The First Descendant is a new addition to the MMORPG looter shooter genre, a free-to-play online co-op game from South Korean publisher Nexon that lands with the promise of years of continued updates and developer support. The First Descendant falls under the same curse as many live service games, however, and that’s mixed reviews and harsh criticism — especially at launch.
Single-player games can be reviewed largely on their own merits, but live service games are analyzed with the weight of internet and server stability, online player behavior, and community outrage pressing down on them. The most successful live service games barrel past those obstacles, while the titles that fail to evolve with the community are buried under them. It’s still not clear on which side of the line The First Descendant will fall, but I seem to be more optimistic than many fellow critics.
The First Descendant currently sits at an abysmal 56 on Metacritic, a score that I frankly don’t agree accurately conveys the quality and potential of this new live service arrival. User reviews are just as mixed, driven by major server outages near launch on top of a myriad of other complaints (much of it valid). For my part, I’m not going to add another review score to the discourse, and instead, I will outline my thoughts after putting dozens of hours into The First Descendant.
I’m also including a letter to Nexon, the developer and publisher of The First Descendant, on the changes and improvements that I believe can make The First Descendant a significantly better game. Agree or disagree, share your thoughts in the comments so our voices as players can be heard.
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What is The First Descendant?
The First Descendant
• Price: Free at Microsoft Store (Xbox) | Steam (PC)
• Release date: July 2, 2024
• Developer: Nexon Games
• Publisher: Nexon
• Genre: MMORPG / Looter shooter
• Players: Up to four-player co-op
• Install size: 37.7GB
• Playtime: 60+ hours
• Platforms: Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation
• Played on: Xbox Series X
The First Descendant is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It’s also a looter shooter, putting it in a similar category of video games as mainstays Destiny 2 and Warframe. You play as a Descendant, part of a group of humans that possess unique abilities passed down to them by the Ancestors, an ancient civilization that once dominated the world.
Your mission? Defend the remnants of humanity on the continent of Ingris from the Vulgus, an alien race intent on acquiring more power, technology, and knowledge… no matter what needs to be destroyed on the way. You also have to contend with the Colossi, a mysterious race of massive beings that wander the Void and, when descending on Ingris, cause untold destruction and mayhem.
To succeed, you’ll need to work with other players across many varied battlefields. Play as different descendants, level up your skills and abilities, upgrade your weapons and gear, and collect valuable resources necessary to reach new levels of prowess. It’s a massive game that players can sink hundreds of hours into without seeing all the game has to offer, and it’s only going to get bigger as Nexon updates it in the future.
The First Descendant is now available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 and is completely free to play with in-game microtransactions.
The First Descendant: Recognizing the bad
I’d like for this article to be more positive in overall tone, praising what The First Descendant gets right and looking to the future at what can be improved, but I can’t do that properly without also recognizing the many things that The First Descendant doesn’t do well right now. For one, let’s talk about the main campaign and its accompanying narrative.
For many live service games, the story plot is essentially just set dressing for the gameplay, and The First Descendant tends to fall into that category. The campaign is generic, the writing is average, and the voice acting is okay at best, with subpar and entirely mismatched lip-syncing. The cinematics are gorgeous, though, and I do find the Vulgus to be somewhat interesting enemies with Karel as their moody, angry dictator. The story also doesn’t feel like an afterthought, as there’s always something happening to move things along.
I hope that future expansions to the story (and there will be expansions) focus more on the characters and their nuanced personalities and motivations, the performances from animations and voice acting, and the general quality of the overarching plot. More exclusive side missions for more of the Descendants would be great to see, too.
Speaking of missions, that’s another weak point for The First Descendant: the same four or five mission types get awfully repetitive after a while. I hope to see The First Descendant do better in the future by introducing more diverse and unique mission types.
More of The First Descendant
Another easy criticism about The First Descendant is the social features… or the lack thereof. Sure, there’s an in-game friend list you can manage and party features, but there’s little beyond that. There’s no easy way to request help from across the game on difficult missions, Intercept Battles, Outposts, and beyond. There’s no incentive to help other players either, nor does there seem to be much synergy between players who aren’t already friends playing the game together.
This dynamic also makes some parts of The First Descendant needlessly difficult, like late-game Colossi boss battles that introduce unique and complex mechanics. There’s no way to coordinate with random players you matchmake with, which makes these Intercept Battles frustrating rather than challenging as easily dealt-with mechanics become hard walls until you happen across the right teammates.
