The First Descendant Final Preview: The next Destiny killer?

There have been a few different games over the last decade that have been dubbed Destiny killers and have been noted for their similarities to Bungie's MMO shooter, with some ambitious folk claiming that they have the potential and gall to commit regicide and claim the crown that Destiny has been sporting for years. Following Warframe, The Division 2, Outriders, Anthem, and more, this July Nexon will be shipping The First Descendant, a game that will seemingly look to meet Bungie on the battlefield and attempt to overthrow the king of the subgenre.

During my time in Los Angeles for Summer Game Fest, I got yet another chance to check out The First Descendant in a preview session that I'm only now able to tell you about. As launch is looming, and set for next week on July 2 to be exact, it's time to answer the question of whether The First Descendant is set to be a game to watch out for.

The first thing that caught my attention again when diving back into The First Descendant was just how complex this game seems to be. From a gameplay perspective, it's very straightforward with typical third-person shooter action, but when you begin exploring the various menus and look into character customisation, buildcrafting, even quest and mission structure, this game quickly becomes incredibly overwhelming. There is so much information thrown at you to the point where The First Descendant could be misconstrued to be an MMORPG.

This was the overarching theme that I came to face when previewing The First Descendant once again. While the game looks great from a visual and presentation standpoint, has tight feeling movement and shooting mechanics, and even offers broad enemy variety and depth, the actual experience of playing this game is much more of a challenge. In fact, maybe a headache is the best way to describe it. As a player, you have to choose three main guns, four secondary accessories, sub-weapons, equipment, items to upgrade gear, and more. There are too many menus and different systems being thrown around that it lacks an intuitive and straightforward aura, and doesn't have years of iterations to base its complexity on as is the case with the current era of Destiny 2. Frankly, it could do with some toning down.

But if you can get past the complicated nature and can begin to just bask in the gameplay then you'll find that Nexon has developed something with potential here. It's flashy and thrilling, challenging yet rewarding, and has an overall feeling to it that reminds me more of Outriders than anything else. Yes, it's much faster paced and features action in larger and more open environments, but at the same time, the way that the gameplay is presented, the use of different character types, how loot is incorporated into the experience, it definitely shows more shades of People Can Fly's shooter than it does Destiny.

Now I will add that I think this design causes The First Descendant to lose a bit of its immersion and personal elements as you don't play as one character that you shape and grow with, like the Guardian in Destiny, instead you can switch between a variety of unique characters that each bring their own ability sets and playstyles. Whether it's Bunny and her lighting-quick agile moveset based on using electricity to shock enemies as she nimbly moves around the battlefield, Ajax and his ability to soak up damage and protect the team by using barriers, or even the recently revealed weapons expert Enzo (who I had the chance to suit up as in the preview session) who uses multiple different types of guns, resupply drops, and turrets to cut through any enemies in his path. The characters are all very different, but by constantly swapping between them you lose a connection with them and the overall story also becomes less of a vital element as your anchor point to it switches regularly. Essentially, this seems to be a much more gameplay-focussed title than it does a narrative one.

And this is fine in many instances. If there is one thing that The First Descendant doesn't fail to deliver it would be action. There are tons of different types of missions to check out, some of which are about eliminating a threat, others about defending an objective, the list goes on and includes endgame tasks that see you facing off with mini bosses and major bosses that will likely require some friends to tackle the task at hand. Many of these more formidable enemies even bring new mechanics to have to overcome, such as multi-tiered shielding, and you can even ramp things up further should you wish by upping the difficulty to get a better reward at the cost of more lethal enemies. You'll never be wanting for things to do in The First Descendant as Nexon has baked in and prepared so much content that launch won't be hampered with some of the same experiences that met games like Destiny 2 or Anthem when they first arrived.

But do I think The First Descendant will become a mainstay in the multiplayer action-shooter space? It has all the right elements in place to do so, and I wouldn't rule the game out being a major success, especially in Asia and South Korea where its developers harken from. But at the same time, I think it lacks a bit of refinement and overcommits to complexity a tad too much for it to be challenging for the throne right now. You won't find many competitors that look as good as this game and have a similar breadth of content, but at the same time you won't find many that are as complicated as this game is either. Hits and misses. Swings and roundabouts. That's probably the best way to look at The First Descendant right now.

Either way, we'll follow up with further more detailed thoughts on the full version of the game in the coming weeks.