If you’ve spent any time scrolling through looter shooter recommendations lately, you’ve probably seen The First Descendant pop up on your feed. With its flashy third-person combat, customizable characters, and cross-platform play, it’s attracted millions of players in its first few months. But lots of new players are asking one question before they download: is the first descendant a gacha game? It’s a fair ask, because gacha mechanics can make or break a game for people who don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars to get the best characters or gear. I’ve put 70+ hours into the game across PC and console, both as a free player and someone who’s bought a couple of optional cosmetic packs, so I can break down exactly how its systems work, no fluff.
Core Mechanics That Answer if The First Descendant Is a Gacha Game
First, let’s get clear on what a gacha game actually is, because the term gets thrown around a lot lately. Gacha games use randomized, loot box-style mechanics for players to unlock core content, usually characters or rare gear, either with in-game currency or real money. You don’t get to pick what you get, and rare items often have extremely low pull rates, pushing players to spend more if they want a specific character.
Now, let’s map that to The First Descendant’s systems. The game does have a randomized progression system for descendant characters, weapons, and mods, but there’s a huge catch: you never have to spend real money to pull for any of it. All of the currency you use for these random pulls is earned 100% through gameplay, no paid equivalents exist for these core pulls.
You can grind missions, earn in-game credits and descendant-specific materials, and use those to spin for the descendant you want, or even directly craft them once you collect enough shards from duplicate pulls. That’s a huge difference from traditional gacha games like Genshin Impact, where premium currency for limited character banners is only given out in small amounts for free, and you have to pay to get enough for a guaranteed pull. I unlocked my two favorite descendants, Viessa and Freyna, after about 10 hours of targeted grinding each, no money spent at all.
What You Actually Can Pay for in The First Descendant
So if all core content is free, what does the game sell in its cash shop? It’s almost entirely cosmetic, plus a few quality of life upgrades that don’t give you any gameplay advantage. Let’s break that down with a quick list:
- Character and weapon skins: These change the look of your descendant or weapon, but don’t add any stat boosts or combat benefits whatsoever. Most skins are priced between $10 and $20, and there are always a few free skins added every season for players who complete battle pass tiers.
- Premium battle pass: The paid battle pass costs $10 per season, and gives you extra cosmetic items, in-game currency, and crafting materials. You can still earn all core gameplay content, including new descendants released each season, through the free battle pass track, so the paid version is entirely optional.
- Storage upgrades: If you’re someone who hoards every mod and weapon you pick up, you can pay a small one-time fee to expand your storage space. The base storage is more than enough for casual players, though, and you can earn extra storage slots for free by completing seasonal challenges.
The entire game is designed to be free to play friendly first, which is a refreshing change from a lot of online games that push microtransactions at every turn. There are no paid loot boxes, no premium currency for character pulls, and no way to pay to skip progression for core gameplay content. That’s a deliberate choice by the developers, who’ve stated multiple times that they want to keep the game fair for free players. I’ve never felt like I was at a disadvantage playing for free, even when running high-difficulty endgame missions with friends who bought the premium battle pass.
Common Misconceptions About The First Descendant’s Monetization
A lot of people see the randomized character unlock system and immediately label it a gacha game, but that misses a lot of key context. For example, a lot of players don’t know that every single descendant in the game has a pity system built into their pulls that guarantees you’ll get the character you want after a set number of spins, no luck required. The pity count is also account-wide, so you don’t lose progress if you take a break from the game for a few weeks.
Another common myth is that endgame content is locked behind paid characters. That’s not true at all. I’ve cleared the hardest endgame raid, the Void Chasm, using only the starting descendant, Ajax, with a fully free to play build. You don’t need the newest or rarest descendant to beat any content, as long as you take the time to level up your mods and weapons properly.
Some players also worry that seasonal limited-time characters are impossible to get for free. The game does give you a set window to farm for new descendants when they launch, but the developers re-run every character banner every 3 to 4 months, so you never miss your chance to unlock a character you want for free. The only real paywall in the game is for cosmetic items, which don’t affect how well you play at all.
Tips for Playing The First Descendant Without Spending Money
Even though it’s not a traditional gacha game, you can still optimize your play to unlock all the content you want faster, without spending a cent. First, focus on targeted farming for the descendant you want first, instead of pulling random banners. Each descendant has specific missions that drop their required materials, so running those repeatedly will cut down your unlock time by half or more.
Second, save your in-game premium currency (the one you earn from challenges, not buy) for storage upgrades if you need them, instead of wasting it on random cosmetic crates. The cosmetic crates have very low drop rates for rare skins, so you’re better off waiting for a skin you like to show up in the direct purchase shop.
Third, join a casual guild if you can. Guilds get weekly rewards that include extra crafting materials and pull currency, which speeds up your progression a lot. I joined a guild of other free players a month after I started playing, and I unlocked three new descendants in half the time it took me to unlock my first one. You also don’t have to participate in every limited time event if you don’t want to. The developers often bring back limited time descendants a few months after their first release, so you don’t have to grind 24/7 to unlock them before they’re gone.
At the end of the day, the answer to is the first descendant a gacha game is mostly no, even if it borrows a few small mechanics from the genre. It doesn’t have the predatory paid randomized loot systems that define most gacha games, and you can experience 100% of the core gameplay content without spending a single dollar. If you’re a fan of looter shooters and have been avoiding it because you thought it was a pay-to-win gacha, you can safely give it a try. The only time you’ll ever have to spend money is if you want to buy a cool skin or support the developers, which is entirely optional. I’ve had more fun playing it for free than I’ve had with a lot of full-priced looter shooters released in the last few years, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new co-op game to play with friends.