Progression in other areas can feel tedious, too. The First Descendant’s interface lacks polish, character, and flow, leading to pointless roadblocks and delays in several areas like unskippable animations when completing research projects, unavoidable menus when attempting to restart a mission, and a confusing morass of overlapping menus across character customization, your inventory, and more.
The optional Battle Pass feels too slow to progress thanks to relying mostly on set challenges, as well, with players having hundreds of hours in the game still not through the pre-season pass. A little more XP just for completing missions, Intercept Battles, Outposts, and Operations would do wonders.
Beyond other minor complaints like Ultimate Reactors strangely needing you to actively use a specific Ultimate Weapon to gain the stat boosts (instead of just having that weapon in your loadout), some performance issues, and other small problems, there’s also the widespread distrust of Nexon, the publisher and developer of The First Descendant. This is where many of the negative user reviews for The First Descendant are focused, and I understand it.
Nexon does not have a great reputation for putting its players first, with past legal trouble related to misrepresenting in-game drop rates and data and aggressive microtransaction practices. With The First Descendant, these past missteps combine with kernel-level anti-cheat software on Windows PC (this is a powerful anti-cheat that has incredibly deep access to your computer, similar to Riot Games’ Vanguard anti-cheat for VALORANT) and a questionable EULA privacy notice about collecting and using player data.
There’s no hard evidence that Nexon is abusing The First Descendant or its anti-cheat software for nefarious reasons, nor is the privacy notice that far from many other live service, online multiplayer, and Unreal Engine-powered games. Still, it’s understandable that players would be concerned, making it crucial that Nexon practices clear, honest, and transparent communication on all matters regarding player information and data.
The First Descendant: Acknowledging the good
A game can feature a terrible story, suffer from major technical issues, or be mired in controversy and still find success solely because it’s fun to play. The First Descendant is fun enough that I’ve found myself hooked on its core gameplay loop when the vast majority of live service games slide off me like oil on water. The movement and traversal mechanics are slick and fluid, the combat is diverse and satisfying, and there’s so much versatility when it comes to building a loadout that fits your playstyle.
Each Descendant feels viable in their own way, with unique abilities that are enjoyable and valuable to use. Sure, The First Descendant draws heavy inspiration from the genre’s top dogs, but when the core gameplay is this fun, isn’t that a good thing? Up to a certain extent, loot and rewards earned while playing also feel worthwhile, allowing you to regularly enhance your loadout and Descendants — this isn’t always true, sadly, but I’ll get to that in the next section.
The healthy roster of Descendants at launch and the huge variety of weapons, gear and upgrades, abilities, and combinations between them all means that there are basically endless ways to dominate every battle in The First Descendant. It feels great to find the mixture that works for you. Pursuing a new Descendant or that missing piece to complement your loadout is immensely satisfying when you succeed, contributing to the addictive nature of the gameplay loop.
The pieces don’t all fit together perfectly, but The First Descendant is refreshing to me in comparison to Destiny 2 and Warframe, which are by their nature restricted by the years of content and updates laden on top of the base game. The First Descendant feels approachable, giving me plenty of room to acclimate to its world and fall in love with its gameplay before showering me with a colossal amount of content.
And there is a lot here at launch. The First Descendant doesn’t end when the campaign does, with hundreds of hours of content for players to perfect their loadouts, tackle increasingly difficult battles and challenges, and pursue the rarest and most desirable Descendants and gear in the game. Nexon has already outlined an aggressive update roadmap for The First Descendant, too, showing how the content pool is only going to grow from here.
I’ve been unable to get into Destiny 2 or Warframe multiple times in the past, but I find myself excited to follow The First Descendant on its journey. Even after finishing the main campaign and gaining access to top-level gear and rewards, I still have barely scratched the surface of what’s possible in this game in terms of loadouts, with players discovering potent combos that can melt even the most difficult of bosses.
I’m thrilled to be able to explore The First Descendant’s endgame rather than exhausted, especially because I don’t plan to obsessively chase hyper-specific research components and instead intend to play the missions I want when I want (and enjoy whatever rewards I get from it). That’s not how everyone is going to play, of course, but I also thought of the grind-happy players when outlining what Nexon can do to improve The First Descendant below.
