Online game "The First Descendant"

Multiplayer games on the Unreal Engine 5 engine are becoming more and more numerous, and the action game The First Descendant belongs to this cohort of entertainment. Almost immediately after its release, it became a hit, and until June 30, 2024, it held the first place among the most anticipated releases on Steam. People's interest was fueled not only by cute characters, but also by the fact that you can shoot for free. Just download the client - and you will be given a sci-fi story, beautiful graphics, epic battles with monsters, a rich choice of weapons and modifications. In general, they brought back the times of the first Destiny, but now everything is available on PC and for free. If the publisher was not the famous Nexon company, it would even look suspicious. But as it is, it's a sin not to try it.

You won't need any additional accounts to install the game, your Steam account will suffice. And the first thing that catches your eye after launching The First Descendant is the technological and graphical splendor of the game. It's great, of course, but it's not suitable for everyone. So make sure that your computer meets at least the minimum system requirements. If your build is a bit outdated, it's no trouble: the action movie will slow down at first, but then it will adjust itself to the hardware, update shaders - and go with a comfortable frame rate, albeit with compromises in terms of effects. And to see all the charms of Nexon's novelty, you will need a powerful PC. Alas, beauty requires sacrifices - you can't do without buying an expensive video card in modern gaming.

The characters also look like they've stepped off the covers of fashion magazines. You'll choose one of three characters to debut, and then as you progress through the missions, you'll unlock a few more to change them at will. The starter set includes the agile Vyessa, who imposes fines on enemies and freezes them, the soldier Lepik, who throws grenades and turns his hand into a bazooka, and the bulky Ajax - he's got plenty of armor, but his mobility leaves much to be desired. A newcomer should probably take the middle option, because in terms of control Lepik will be understandable to anyone who plays shooters. He uses the tactics of an ordinary stormtrooper: you need to run, jump, shoot and switch from automatic rifle to shotgun, and in skirmishes with large groups of enemies use explosives.

Having equipped the warrior, we go on the first mission and at the same time find out what's going on in the virtual universe. The game is set on the Earth continent Ingris after the end of the world. First people were attacked by aliens from other worlds - Valgus. Then came the monsters, which were called Colossi because of their size, and completed the defeat of civilization. A hundred years after the war, the few survivors learned to use the forgotten technologies of their ancestors to fight the invaders. But the Valgus have a new leader named Karel, who dreams of taking over both planets and becoming, like Thanos from "The Avengers", the master of the galaxy. To do this he needs to collect powerful artifacts - Iron Hearts, for which the defenders of humanity are also hunting.

The adventure begins with a foray into the Ruins in search of the Iron Heart. The hero, accompanied by Bunny (a girl who became a symbol of the game long before its release), explores the ancient ruins on Albion's assignment. The Valgus are also busy with the same, hurrying to make a gift to their emperor. Naturally, the good guys encounter the bad guys and are defeated - Karel takes the Iron Heart for himself. But there is good without good: having failed, the heroes meet the Counselor - a mysterious digital ghost, ready to support people in their struggle and help with the collection of all artifacts. It is only necessary to bring the Counselor to the base in Albion to help her with the creation of a weapon capable of destroying the Valgus together with their mad leader.

And here you will ask: doesn't it look like Destiny plot? There is no mistake, it is indeed similar. Moreover, the principle of passing missions in The First Descendant is exactly the same. While you are in the hub (Albion) with other heroes, you exchange resources and get quests, and then you open the map, choose a location for landing and immediately move there to fight monsters and get loot. These maps are "sandboxes" where you can go anywhere you want, perform your own activities, freely join others, or just go on patrol, shooting enemies wherever they appear. And when they die, in their place there are colorful "cubes" of resources, batteries, ammo, and medication - just like in Destiny.

There's nothing wrong with such borrowing, especially when the best are exemplified. The main question is how Nexon's designers managed with the shooting experience, which is the lion's share of fun in any online action game. And The First Descendant is completely fine with it: different types of weapons behave differently, you can feel the spread and recoil, each shot is informative - you can see how the numbers with the amount of damage inflicted fly out of the enemy, how the enemies are blown to pieces if you make a headshot or hit a vulnerable point, highlighted in yellow. Cannons bang and smash soundly, there is no feeling of "woodenness" of the hero or his opponents, which is enough to draw attention to the game.

It's a "system" - there's no other way to put it. Because it's not limited to shooting alone. First of all, you have three weapon cells, where you can place any available guns - for example, machine gun, automatic rifle and sniper rifle. Each gun consumes ammo, and if there are no ammo crates nearby, you have to shoot at your target wisely, not in a "suppressive fire" style. Secondly, there are special skills besides bullets - like Lepik's grenade launcher arm. A few more buttons are devoted to attacks like throwing grenades, which can be of different kinds. Thirdly, the battles in the game are very fluid, which is greatly facilitated by the cat hook. The gadget helps you change cover, climb a ledge, or just get out of the attack line. The same, but with a smaller scope, allow you to do rolls on Ctrl.

