HomeNewsThe First Descendant

Nexon say sorry for The First Descendant launch bugs and performance issues with free cosmetics and boostersAnd a round of Kyper Shards for all my friends!

And a round of Kyper Shards for all my friends!

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Nexon

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Nexon

Grumpy commander Alpha discusses with an underling in a cutscene from The First Descendant.

Nexon’s free-to-play looter-shooterThe First Descendant- “Nexon’sWarframe”, as the wags are calling it on Steam - launched this week and hasencountered a few snags and snaffaroos, including beta rewards not showing up, Easy Anti-Cheat not running correctly, frame-rate drops for people who downloaded in advance of release, and players finding their merry way to servers where no other players exist. Nexon are even now patching the game, and have plied players with in-game bonuses and cosmetics as an apology for the inconvenience.

The bonuses basically consist of being able to level up faster and paint your guns red. Here’s the rundown.

  • Gold Gain Boost +30% (Duration 3 days)

  • Kyper Shard Gain Boost +30% (Duration 3 days)

  • Descendant EXP Gain Boost +30% (Duration 3 days)

  • Weapon Mastery EXP Gain Boost +30% (Duration 3 days)

  • 2 x Matte Red Paints

All the talk of percentages might suggest a game of making numbers go up in proportion to the implosion of your grey matter, but speaking to Nic last week, the developers insisted thatThe First Descendant’s endgame won’t be about “meaningless DPS” or “piling on specs”.

While I don’t have a review to share just yet, our hardware editor James Archer laid hands and eyes on a near-final preview build a week or so back, and concluded thatThe First Descendant’s performance could still use a bit of love. He was mixed, much like the current Steam user reviews, as to whether the game itself is worth the time. “I don’t dislike The First Descendant,” James wrote. “It has a good grasp of the numbers-go-up-yay appeal behind looter shooters. Sometimes you get to grapple onto a vast robot crab. The first evil alien overlord you fight is named Greg. Not bad, not bad.”

James has also written aboutThe First Descendant’s Steam Deck optimal Steam Deck settings, commenting that “a mixture of Low and Medium seems like the best compromise”.