The First Descendant, a third-person cooperative action shooter developed by NEXON and released for beta in September 2023, somewhat struggled to live up to expectations. We felt that The First Descendant needed a lot more work to reach its full potential, but that it had a lot of potential with what it had to offer and its deep narrative. Not only that, but it was the general opinion among the players who got a chance to try out the beta. It appears that the developers did take our comments into consideration.

Over the weekend, the final play test concluded, providing developers with valuable feedback that will help them fine-tune the game before its release. NEXON announced via Twitter that the results of the most recent final technical test will guide future developments. On June 7th, Summer Game Fest will kick off and NEXON wants to make a surprise announcement during that time which we believe to be the release date of the game as they've asked gamers to prepare for the big reveal. So, the official launch date of The First Descendant will be revealed at the same summer gaming fest on June 7th, 2024.

One of the things that a lot of people did not like was the paint system, which is one of the few fairly crucial things. The random combination mechanism proved a major issue during the test, thus NEXON plans to remove it, according to their Twitter post. There will be other paths to receive paints at the launch point, and they will be easier to find. If you are unaware the paint used in the prior test was different from the usual games that we play. It was made of various materials and came in a variety of colors. The new patch includes a variety of materials, and with each of those comes a random paint job.

Afterward, they brought up the Battle Pass Improvements, saying, “We will also remove battle coins that caused inconvenience you can now earn rewards simply by leveling up the Battle Pass. We will also improve the UX to enhance usability”. This implies that leveling up your Battle Pass is as easy as in any other game that offers a similar system.

They continued by saying, “We will also increase base inventory capacity”. Inventory management was an issue during the beta. As you progress through the game, you'll earn various rewards for accomplishing objectives and boss fights. Normal enemies also drop a ton of gear, and you'll soon find yourself swamped by the amount of loot you've accumulated. But the game’s inventory is limited. Thus, this crucial aspect was greatly required. Additionally, they promised to enhance the inventory and equipment management user interface to make gameplay more comfortable.

"While we had positive feedback about the optimization during the Final Technical Test, we will keep examining for places to optimize," NEXON said regarding the game's optimization. The optimization of the game wasn't a major problem for us, but we still appreciate any enhancements. Additionally, they mentioned that they would remove the frame rate cap on in-game cinematics, addressing a common complaint.

Finally, NEXON addressed the game's security by saying, “Since last year's Crossplay Open Beta Test, we have strengthened security and implemented some of these measures. We plan to enhance security further and Implement Easy Anti-Cheat at launch point”. Even if anti-cheats may not be necessary for a multiplayer game without PVP, it's still a nice addition. Regardless of the game, no one respects a cheat.

There may be plenty of other third-person action shooters out there, but none of them have managed to nail the formula that we adore. Here's hoping that the game's premier goes well during the Summer Game Fest and the game lives up to the great expectations that we have for it, ideally, we'll find out when The First Descendant will be released on June 7th, 2024.

Update: On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, NEXON announced that The First Descendant will be made available for free-to-play on the PC through Steam, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Series X | S. This announcement was made during the live stream of the Summer Game Fest 2024.
 

Azfar Rayan (@AzfarRayan)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed