The First Descendant Preview

Prolific publisher and developer Nexon is certainly no stranger to live service online games, and soon they’ll be gun-slinging their way onto PC and consoles with fast-paced, multiplayer-focused looter-shooter The First Descendant. I was recently invited to preview the game, and I’m here to share with you what this brand-new title, built with Unreal Engine 5, will be touting when it comes out down the line. 

In The First Descendent, you and your allies are locked in a fierce fight against an angry force of alien invaders. After diving into the game’s prologue, I was prompted to select one of three available Descendants — with 10 more to be unlocked later — and I opted for the frosty, icicle-lobbing Viessa. There’s a short tutorial to show you the ropes, though much of what The First Descendent throws at you will be immediately familiar to fans of the genre. The nicest surprise here, perhaps, is the inclusion of a snappy grappling hook that will see you zippy-zapping around the game’s environments and outwitting your enemies with sheer speed and mobility. 

You’ll soon find yourself in the main base city, a place of respite where you can check your mail, update your loadout, and mull over which mission to take on next. You’ll want to keep your backpack free of clutter before setting out, though, because foes in The First Descendant love to spray you with new and improved weapons, armour, and upgrade modules whenever you take them down. Once you’ve settled on your three favourite firearms, you can flip open the world map and fast-travel to whichever camp is closest to your next objective. Each camp belongs to its own cordoned-off combat hub, a small but open area that you can zip around quickly, where you’ll engage in a series of bitesize missions to advance the story and rake in rewards for your character. These can involve protecting a precious resource, delivering a package without being intercepted, or pummeling a particular miniboss. 

Combat is quick, and you’ll want to be on your toes as you dodge-roll around or hurtle high up out of the way with your trusty grappling hook before returning fire on your foes or popping off one of your special damage abilities. What’s more, larger enemies and bosses have weak points on particular body parts that can be worn down and then grappled to and ripped clean off. And if all of these tools still aren’t up to the task, you’re able to freely and easily swap between Descendents while maintaining progress for each one — so go nuts mixing things up and playing around with your personal builds and team synergies! The First Descendant always keeps you in the thick of the action, and you can expect to waste no time dilly-dallying when you dive into the game. 

As part of my preview, I was also able to journey forward and jump into a slice of the endgame experience with a max-level character. You’re going to want to gather friends, family, or perfect strangers via the game’s matchmaking system for a chance to bring down the game’s tougher opponents, such as those found in its imposing Void Intercept activities, fixed arenas where you’ll bounce straight into battle with a boss. There are Special Operations, too — akin to the missions you’ll complete throughout the story, only far harder and with much more powerful rewards. These also feature as many as 10 mission modifiers, as was the case in the example I engaged with; killing an elite monster will spread the elite status to one of its nearby allies, enemies near elites will inflict invulnerability status on their nearby allies, and many more to mix up each mission you undertake. 

The First Descendant certainly seems as though it’s gearing up for the long haul, unafraid of other competitors in the space like Warframe and Destiny 2, and I’m eager to hop back in for another taste of its energetic gameplay when it eventually launches as a free-to-play title in the future.