The First Descendant Review and Is The First Descendant crossplay? Multiplayer across platforms explained

- The First Descendant Review

Great gunplay can’t fully redeem this generic, free-to-play grindfest

 put almost 30 hours into The First Descendant beta, then a few more into the most recent technical test for good measure. While I’ve had access to a preview build for a few days now, it’s been quite lonely and missing the co-op shooter action that makes the game so enjoyable. For that reason, some of this review will be based on previous beta tests, and I’ll focus solely on gameplay quality and final polish for this release build

There’s just something about The First Descendant that ticks a lot of boxes for me: it’s a grind, for sure, but the smooth combat, grappling hook traversal mechanic, and scaling technical difficulty of the boss fights really shines. It’s also crispy clean running on my RTX 4090, and while I can’t max out the ray tracing without sacrificing performance, you can still make it look damn good. Is this the start of a new era for PvE shooters? I’m starting to believe it just might be.

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The First Descendant Is Launching Next Month

The First Descendant just got a new trailer, revealing a release datewe should get some things out of the way first. I just want to reiterate that The First Descendant is grindy as hell, as most free-to-play games of this kind are. Many of the tasks can feel repetitive, and you have to grind for basically every resource and material. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to fans of the genre. I remember grinding over ten hours for an Ivara Chassis in Warframe a few years back. What’s really important is that the grind feels good, and The First Descendant has absolutely nailed fluid movement, gunplay, and interesting build theorycrafting for its multiple characters.

Characters are predetermined and there’s no creator to speak of, which might sound a bit disappointing, but from the ones I’ve played with so far - Viessa and Bunny - they all have unique personalities and builds. Bunny is the first character you’ll gain access to beyond your starting character, and she’s a lot of fun - running through crowds with her AoE electricity was one of the highlights of the beta.

Each character can be customized with a choice of over 600 modules. These can be upgraded, tweaked, enhanced, and paired with different weapons. Modules impact things like skill damage, weapon damage, and mana regeneration - but you can also get modules that change the damage you deal while in the air, how fast your character moves, and so much more. Anyone who enjoys theorycrafting builds will have an excellent time here, and from the limited tweaking I’ve been able to do so far, I’ve already started thinking about grinding for the best upgrades. It’s great to be able to set a target for yourself in games like this.

Gunplay is serviceable to begin with. Upgrades feel meaningful as the level and difficulty scales. It feels more punchy as you upgrade your characters, and running out of ammo isn’t a frustration but an enjoyable challenge. It encourages you to manage your resources and switch between weapons, which also impacts your build thanks to the modules I mentioned before. I managed to get one module that increased weapon switch time, which meant I could fire off a round of tactical rifle, hit a grappling hook around a boss, and unload several high-powered pistol rounds into one of its weak spots. It feels good.

The First Descendant is a co-op PvE shooter. However, during the pre-release version, I played on my own and each boss fight was scaled back for solo players. Known as Void Intercept Battles, these play out a little like a fight in Monster Hunter. Each boss has weak spots you can target, grapple on to, then punch to pieces. These battles come at the end of each chapter, which essentially have you clearing vaguely similar, fairly linear ‘open-world’ spaces by completing quests. A lot of the quests are just the same thing, completed in a slightly different area with slightly different mobs. Defend this, collect samples, blow up these things. Some more variation here in the early-game would be appreciated.

So the gameplay is good, if a little repetitive in places, but we also need to talk about microtransactions. It’s essentially what will determine whether The First Descendant stands the test of time. Nexon doesn’t have the best track record for monetisation in its previous games - particularly MapleStory, where earlier this year it received a large fine in South Korea for apparently modifying the drop rates in loot boxes.

That being said, Nexon has been receptive to player feedback during the multiple tests and betas for The First Descendant - particularly in how it’s addressed Western audience’s concerns about pay-to-win mechanics - and so far I’m cautiously optimistic that TFD will follow a monetisation pattern not dissimilar to Warframe and Destiny 2. But there are still some pressing questions: how easy is it to grind for the things you want, will players feel like they need to swipe their credit cards for better upgrades, and does the game have any form of pay-to-win mechanics?

So far, from previous beta tests and the information available in this release build, it appears the main money-earners for TFD will be its battle pass and cosmetics. There has been one major change I’ve noticed so far: the pre-season battle pass available in the version of the game I’m testing has the Ultimate Launcher for free at level 15, whereas it was previously available at the end of the tracker for the premium pass only.

In terms of getting ‘free items’ from the battle pass, this feels like a better solution - but this is based on pre-season and may change in the full release. There are still some guns available on the premium track, but I can’t see whether they will be significantly better yet (I haven’t been able to unlock them.)

You’re also able to buy just about anything else in the game, from Descendant skin bundles to boosts for Gold, Weapon Proficiency, and more. However, with no PvP present in the game at all, these are purchases of convenience rather than outpacing the competition. It appears that everything is available just by grinding the game, although this is, of course, subject to change when the game fully releases and gets its first few updates.

For now though, I’ve had a great time grinding the game, and even though there are two other games releasing the same week as The First Descendant that I also can’t wait to get stuck into - both Zenless Zone Zero and Once Human - I feel like this is the one that will soak up my time.

- Is The First Descendant crossplay? Multiplayer across platforms explained

Cross the platform borders.

If you’re looking to play the free-to-play looter shooter RPG online with friends, you’ll need to know whether The First Descendant has crossplay or not.

Crossplay, or cross-platform multiplayer as it’s otherwise known, lets you play with other people online, regardless of which platform you and they play on.

It's a great feature in online multiplayer games, especially free-to-play releases such as this where everyone can join in the fun without spending a

Is The First Descendant crossplay?

Yes, The First Descendant is crossplay enabled. You can play with friends and other players across the platform divide.

Crossplay in The First Descendant allows all players across all platforms to play online at once – no matter if you’re playing on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S.

You can play with whoever you want, regardless of platform.

Better yet, The First Descendant also supports cross-progression, meaning you can pick up where you left off on any platform that can play the game.

As long as you set up a Nexon account and log in to that same account on every platform you play The First Descendant on, you will be able to keep progression across them all.

If you play on PC but want to continue without losing and save progress on PS5, for example, you can do just that.

How does multiplayer work in The First Descendant?

While you can play The First Descendant alone in a private server, this is a game that was designed to be played co-op. You’ll unlock co-op after completing the tutorial/intro and you can start playing with friends from then on.

Crossplay should be enabled by default, but there’s a chance it isn’t on Xbox. You can turn on cross-platform play in your Xbox console Profile settings – full details on cross-platform features can be found on the game’s official website.

To set up a co-op game with friends in The First Descendant, follow these steps:

• Open the map screen
• Head to the Social tab
• Choose the player you wish to play with on your Friends list or from the list of Local Players – you can also search for the player you wish to co-op with (remember to type in their full account name, hashtag, numbers and all!)
• Choose Party Invitation

Co-op is up to four players in your party for co-op campaign missions and Void Intercept Battles.

If you search for a player in-game, send them a friend request to keep them on your list and you should be able to invite other players on Xbox, Steam and PlayStation if you see them online on those platforms as you would any other game.

As of writing, it’s worth noting that there is no PvP mode in The First Descendant. This is a game where you’ll work together in co-op, not fight against each other.