But that's not all, because there are bosses with Colossi. You have to prepare for a fight with the first ones, because you know their vulnerabilities and strengths in advance - one, for example, is sensitive to cold, but strong with fire attacks, and the other eats poison all around, but can be killed with electricity. This means that you choose and customize your weapons in advance, putting the appropriate modifications on them, and also decide which hero is suitable for the upcoming fight. Colossi are huge machines that can't just be tackled. At the place of the fight you can "punch" them with the scanner (Tab button) to see their weak points, loosen them with shots, jump to them on the cat hook and break the affected part manually. It's nuances like this that make up the combat system.

The First Descendant belongs to the loot-shooter genre. This means that the progression of all heroes directly depends on the loot you managed to collect in battle. Of course, there are also regular levels that slowly increase characteristics like health, attack or defense. But the most significant increase in abilities is still given by equipment. The weapon parts obtained on missions will eventually expand your arsenal, so you'll find more rare and exotic items in it. But they are not created at once - the barrel still needs to be crafted, and it takes time. If you are in a hurry, you can speed up the process for money. Although getting the desired weapon is only half the battle. Further it must be improved for resources, using the services of NPCs in Albion. The second way of pumping is connected with the installation of modules.

These modules are cards with passive enhancements that can be inserted into special cells - there are several of them in each gun. But there is always a limitation that does not allow you to get all the perks at once. Therefore, you must choose what you need more. Whether to put mods for speed, killing power and magazine capacity or to focus on some specific types of attack - for example, to increase the damage of fire and add bullets armor-piercing property. This is the kind of manipulation that awaits anyone preparing for a boss raid. Cards are obtained in fights, and there are hundreds of them in the game, so over time you will be able to create a unique arsenal - with such guns that seem to you the most convenient and effective.

Similar perk cards apply to the hero himself. If there are obviously unnecessary modules in the collection, they can be dismantled at any time for resources, which, in turn, will be useful for pumping weapons. Another category of mined items is reactors and accessories. There are also a lot of them in the action movie, and all of them have different properties. Reactors are necessary for strengthening heroic skills and different types of elemental damage - an indispensable thing when you need to, say, strongly raise the resistance to fire or quickly develop protection from poisons. The rest of the equipment components have narrow specialization - they heal, give energy bonus, restore shields and everything in the same spirit. There is no helmet or cloak change in the game. And it's good - even without it there is something to mine.

While this progression is flexible, its main problem is what multiplayer fans call "farming". In The First Descendant, for mining any item or resource there is a certain location, where this item or resource appears after defeating an enemy with a certain probability. That is, for example, you need to get a specific reactor to prepare for a fight with the next boss. And the chance of getting it is 10%. And so you have to try your luck, getting into the same fight time after time. The same is true for loot from bosses. You gathered a squad of four people, went to the Eater, defeated him by some means, but someone got what he wanted, and the others did not get it because of the difference in chances. So they have to go to the second round, and some of them have to go to the third round.

The order of actions in the session is familiar to anyone who has played the first or second Destiny. You have a peaceful zone in Albion, where you open the map of the Ingris continent, divided into regions, and choose the location where you want to go to complete a story mission or get a specific item (say, hero parts or weapons). On the location you can both perform your own tasks and help others - nothing prevents you from keeping another hero company for the sake of a reward. There's no time to go pear-shaped here. There's also a map difficulty level switch - to increase the chance of getting some item, you just need to set the heavy game instead of the usual one. But keep in mind that then the battle will not seem like an easy walk either.

At the same time, the choice of activities is not exactly innovative. You just have to kill all the enemies, protect the terminal from Valgus waves, capture or destroy an object, or turn on a transmitter. In short, we've been there - we know. From one location to another changes only the strength of monsters, which grows with the level of your hero, but the conditions for achieving the goal remain the same. Boss raids are organized in the same way. You form a squad, select the Abyss icon on the map and the creature you want to defeat, and try to do it in a separate arena. Bosses also have two difficulty levels: the higher the risk, the better the reward. Nothing prevents you from going back to a defeated monster if you're not getting enough from it.

The First Descendant is a beautiful shooter-looter, imitating the best games of the genre. In a way the imitation succeeded: it's a pleasure to shoot here, there is a great variety of enemies, guns and equipment items, which allow you to choose your fighting style. Well-made sound and a fantastic story with splash screens also add points to the action movie. On the other hand, some battles turned out to be difficult and there is a lot of farming. Timers have to wait, the desire to pump the hero makes you get into the same fight time after time, and to make the routine a little easier will help only purchases - hence the mixed reviews in Steam. But the action movie became a hit on this platform for a reason. And since it is available for free, fans of the genre should pay attention to it, if they like it.

Zarium. July 2024