If you’ve scrolled through gaming forums or watched streamer highlights lately, you’ve probably asked yourself is the first descendant doing well, especially as new live service looter shooters launch every few months. I’ve sunk over 120 hours into the game since its global launch, playing every class and running endgame content with friends and random groups alike, so I’ve got a front-row seat to its ups and downs. A lot of mixed opinions float around online, so I wanted to break down hard data and real player experience instead of just repeating hot takes you might see on social media.
Core Metrics That Answer If The First Descendant Is Doing Well Long-Term
First, let’s look at the hard numbers that don’t lie about a live service game’s health. Steam concurrent player averages have stayed steady around 18k to 25k for the last 6 months, which is really solid for a mid-budget live service looter shooter that’s not a massive AAA blockbuster. Most comparable games lose 70% or more of their launch player base within the first 3 months, so holding steady for this long is a huge win.
Next, regular content drop cadence is a big sign the game is in a good place. Nexon releases a major content update every 8 to 10 weeks, with small hotfixes every 2 weeks to address balance issues, bug fixes, and quality of life requests from players. You don’t have to wait 6 months between meaningful updates, which is a common complaint with other live service games right now.
Monetization is another big factor for long-term health. Unlike a lot of free-to-play games, there are zero pay-to-win mechanics here. All premium cosmetics are earnable through in-game challenges if you don’t want to spend money, and the only paid items are minor convenience boosts like extra storage space that don’t give you any advantage over other players. The game’s 78% positive recent review rate on Steam is a 12% jump from its launch score, so these choices are clearly landing well with players.
What Casual Players Love About The First Descendant Right Now
For casual players who only have a few hours a week to game, the current state of The First Descendant is really strong. Crossplay support across all platforms works flawlessly, so you can play with friends on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, even last gen consoles without any connection issues or lag. I play with friends across 3 different platforms, and we’ve only had one crossplay-related disconnect in 3 months of regular sessions.
You also don’t have to grind 40 hours a week to keep up with the content. I play for 3 to 4 hours a week max, and I’ve still been able to unlock every new character that’s dropped in the last two updates without spending any real money. The story mode is fully playable solo too, so you don’t need to find a group to beat the main campaign and unlock all base characters if you prefer playing alone.
The recent quality of life update that added fast travel points to all major map areas cut down on boring travel time by 70% according to official player surveys. I noticed the difference immediately; I used to spend 5 minutes running between quest points before the update, now it takes 30 seconds max. Small changes like that make the casual play experience way more enjoyable.
Common Pain Points That Are Holding The Game Back
It’s not all good news though, and there are still some real issues that stop the game from being great for a lot of players. The biggest complaint from long-time fans is that endgame content variety is still limited. Once you beat the main campaign and hit max level, there’s only 3 repeatable raid missions and 2 weekly challenges, so a lot of endgame players burn out after a month of grinding for better gear.
Matchmaking for higher difficulty raids is also hit or miss. If you don’t have a pre-made group, you might get paired with players who don’t know the basic raid mechanics and wipe the run 10 times in a row. Some character classes are really underpowered compared to meta picks too, so if you main a less popular class you might get kicked from groups even if you have perfectly good gear.
The official community Discord runs a monthly feedback survey, and the top 3 most requested fixes right now are:
- Additional endgame mission types, including roguelike random runs and open world world boss events
- Matchmaking rank system that pairs players based on their past raid clear history and gear score
- Balance pass for underperforming classes like Viessa and Gley to make them viable for endgame content
The good news is that the development team has already confirmed all three of these requests are on their current roadmap, so we should see them roll out over the next 6 months. I’ve seen them follow through on 90% of their past roadmap promises, so I’m confident these fixes will land eventually.
Is The First Descendant Worth Starting In Its Current State?
The answer to this question depends almost entirely on what you’re looking for in a game. If you’re a casual player who likes looter shooters with cool character designs and crossplay support to play with friends, it’s absolutely worth trying right now. New player onboarding has been completely reworked in the last update, so you don’t have to sit through 2 hours of unskippable cutscenes before you get to the fun shooting and looting part.
The new player welcome event also gives you a free max level character and a full set of epic gear when you finish the first 3 story missions, so you can jump into multiplayer content almost immediately if you want to. I referred 3 friends to the game last month, and all of them said they had way more fun starting out than they did when they tried to play at launch, when the onboarding was a total mess.
If you’re a hardcore endgame player who wants hundreds of hours of varied endgame content right now, you might be disappointed after the first month. The current endgame loop gets repetitive fast if you play 10+ hours a week, and you’ll probably run out of things to do until the next big update drops. But if you don’t mind taking breaks between content drops, or you mostly play casually, that’s not going to be a big issue for you.
Best of all, the game is completely free to play, so you don’t even have to spend money to try it. You can download it, play for a few hours, and decide if it’s for you without any risk. Just don’t go into it expecting it to be a perfect game right out of the gate, and you’ll probably have a good time.
At the end of the day, the answer to is the first descendant doing well depends a lot on what you want from a live service looter shooter. It’s not perfect, and it still has a lot of room to grow, but the developer is clearly listening to player feedback and putting out consistent updates that make the game better every month. If you haven’t tried it in a while, or if you’ve been curious about checking it out for the first time, now is a way better time to jump in than it was at launch. You might just find your new go-to game to play with friends on weekends.