Gameplay and endless endgame content aside, I do enjoy the world of The First Descendant. Yes, the story is average in its current state, but world-building is of a higher grade. I love the varied environments, the art and character designs, and the underlying history of this decades-long conflict for the future of humanity built on a legacy centuries-old. It’s interesting enough that, as I said earlier, I want future story expansions to explore more of the characters and their motivations, as well as the world and its history.
Of course, I can’t talk about a live service game without mentioning the, well, live service part, and The First Descendant is off to a strong start. Communication issues aside (more on that later), the initial updates Nexon has delivered to players have been well-received, quickly delivering on player feedback and avoiding endless nerfs to anything that the community finds to be fun.
The latest 1.04 patch for The First Descendant is an excellent example, as it resolves an exploit but still makes its location a more valuable farming location, decreases cooldown timers and increases rewards for Outposts, and makes a valuable resource far easier to obtain. It’s a small update ahead of the first major content update, which will buff various Descendants and Unique gear in addition to adding new Descendants, new gear and upgrades, and a new Colossi. Nice.
The First Descendant: My advice for Nexon
The First Descendant team at Nexon, I have genuinely been enjoying playing your game despite its various imperfections. Now that I’ve finished the main campaign, this game may actually stick around as part of my regular rotation, which few live service games can boast. However, The First Descendant faces two major enemies that need to be overcome (and remain bested) for this game to achieve long-lasting success. You have to respect your players’ time, and you have to respect your players’ money.
So, to make things simple, here’s a list of changes and new features that would go a long way toward fulfilling The First Descendant’s potential, and I do believe this game has a lot of potential. The foundation is solid, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.
- In-game purchase rebalancing. Look, we all know why microtransactions exist. Free-to-play games like The First Descendant need a way to recoup development costs and stay profitable through future updates, and that’s where in-game purchases, Battle Passes, and other ways for players to spend their hard-earned cash come in. The First Descendant has a serious problem, though, in that players don’t want to spend their cash because it doesn’t feel like they’re getting in-game content of an appropriate value for it.
- Aside from the Battle Pass and non-Ultimate Descendants, almost every single premium purchase in The First Descendant feels overpriced. On average, the price of in-game purchases should be lowered to 60-75% of their current cost. A single premium outfit? Shouldn’t be more than $10. An Ultimate Descendant? Shouldn’t be more than $40. An Ultimate Descendant bundle with some extra cosmetics and boosts? Shouldn’t be more than $60. I promise, lowering the price by 25-40% will make people spend a lot more, especially when it comes to cosmetic items and Ultimate Descendants.
- The awful single-use, individually purchased colors for customizing Descendant outfits (only premium outfits, too) needs to be entirely scrapped. Other games have already shown you how to do this, Nexon. Implement a palette-style color system in which players can earn and purchase reusable, cross-Descendant colors that can applied as many times as they want. This is also a great way to begin offering unique patterns and effects that players can purchase, which is a much better way of earning player favor (and money) than squeezing pennies out of them to change the color of their shirt.
- Players need a way to earn in-game currency and more cosmetic items simply through playing the game. A little goes a long way here, Nexon. Players need to believe that opening their wallet isn’t the only way to get that awesome outfit they’ve had their eye on. You already do good with Ultimate Descendants being researchable, Nexon, so just give players a way to earn some cosmetics and premium Caliber, too.
- Improvements to grinding and farming. Grinding is a core feature of games like The First Descendant, and no one who is a fan of the genre is saying that element should be removed. However, The First Descendant, in many ways, doesn’t feel like it properly respects the time players invest in grinding and farming for resources, powerful gear, and rare research components.
- For one, farming for basic resources like Gold and Kuiper Shards (which endgame players need a constant, never-ending supply of) shouldn’t be an entirely separate, wholly dedicated task from grinding for gear, or components, or Modules, or anything else. You’ve already made some strides here, Nexon, but farming for Gold and Kuiper either needs to be made efficient enough that players grinding for the rare rewards they’re seeking also earn a surplus of basic resources in the process or lower the amounts of Gold and Kuiper Shards players need to experiment with new loadouts and Descendant builds.
- Players also need to be respected for committing to a grind. If a player is seeking a specific reward and is repeating the necessary mission, battle, or whatever else to obtain it, The First Descendant should recognize that effort by slowly raising the chances for earning more valuable rewards with each successive completion (up to a certain point). That way, the more players grind, the better chance they have of getting the reward they want over time. If I’ve repeated a mission 30 times in a row, my odds shouldn’t be the exact same as they were on the first attempt.
