The First Descendant Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Nothing Original, But That’s Not So Bad

The First Descendant Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Developer Nexon has become known as one of the world’s most significant live service and free-to-play developers.The South Korean team has released various titles in its long history, but none compares to The First Descendant’s fast-paced shooting.Though The First Descendant looks to capitalize on the growing number of free-to-play shooters that have flooded the market, unfortunately, The First Descendant doesn’t do much of anything different from what we’ve seen in the past. Its biggest selling point is the unique characters you can unlock in the same vein as Warframe.The First Descendant Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Nothing Original, But That’s Not So BadA Unique Setting That Hopefully Carries Its Weight In Its StoryThe story follows a Descendant, a being born from the power of magical interdimensional aliens and unique human genes. The world of The First Descendant looks like a futuristic shooter, but its story begins a hundred years ago when men still battled with swords and shields.When a rift is opened, the Vulgus appear and all but wipe out humanity with their ability to use magic.That wasn’t the end of the human turmoil; years later, ancient beings known as the Colossus appeared to bring humanity to the brink. The few that survive to take refuge in Albion, the last bastion of humanity.With almost no hope remaining, humanity gets a new chance at life when some of the Vulgus join to help humankind, create the Descendants, and supply them with new armor, firearms, and magic technology.Plenty Of Unique Descendants That Suit Everyone’s Play StyleYou start the game by selecting one of three Descendants, each belonging to a class: a DPS, Support, and Tank. Though you start with one, you can unlock or purchase if you choose the other two, along with a dozen more Descendants.Not every Descendant will suit your play style, but each one is unique. You get four abilities and a passive ability. Three of these abilities are offensive or defensive, and the last one deals with your movement somehow.To use these abilities, you need MP. MP is unique in this game, as every Descendant replenishes MP differently. Enemies drop MP shards to regain it, but other Descendants use other means. Bunny, for example, regenerates MP simply by moving around. The more she moves, the faster MP regenerates.Unfortunately, abilities are the only thing that separates each Descendant. Each of them can use all the same weapons as they see fit. Which at least adds another layer of customization for your as a player.You can use real-world money to buy other Descendants or do it the grind way. Missions and events offer core components as rewards. When you collect the specified components, you can create and use the Descendant whenever possible.You won’t be able to build the Descendant you want right off the bat, and you won’t even have a chance to get some of the cooler ones, as the content is too challenging to attempt.Not Much To Do Outside Of Repetitive MissionsThe game isn’t an open-world experience. You reside in Albion, the home base of humanity, where you can craft and buy new weapons, build new Descendants, and join groups to take on massive bosses or group dungeons.Outside of Albion, there are over five different locations where you can drop into and complete missions. Each location unlocks as you complete the story, but none feel unique.Though they are different from each other, their barren design with almost nothing to do them besides complete the same missions over and over again.The first area is filled with homes and buildings you can go into, but there is no point in exploring them because there isn’t anything to find. So many of these locations have areas you can visit off the path of any events or missions, but they hold no resources or collectibles. It just feels like space to fill up the map.The mission, after a while, also becomes repetitive. There is a variety of them, but they always end with you taking on a mob of enemies to collect parts, which they drop to shut down some communication towers. Protect some machine-gathering intel, or defend a zone as you upload intel to Albion.Though the situation of these missions changes, you’re just doing the same thing. Each area features dungeon areas that you can sync up with other players to take on or try to challenge yourself.The nice thing is that all the missions I have to try out are designed to be completed by a group and a solo player.Fun But Simple CombatYou get a nifty grappling hook that helps with vertical movement and works like a charm. The other use for the grappling hook is against massive bosses with various weak points you can target.Some enemies will let you grapple with their body and target specific parts. This feature is cool, but it didn’t always work for me, and even though I should be able to grapple onto a boss, sometimes the game just didn’t let me. It’s a hit-and-miss mechanic that misses more than it hits.The gunplay is pretty simple and seems perfectly configured for the controller. Using skills in the middle of the shootout is easy and smooth. Unfortunately, your enemies leave a lot to be desired in their designs.They aren’t that inspired; for the most part, every time a battle would ensure I felt like I was struggling with the most generic versions of Gears of War’s Locusts. Some are organic, others are mechanical, and others look like medieval witches. It all feels random and meshed together.The First Descendant is a looter shooter, and there is plenty of loot to find and equip. Weapons have various stats, and some enhance the element of some Descendants by adding ice or lightning damage.There is a lot to consider, but most of it matters going into the end game, where you finally build your Descendant to take on the most challenging content.Overwhelming Amount Of Resources and Loot To Keep Track OfThe game has a lot of resources, but it does a good job of showing you when and what these materials can be used for. You may have a lot of resources, but it is better to save most of it for the end game, where you’ll start to craft your forever weapons.With these resources comes monetization, and The First Descendant is extremely monetized. Everything in the game can be purchased with money.From actual Descendants, weapons, cosmetic items, emotes, different hairstyles, and even the color of your grappling hook. All of it can be purchased. This is a practice that Nexon has become famous for, and most studios release these types of games as free-to-play.You can also equip mods and weapons to the Descendant. These mods range from increasing your health to longer shields, faster reloads, and advanced ones like adding stun to your melee attacks.You can only equip a certain amount of mods based on a cost. Each Descendant starts with a specific count they can equip. The rarer the mod, the more it costs, so you need to figure out what is essential for your play style.Though it’s built with Unreal Engine 5, it’s not the best-looking game on consoles. It looks great when you’re standing still, and the characters look great, but it features a lot of pop-in issues and low polygon textures in many areas. Thankfully, the voice acting is top-notch, and the music gets you pumped during encounters.Another positive for a fast-paced online shooter is that it holds up well. I never encountered any frame drops or slow-downs throughout my time. I can only hope it holds up this way on the release date.The First Descendant is one of the most complete free-to-play looter shooters released. There is plenty of content right off the bat, and the end game has a lot to offer for those looking to build new weapons and unlock new Descendants.It’s a fun game that can feel repetitive and grind-y when you get to the endgame. In the week I had with it I had a good time, despite the repetitiveness and lack of anything original that might make it really stand out among the swath of free-to-play shooters out there today.The First Descendant releases on PlayStation 5 on July 2, 2024



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