If you’ve seen clips of that flashy, free-to-play looter shooter with over-the-top character abilities and massive boss fights, you’ve probably asked where can you play The First Descendant. It’s exploded in popularity lately thanks to its polished co-op mechanics, customizable characters, and constant free content drops that keep players coming back week after week. I’ve sunk over 120 hours into the game across three different platforms, so I’ve got all the details you need to figure out which option works best for your playstyle and setup.
Where Can You Play The First Descendant: Full Supported Platform List
The game is fully free-to-play across all supported platforms, with no pay-to-win mechanics or locked content behind purchase walls. All you need is a stable internet connection, and you can jump into matches with friends no matter what device they use. Here’s the full breakdown of every platform you can play on:
- PC (Steam and Epic Games Store): The most feature-rich version, with support for 4K resolution, uncapped framerates, and custom keybinds for mouse and keyboard players. It also gets beta updates a few days earlier than console versions in most cases.
- PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4: Smooth performance on both generations, with PS5 players getting haptic feedback support for the DualSense controller and faster load times. You don’t need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online, which is a huge plus for casual players.
- Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One: Similar to PlayStation, with optimized performance for next-gen consoles and support for Xbox Cloud Gaming if you have a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. No Xbox Live Gold is required for online play either.
One thing a lot of people miss is that there’s no mobile or Nintendo Switch version available right now. The devs have mentioned they’re exploring port options for those platforms, but there’s no official release window as of today, so don’t fall for any fake download links claiming to offer a mobile build. These fake links almost always carry malware, so only download the game from official platform storefronts to keep your device safe.
Crossplay Support For The First Descendant: What You Need To Know
One of the biggest draws of the game is how easy it is to play with friends no matter what device they own. Full crossplay is enabled across all PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms by default, so you can squad up with friends no matter what device they own. I’ve played with friends on PS5 and Xbox Series X from my PC setup dozens of times, and I’ve never run into any connectivity issues related to crossplay. You can turn crossplay off in the settings if you want to only match with players on the same platform, but I don’t recommend it unless you’re dealing with consistent input lag in high-difficulty boss runs.
Cross-progression is also fully supported, as long as you link your game account to your email or social media profile. That means you can start playing on your PC after work, pick up where you left off on your PS5 when you’re hanging out with friends, and keep all your unlocked characters, weapons, and cosmetics across every device. The only thing that doesn’t carry over is platform-specific premium currency, so make sure you spend any platform-locked tokens before switching to a new device. That’s a mistake I made when I first started, and I lost $15 worth of premium currency when I switched from Xbox to PC, so learn from my error.
Minimum and Recommended System Requirements For PC Players
If you’re planning to play on PC, you don’t need a high-end rig to run the game smoothly, which is one of the biggest perks of its design. The devs optimized it really well for lower-end setups, so even people with 5-year-old laptops can run it at 1080p 60fps on low settings. I’ve tested it on a mid-range travel laptop with a GTX 1650, and it ran perfectly fine on medium settings when I was on a work trip last month, so you don’t have to drop thousands on a new PC to enjoy the game.
The minimum required specs for 1080p 30fps on low settings are: an Intel Core i5-3570 or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X processor, 8GB of RAM, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 560 graphics card, and 60GB of free storage space. If you want to run it at 1080p 60fps on medium settings, you’ll need an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 590. For 4K 60fps on max settings, you’ll need a high-end setup with an Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 16GB of RAM, and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. Just make sure you have extra storage space set aside, because the game gets regular content updates that add 5-10GB of new files every few months.
Tips To Get Started When You First Launch The Game
Once you pick which platform you want to play on, there are a few quick things you can do to make your first few hours way more enjoyable, instead of fumbling through menus like I did when I first started. First, complete the full tutorial before jumping into co-op matches. It only takes 20 minutes, and it teaches you all the core mechanics like ability combos, resource farming, and boss weak points that you’ll need to be useful in team matches. I skipped the tutorial on my first playthrough and got kicked from three different squads because I didn’t know how to revive teammates or activate defense objectives, so don’t make that same mistake.
Next, pick a starter character that fits your playstyle. If you like playing support, go for Viessa, who can freeze enemies and heal teammates. If you prefer high damage output, pick Bunny, who has fast mobility and explosive area-of-effect attacks. Don’t waste all your upgrade materials on your first weapon, either. You’ll unlock way better rare and legendary weapons within your first 10 hours of play, so save your upgrade resources for those higher rarity items instead of wasting them on common gear you’ll replace in a few hours. Also, make sure you check the event tab regularly, because the game runs limited-time events every month that give out free premium cosmetics and rare upgrade materials you can’t get anywhere else. I missed out on a limited legendary character skin last year because I forgot to check the event calendar, and it still stings a little.
At the end of the day, figuring out where can you play The First Descendant is pretty straightforward, with options available for almost every modern gaming setup. Whether you prefer playing on PC with mouse and keyboard, or on the couch with a console controller, you’ll get the same full game experience with no locked content or paywalls. Crossplay and cross-progression make it easy to jump between devices and play with friends no matter what platform they use, too. Just make sure you only download the game from official platform stores to avoid fake versions with malware, and take 20 minutes to run through the tutorial before you jump into your first co-op match. You’ll be farming rare loot and taking down massive bosses with your friends in no time.