listens, communicates transparently, and implements frequent quality-of-life improvements and content updates, leading to a much-improved game since launch.
- Character design is a major highlight, with players consistently praising the aesthetic appeal, uniqueness, and visual detail of both male and female characters. The game's 'fanservice' aspect, particularly with attractive female characters, is frequently mentioned as a draw.
- The game's graphics are consistently lauded as stunning, leveraging Unreal Engine 5 to create detailed environments, impressive lighting, and high-quality character models. Players note the visual fidelity rivals many premium titles, even on lower settings.
Negatives:
- The game suffers from a significant lack of diverse and engaging content, particularly in the endgame. Missions are highly repetitive, often involving the same objectives and locations, leading to a monotonous and unrewarding experience for players.
- Players frequently report severe technical issues, including poor optimization, low and unstable frame rates, and constant game crashes. These problems make the game unplayable for many, even on high-end systems, and have worsened with updates.
- The game has severe balance issues, particularly with character (Descendant) power levels. Developers frequently nerf strong characters, invalidating player investment, while failing to buff weaker ones, leading to a narrow meta and reduced gameplay variety.
- Many players feel the game is an inferior copy of established titles like Warframe and Destiny 2. It is criticized for lacking originality, depth, and quality-of-life features present in its competitors, often doing things worse or in a watered-down manner.
- The progression system is excessively grindy, requiring players to spend hundreds of hours repeating the same missions for low drop rates of essential items. This tedious grind, often exacerbated by frustrating RNG, makes unlocking characters and upgrading gear feel like a chore rather than a rewarding experience.
Gameplay:
- The game is fundamentally a looter-shooter with a heavy emphasis on grinding for materials, characters, and weapons. This repetitive farming loop is central to progression and is a defining characteristic of the gameplay experience.
- Many players compare the game to Warframe and Destiny 2, noting similarities in core mechanics, progression systems, and overall genre. While it shares many elements, some feel it lacks the depth or innovation of its predecessors.
- The game's difficulty scales, with a relatively easy early game and a more challenging 'Hard Mode' unlocked after the campaign. Boss fights are a key part of the endgame, requiring specific builds and understanding mechanics, though some find them repetitive.
- The game features a diverse roster of characters, each with unique abilities and playstyles, encouraging experimentation with different builds. However, some players feel that only a few Descendants are truly viable for high-level content, leading to a limited meta.
- The game is designed as a free-to-play, co-operative third-person shooter, offering both solo and group play. It aims to be accessible and easy to learn, appealing to casual players while still providing depth for those who want to optimize builds.
Performance:
- The game is generally demanding, requiring modern and often high-end hardware for optimal performance. Many players report inconsistent frame rates, stuttering, and high CPU/GPU usage, even on powerful systems. While some users experience smooth gameplay, others face significant performance issues, suggesting a lack of consistent optimization across various hardware configurations.
- Installing the game on an SSD is crucial for proper performance, as installing on an HDD leads to significant performance degradation and issues. This is a common recommendation from players to mitigate performance problems.
- While some players report stable servers and good network performance, others experience frequent disconnections, long loading screens, and occasional network errors. There's a mixed bag of feedback regarding server stability and connectivity.
- The game is generally playable on Steam Deck and Linux distributions (via Proton), though it often requires lowering graphics settings and tweaking GPU clock speeds to achieve stable frame rates. It's considered a viable option for these platforms.
- Most players report that bugs are rare or occasional, suggesting that while some minor issues exist, they are not widespread or game-breaking. The overall bug experience seems to be relatively positive.
Recommendations:
- Many players recommend trying the game, especially since it's free-to-play. It's often suggested for fans of looter-shooters, particularly those who enjoy games like Warframe or Destiny, or are looking for a new co-op experience with a focus on grinding and character progression. The game is seen as having significant potential.
- Many players warn against spending real money on the game, especially on characters or non-cosmetic items, due to concerns about monetization practices, potential nerfs, and the game's long-term value. It's suggested to stick to F2P or only purchase cosmetics.
- Some reviews highlight issues with game balance, particularly power creep and character nerfs, which negatively impact the player experience. These issues are cited as reasons for not recommending the game until addressed.
- Despite current issues, many players express hope for the game's future, believing it has significant potential to improve with continued updates, content additions, and optimization. They look forward to future seasons and developer commitment.
- Players are advised to carefully choose their first character and consider long-term viability, as some character types may fall behind. There's also a note that buying all characters early might lead to boredom.
Miscellaneous:
- The game is perceived as polarizing, with some finding it decent for casual play and others criticizing its lack of depth, grind, and overall vision. It's often seen as a time-killer rather than a deep, immersive experience.
- Many players have invested significant hours into the game, with some having hundreds or even thousands of hours across different platforms. This indicates a dedicated player base, despite some uncertainties about long-term engagement.
- A significant draw for many players is the game's emphasis on sexualized character designs, particularly female characters with revealing outfits and exaggerated physics. This aspect is a core part of its visual appeal and monetization strategy.
- There's a perception of 'review bombing' occurring, particularly in response to character nerfs. Players express frustration with balancing changes and advocate for buffs to less popular characters rather than nerfs to meta ones.
- The game is also compared to The Division 2, specifically regarding its endgame content. Players note that The Division 2's endgame can feel monotonous and lacks replayability, suggesting a potential pitfall for this game.
