Korean mega publisher Nexon recently released its own take on the free-to-play looter shooter with The First Descendant. Since the birth of the genre over a decade ago, many titles have come and gone, but two of them have stood near the top pretty consistently: Digital Extremes’ Warframe and Bungie’s Destiny franchise. The First Descendant lingers in the shadow of both, but the question on everybody’s mind is whether or not it thrives off of those comparisons or suffers for it.
The early verdict is that it isn’t looking great. It’s only been about a week, and already everyone seems to be talking about the games it apes more than they are talking about The First Descendant. In the case of Destiny, Nexon has even been accused of ripping off art assets directly from the game. Our very own Zack (yeah, we have one of those) called it a “forgettable mashup of better games” after playing it extensively. At one point, he even likens it to mac n’ cheese, and though the comparison is slightly favorable than it sounds (because who can hate on mac n’ cheese), it isn’t glowing still.
Nexon is known for making games that are often riddled with microtransactions, and which play like knockoffs of bigger, existing titles. Most of the chatter I’ve heard about the game has been centered on its apparently exhausting microtransactions. Having glanced around for some idea of how bad it is, the shit that The First Descendant is trying to pull is not okay.
The going price for some of its ultimate skins could pay for any number of things such as: a few simple meals, groceries, several drinks for you and some company at your closest happy hour, countless games on the Steam Summer Sale, a day at an amusement park, a decent chunk of an affordable flight, or you know, a bill or two.
Players have not been crazy about these prices, as well as the long list of things that the game manages to monetize. They have, however, been frothing at the mouth for some of The First Descendant’s sexier skins and characters, such as Ult Bunny, which comes complete with a tiddy window. So I don’t know, man. You win some, you lose some. Here’s a sampling of some of the players’ complicated (and occasionally horny) thoughts on The First Descendant.
