If you’ve scrolled through Steam or console store pages looking for a new looter shooter to sink hours into lately, you’ve almost certainly come across The First Descendant. It’s hard to miss the flashy trailers, free-to-play price tag, and cross-platform play promises that pop up in every ad. But you’ve probably asked yourself at least once: is The First Descendant any good? I’ve put over 120 hours into the game across PC and PS5 since its full launch, playing both solo and with a regular group of three friends, so I’ve got a pretty good sense of what it does well and where it falls short. This breakdown will cover every key part of the game, so you can decide if it’s a good fit for your playstyle without wasting hours downloading it first.
Is The First Descendant Any Good? Core Pros First
First off, let’s cover the parts of the game that make it worth downloading for most players, because there’s a lot to love here if you’re a fan of the genre. Best-in-class character design and customization is one of its biggest draws. Every playable Descendant has a completely unique kit, from gravity-bending support abilities to full-on mech transformations that turn you into a walking tank, and you can tweak every part of their playstyle with mods, gear, and skill point allocations. You won’t find two players running the exact same build even if they’re using the same character, which keeps things fresh even after dozens of runs.
Smooth cross-platform play with no pay-to-win mechanics is another huge plus. You can queue up with friends on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch with zero lag or cross-play restrictions, and every single gameplay-affecting item is earnable through in-game play. The only paid content is cosmetic skins and battle passes, which don’t give you any advantage over other players. You can easily sink 100+ hours into the game without spending a cent, and you won’t feel like you’re missing out on any core content.
Deep endgame boss fight loop that rewards skill over grind is what keeps most players sticking around for hundreds of hours. The Void Intercept boss fights are some of the most well-designed in the looter shooter space, with clear mechanics, fair difficulty spikes, and tangible rewards for beating them on higher difficulty levels. You can’t just grind for better gear and brute force your way through these fights; you have to learn attack patterns and coordinate with your team to win, which makes every victory feel earned.
The Biggest Downsides to Consider Before Playing
It’s not all good news, though, and there are a few flaws that make the game a bad fit for some players. The first and most common complaint is the slow early game progression. You’ll have to grind through the first 10 or so hours of generic story missions and low-difficulty runs to unlock most of the game’s best features, including endgame content and half of the playable characters. If you don’t have the patience to push through that slow start, you’ll probably drop the game before you get to the good stuff.
The story is also pretty forgettable, even for a looter shooter. The voice acting is passable, but the plot is full of generic tropes about alien invasions and secret government programs that you’ve seen a hundred times before. You won’t miss anything if you skip all the cutscenes, which is a letdown for players who care about narrative context for their gameplay.
Inventory and mod management is unnecessarily clunky too. You’ll collect hundreds of mods and pieces of gear every run, and the game’s sorting and filtering tools are barely functional. It’s not uncommon to spend 15 minutes sorting through your inventory after every 20 minute run, which gets tedious really fast. The devs have promised updates to fix this, but as of now it’s one of the most frustrating parts of the player experience.
Who Is The First Descendant Best Suited For?
Whether you’ll enjoy the game depends almost entirely on what you’re looking for in a new looter shooter. You’ve already asked is The First Descendant any good, so figuring out if you fit the target audience is the fastest way to get your answer. From my experience, it’s a great fit if you fall into one or more of these groups:
- Looter shooter fans who are tired of the same old games like Destiny 2 or Warframe and want a fresh gameplay loop to dive into
- Groups of 2-4 friends who want a free co-op game to play together casually or seriously
- Players who prefer skill-based combat over mindless grind for rare gear
- People who love customizing characters and testing weird, broken build combinations
On the flip side, you should probably skip it if you only like playing single-player games, because a lot of the endgame content is almost impossible to beat solo without hundreds of hours of gear grind. It’s also not a good fit if you hate live service games with regular updates and battle passes, because that’s exactly the model it uses. You don’t have to spend any money to enjoy 100% of the gameplay content, but you will have to keep up with balance updates and new content drops if you want to stay involved with the endgame community.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of The First Descendant If You Decide to Play
If you’ve read this far and decide to give the game a shot, there are a few simple tips that will make your first 20 hours way less frustrating. First, don’t waste your in-game currency on low-tier mods or gear early on. Save all of your credits and upgrade materials for the high-tier gear you unlock after you hit level 30, because early gear becomes obsolete really fast. There’s no point in wasting resources on items you’ll replace in a couple of hours.
Second, join a community group or Discord server as soon as you hit the endgame. It’s way easier to find groups for Void Intercept runs and get build advice from experienced players than it is to try to figure everything out on your own. A lot of the game’s mechanics aren’t explained well in the in-game tutorials, so community resources will save you hours of confusion.
Focus on unlocking one main Descendant first before you try to level up multiple characters. It’s tempting to try every character as soon as you unlock them, but you’ll progress way faster if you max out one character’s build and gear first, then use that character to farm materials for others. You can also skip most of the side quests if you just want to get to the endgame faster. The only side quests worth doing are the ones that unlock new Descendants or quality of life features, the rest just give low-value rewards that aren’t worth the time.
At the end of the day, the answer to is The First Descendant any good depends on what you want out of a game. If you’re looking for a polished, free-to-play co-op looter shooter with great combat and a dedicated community, it’s easily one of the best options on the market right now. If you prefer linear, story-driven single-player games or hate live service grind, you’ll probably be disappointed with it. It’s got its flaws, but the core gameplay loop is fun enough to make up for most of its shortcomings, especially if you have friends to play with. If you’re even slightly curious, it’s free to download, so you’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a try for a few hours.