A month ago, I was sitting in a meeting room at Summer Game Fest about to get my hands dirty The first descendant. I was eager to see how Nexon’s multiplayer shooter would shake up a space dominated by Warframe And Destiny 2. Before I started, I was shown a lengthy introductory video explaining in detail how the game worked. I was instantly lost, feeling like I was reading gibberish. This confusion didn’t go away when I was thrown into a directionless hub and had to be led into a dungeon by a nearby PR person like a lost sheep.
I enjoyed the experience, appreciating its tight, character-driven gameplay, but I felt like I needed to see the game in context to truly understand it. I wanted to learn more about the world and its characters. I wanted to build a Descendant from scratch instead of being thrown into a hub. I felt like I was doing it a disservice by judging it based on a high-level activity I couldn’t hope to understand.
After finally being able to play from the beginning, I realize that I had finally gotten a pretty accurate slice of the full game. The first descendant is an impenetrable looter shooter that still doesn’t make sense to me after several hours of play. My mistake was trying to put an ounce of critical thinking into it while I was playing. In reality, I would have to practically turn off my entire brain to enjoy it.
Log in and out
You’ve probably heard someone say, or you’ve said it yourself, that they want to turn off their brain when watching a movie or playing a game. It’s a common refrain among people who view blockbusters as nothing more than a light-hearted escape that can entertain for a few hours. I’ve never felt that way. Even the most bombastic action movie can still be an enriching experience that sticks with me. Why would I want to waste my precious time on this Earth just watching a flashy noise go in one ear and out the other?
Yet I can to understand the desire for this kind of experience. Life is hard and explosions are cool. Why not escape the horrific news cycle every now and then and fall into a coma? For those who actively desire this experience, I have great news: The first descendant does not require players to use a single brain cell. In fact, it’s even better if you don’t.
When I load the game, I’m quickly hit with a barrage of nonsense. I’m not going to try to explain the narrative structure. After playing for a few days, I don’t understand a word of it. The charisma-less NPCs spend a lot of time monologuing about the story, but none of it adds up. I stare at my screen, mouth agape, as proper nouns are thrown at me. I’m thrown in at the deep end within the first minute and never really get into it. After an opening tutorial, I’m thrown into an MMO hub filled with quest markers I don’t understand. I open a menu screen to see walls of text and numbers. There’s no hope for me.
I’m convinced developer Nexon understands how borderline nonsensical this all is, because it wastes no time in getting me into the action. I load onto a planet and start following a colorful quest marker like a bull charging a red cloth on instinct. A mission activates right in the world. Suddenly, I’m shooting at a group of aliens. I have no idea what they are or why I’m doing this. I shoot them until I’m told the mission is complete. Other missions have me stand by an unexplained device for a while and fend off the aliens. I have no idea if these missions are connected to the story in any way, because I have no idea what the story is. All that matters is that I’m shooting aliens with a gun.
To the first descendantThe credit for this game is that the shooting is really tight. Every weapon feels like it has real weight when I pull the trigger (the PlayStation 5’s DualSense really does that). I feel a sense of power as I mow down waves of enemies. There’s also some great sound design here to emphasize each shot, making my bullets feel really deadly. It’s not as crisp as Destiny 2but I quickly sink into the flow. Before I know it, I’m activating more missions just so I can keep emptying my magazine.
A certain appeal
There are other gameplay elements here that tick the right boxes. I have a grappling hook, which lets me swing to ledges like I can in Halo Infinite. I have a set of character-specific abilities to deepen the action, both Monitoring. I start off playing as Ajax, a beefy tank who can drop shields and crush enemies like one of the Destiny 2The Titans. Meanwhile, I’m getting more and more weapons to experiment with. When I turn my brain off completely, everything seems awesome. At one point, I realize that my jaw is literally hanging open. It’s like I’ve lost all control of my body for a moment and fallen into a state of blissful nonexistence; I’m functionally dead.
Every time I try to come back to life, it poses a serious threat to my enjoyment. I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of loot I can equip at once, most of which increases a stat I don’t understand by a meaningless number. I can really get down to business with my character build, equipping multiple mods on individual weapons. Instead, I just take what’s in my inventory and attach it to whatever is equipped without even looking at it. I don’t notice a difference when I start shooting again, so it seems like I don’t have to think about it much more. Another menu gives me a huge list of stats that are in no way tangible or even readable. None of it matters. As long as the numbers matter, I’m supposed to feel like I’m doing a good job.
I understand this attraction. I was a Fate player for several years, even during the narrative lulls of its original campaign. It’s a thrill that comes from seeing the numbers increase as I equip new gear. I’ve seen a lot of people enjoy spending time with The first descendant So far, whether they’re simply enjoying the game or ogling its characters (search for the game on X and you’ll find plenty of very strange posts), there’s clearly a primal joy here that resonates with a certain type of gamer. I can almost feel it as I sit on my couch and dissociate while my growling DualSense controller gives me positive reinforcement. I’m a dog scratching for treats.
Initially, my intention was to write a full review of The first descendant. I don’t think I can do that in good faith. A review would require me to think critically about my playtime and consider what the work is trying to communicate and how it achieves that. It would also require me to trade away countless hours of my precious life when all I really want to do is play for 30 minutes here and there when I need to experience time travel. Sure, I could recharge my brain and tell you how its lack of a coherent story robs it of motivation, criticize its incredibly egregious microtransactions, or compare it to the myriad of games it takes notes on to scientifically design a “fun” looter shooter. But at some point, that just feels like overkill. The first descendant It would be like testing a fidget spinner. It spins. What more do you want to know?
So if you’re the kind of person who believes that art shouldn’t require brainpower, feel free to reap what you sow here. The first descendant This is the ultimate conclusion of this line of thinking: an IV bag that pours out a steady dose of morphine. I’m not going to judge anyone for hooking it up to their arm; we all need something to help us get through this life.
The first descendant is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.