The First Descendant hands-on preview: A promising third-person looter-shooter 

Developed by NEXON Games Co., Ltd. and published by NEXON, The First Descendant is a third-person looter-shooter. It's powered by Unreal Engine 5 and features both solo and co-op modes. Set in a dystopian future where humans have been all but wiped out, the player takes up the mantle of a 'Descendant' to take the fight to the Vulgus.

While the game may seem strikingly familiar to Destiny 2, it has a specific flavor and district storyline that sets it apart. During the latest hands-on preview, I got to take the game on a whirl and had a delightful experience, to say the least.

---

The First Descendant - An enthralling third-person looter-shooter in the making

Much like all sci-fi games, there are the bad guys, in this case, the Vulgus, and of course, you have the good guys - Descendants. The best way to describe these individuals would be superheroes fighting to save humankind from going extensions. Each of them has a diverse set of skills that sets them apart and makes them unique.

As with all games of such caliber, the cinematics and expansive storytelling are what really got my attention. With the game being created on Unreal Engine 5, it's truly mesmerizing to look at. But enough said, let me tell you about my hands-on experiences with The First Descendant.

---

First impressions and gameplay

The First Descendant starts with a neat little introduction to the settings of this sci-fi universe. While the lore goes really deep, there's enough in the cinematic introduction to gain a good idea about the proceedings. In short, the Vulgus crossed over the dimension and began causing chaos. Humans were used as experimental subjects and sacrificed at will.

Following these events, Colossi appeared, causing widespread deviation. Once they were done, Earth was nothing more than a shell of its former glory. Humans were about to call it quits when a splinter group of Vulgus, known as the Magisters, decided to join them. Using their technological skills, they were able to uplift humans in a manner of speaking and created super-humans.

Lepic is great at gun-work (Image via NEXON/The First Descendant)

With this newfound power, Descendant, as these super-humans are called, are now taking the fight to the Vulgus and their new leader, Karel. This is where the game started, and I had to pick a character. With three options on the table, I picked Lepin. He's an AOE fighter with a decent set of skills and is rather hardy in battle.

The tutorial stage allowed me to slowly adjust to the game's mechanics and understand my character's abilities. Nevertheless, it did not take long to settle in and take out some Vulgus lackeys. The introduction missions were fun and introduced me to Karel and a Colossus. Once this mission ended, I was given access to the open world

Mission rewards (Image via NEXON/The First Descendant)

There's a lot to do and see in the open world — from taking on missions to even a bit of exploration. But for the most part, I found myself vanquishing the Vulgus in an attempt to thin the herd. I came across several enemy types, including a few mini-bosses. Thankfully, by using the power of my Descendant, eliminating them wasn't a protracted affair.

As for the lackeys, most could be dealt with one shot or a few. With the numerous types of weapons at my disposal, combat was not too tiresome. While the classic AR and marksman rifles are good at mid-range, I often found myself relying on the shotgun. When combined with Lepin's ability to group together a bunch of enemies, using the shotgun on them was beyond satisfying.

Guns galore! (Image via NEXON/The First Descendant)

That's not everything I could play around with. Aside from weapons, I could change my entire loadout to tweak how my Descendant functioned in combat. As always, the higher the rarity of the item, the better the stats. This was crucial, as it made it easier to deal with opponents. That said, there's a lot left to be seen and done in-game.

An aspect I massively appreciated was verticality, as I could use a whip to move about. This was useful in taking high ground and swimming around opponents. It's fun and innovative at the same time. Although, I did make a few mistakes and ended up nearly getting my character killed. Nevertheless, practice makes perfect.

---

Performance and Sound

The First Descendant was played on a system with the following configuration:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
• RAM: 32 GB

Throughout my gameplay, there were zero hard crashes. There were a few instances of lag, but nothing grave enough to hamper my gaming experience. As for the audio, everything works like a charm. Abilities, weapons, and enemies all sound great.

---

In conclusion

The open world looks amazing (Image via NEXON/The First Descendant)

It goes without saying that The First Descendant derives heavily from fellow games in the genre. However, that isn't a foible, and it most certainly does not detract from the storyline and gameplay elements/mechanics. Although my time with the game was short, there's much to look forward to.

As mentioned, I was only given access to three characters, but there are many more to choose from. Each will bring its own flavor of abilities and make co-op quite interesting. On that note, I cannot wait to see what the developers have planned in terms of weapons, gear, and mission types. Above all else, I cannot wait to experience a full-release version of the game.