The First Descendant: Mixed Reviews Despite Nearly 230K Concurrent Players at Launch

Nexon’s new online third-person shooter, The First Descendant which released globally on July 2, 2024 has “Mixed” reviews on Steam despite its high peak of 229k concurrent players.

According to SteamDB, the game has peaked at 229,257 concurrent users on Steam in less than a day after launch which makes the game the 4th biggest launch of 2024 on Steam, right between Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Last Epoch.

The First Descendant was set to be Nexon’s free-to-play sci-fi looter shooter where players take control of the titular Descendant, a cast of unique characters armed with distinct abilities. Players control them to defend the planet from alien invaders called Colossi and can team up with  4-player co-op for boss battles. Of course as a looter shooter, players can collect a variety of gear by completing missions.

Despite the high player count, The First Descendant currently has a “Mixed” rating on Steam, with only 45% being positive of the 10,109 reviews as of writing. Some players who left negative reviews called it a bad copy of Warframe but the main criticism focuses on optimization and performance issues, as well as monetization.

“It’s a poor man’s Warframe which is ironic because Warframe is also free,” said one user.

“Hyper aggressive monetization, such as a 100$ ultimate skin with no way to have by playing the game – in comparison of Warframe,” another user wrote.

Whether reviews for The First Descendant will bounce back up remains uncertain and will depend on how Nexon addresses the community’s feedback. Currently, the game is available on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S.

The First Descendant

Publisher: Nexon

Developer: Nexon

Release Date: 2024-07-02

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

The First Descendant is a third-person looter shooter powered by Unreal Engine 5. Become a Descendant. Fight for the survival of humanity. Descendants have unique abilities to tackle both solo and co-op missions. Up to 4 players use varied mechanics to defeat giant bosses.

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