- On a related note, players should gain something of value from grinding beyond the end goal of obtaining the reward they’re chasing. Many players are already building up sizeable collections of duplicate research parts that they will never use. What good is five Gley blueprints to a player that has already unlocked Gley? In that case, each time that player earned a Gley blueprint instead of their sought-after reward is a slap in the face. There needs to be a merchant in Albion that allows players to trade in their duplicate or unwanted research parts and components, perhaps by selling those parts for an exclusive currency and using that currency on different rewards. This merchant could have a small selection of highly desirable resource parts that rotate on a weekly basis, or sell boosts for reward drop rates, or perhaps both. As long as each completed mission is worth something to the player.
- More reasons to play together. Finally, The First Descendant feels an awful lot like a solo game despite its MMO DNA. Players may share a world and complete missions together, but it rarely feels like you’re playing together. More social features need to be created to incentivize and enable players to accomplish great things as a group.
- A request and support system similar to other games like Monster Hunter would be a great start, for example. Players struggling to complete a specific mission or Colossi battle on their own could submit a support request, and players who volunteer to answer support requests can be randomly selected to join that player’s squad and assist them. In exchange, the supporting player can gain some unique rewards.
- In fact, rewarding players for simply being social could be a great help for The First Descendant. A unique social currency that can be used on exclusive cards, titles, and other minor cosmetics could be earned by players for answering support requests or getting commendations from players for excellent performances at the end of an Operation or Intercept Battle. More positive interactions between players can also lead to more players sending friend requests when they have an enjoyable experience, which is something I feel is really missing in The First Descendant right now.
- The crux of this, though, is having more ways to communicate with your fellow players. A simple ping system with a radial command menu would be a fantastic addition, allowing players with knowledge to signal other players if something is important to the mission, is dangerous and needs to be avoided, is something interesting, or whatever else. Having text chat is great, but so many The First Descendant players are using a controller, so please give us something faster and easier.
- Finally, while this isn’t really a social feature, it is an important contributor to why playing with other people in The First Descendant is often so frustrating rather than rewarding. Players need a little more guidance. My biggest hope is that players can eventually access an evolving and dynamic “guidebook” that contains and organizes all the information and tutorials on the systems, mechanics, and features players have encountered so far in The First Descendant. Enemy types, status effects, unique Colossi mechanics, various tips to become more powerful — it should all be there. It’s not just useful for new players, either, but also for returning players who haven’t played in a while. This could also be invaluable for teaching players how to actually assist during difficult Colossi battles (the Hanged Man was a frustrating one, if you know you know).
Some of these changes are simple, and some will take a long time to implement, but everything on this list is something that could help elevate The First Descendant to new heights in the genre. Simply having fun gameplay and adding new content isn’t enough to stay relevant, especially when you’re playing on the same field as behemoths like Destiny and Warframe.
Seriously, though, Nexon? You really need to get better at communicating with your player base. Let’s not have another silly “Valby Run” nerf debacle for no good reason. Listen to the players, be transparent about future plans and updates, listen to the players some more, be honest about every element of monetization, data collection, and game development, and then listen to the players for good measure. Oh, and listen to the players — The First Descendant kind of needs them.
In The First Descendant, fun should come first
It doesn’t matter how much people enjoy playing your game, if they don’t feel like the game is respecting the time, effort, and money they put in, they’ll leave for greener pastures and never look back. So many games like this forget what it means to have fun, eventually turning into a mindless grind fest that players participate in because they’re obsessed with completion, not because they’re enjoying their time with the game.
Right now, I am cautiously optimistic that Nexon is committed to keeping The First Descendant fun, as evidenced by the developer’s tendency so far to avoid pointless nerfs. Powerful builds in the meta are being publicly embraced and other Descendants and weapons are becoming more powerful in turn. Nexon has a serious issue with communication at the moment, but the updates we’ve seen so far (and know are coming) make me feel good about where The First Descendant is heading.
If Nexon continues to listen to player feedback and the improvements I want to see are made reality, I think The First Descendant can count on having me as a player for the foreseeable future. I’d argue that The First Descendant is already one of the best Xbox games for fans of this genre, and it has a lot of potential to get even better. Don’t mess it up, Nexon.
