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When I first played The First Descendant ahead of its launch, I remember thinking, “This game has potential, but it’s lacking something.” At the time, I didn’t mean more waifus or fan service-fueled outfits. It was more about the content and its variety. With The First Descendant: Breakthrough, there’s a light at the end of the Hover Bike tunnel, and one that looks promising. With a new open world, an engaging way of transportation, and a new Descendant, this might be what the game needed to get back on track.
Into the Axion Plains
The biggest highlight of The First Descendant: Breakthrough is the Axion Plains. As you know, TFD has always embraced smaller scenarios where players can participate in missions, boss fights, and grind those sweet materials for their Descendants. Now, the Axion Plains shake things up by bringing a larger map with many things to do and some of the deadliest enemies I’ve seen in the game.
Since this was a preview build, Nexon provided me with a juiced-up account. I had all Descendants in their maxed-out glory, along with powerful weapons, including a handful of new ones like a Scout Rifle, and everything else I needed to obliterate enemies in a matter of seconds. Well, that didn’t happen.
The Axion Plains feature different types of activities, with some requiring you to protect a specific area and others to defeat a certain number of enemies. All of them were highly challenging, despite my Descendants being at the top of their game. I liked this because, even those with maxed-out characters will face difficult trials that will encourage them to work as a team or refine their builds further.
On top of those activities, there are a couple of boss fights you can also find in the Axion Plains called Spikers. I’d like to tell you I beat one, but the truth is I didn’t, which again, is a good sign for those who want a challenge. And if you want to face an even more brutal enemy, the new 8-player Intercept Battle, the Wall Crasher will put your skills to the test. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a lot of players to join me for this fight, but from what I saw, it has many mechanics that will require a specific team and a lot of teamwork.
Fighting aside, there’s also the introduction of the new Hover Bikes, which gave me some Destiny 2 flashbacks. They are fast, easy to control, and you can even take them out for a spin in some race-like activities. The standout part is that you can summon them at any moment, be it inside or outside combat, which is excellent.
Overall, the Axion Plains in The First Descendant: Breakthrough feel like a breath of fresh air. I can’t judge it wholly since there weren’t a lot of players during the preview, but I’m excited to try it out once the whole community jumps in. There are a lot of activities to grind and terrifying bosses to face, and the mayhem will be pretty sweet.
A Gravitational Descendant
Throughout the preview, I only used the new Descendant, Nell. While I haven’t focused on the most recent ones, Nell caught my attention instantly. You can play her as a pure DPS or a mix of sub-DPS with support on the site. Naturally, I went with the former.
Her skills are all about debuffing enemies while buffing allies, but she also has other utilities, such as drawing all enemies inside an area to damage them. These abilities were extremely useful, especially in the Axion Plains, where enemies will swarm you faster than players trying to look at an Ultimate Bunny inside the hub. Then again, I would love to try her out in group content because she is already looking like a must-have in almost every team out there.
Since cosmetics are also a huge part of the game, and something I proudly admit that keeps me around, I got to see some of her outfits, and she looks fabulous, especially with the NieR: Automata crossover. Almost every character can equip 2B and A2’s skins, and they look terrific in-game. You can even mix and match hairstyles and clothes from the two outfits to create the ultimate crossover combo.
So far, Nell seems like a great addition to the roster, and one that will bring a lot of things to the table. It is always great to see versatile characters that fill different roles, and Nell falls into that category. As someone who’s always looking for the next Descendant to collect, Nell just jumped to my top priority.
The Start of Something New
As far as first impressions go, The First Descendant: Breakthrough is brimming with potential. While some of the new additions might seem similar to some veteran members, they really freshen up the game after a few hours and show a promising new vision for this looter shooter.
Beyond that, it is fantastic to see more challenging content that encourages teamwork and requires a nearly flawless build. I am afraid that my Descendants will get obliterated as soon as they land on the Axion Plains, but I’m also excited to get to work and create the perfect build for each one. And you know what? That excitement is something that I hadn’t felt in a long time, which is a promising sign for this game’s future.
