Impressions | Dauntless (PS4)

By now, I think it’s clear I prefer the “old” combat of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (MHGU) to the new and revamped combat of Monster Hunter World (MHW). All the pretty environments and mechanics just got in the way of my duel to the death with the giant beasts. However, I do admit that the combat in MHGU, and in MHW for that matter, still felt stiff as it was sort of a pain to change directions during combos, detracting a bit from the enjoyment of slashing away at a monster twice your size.

However, Dauntless corrects that problem with a more fluid combat where you are always in control of your movement, instead of fully committing to each action. Attacks themselves are also quicker which, in combination with the damage numbers, make the combat in Dauntless quite satisfying.

What is not satisfying, however, is the performance: it’s easy for the game’s framerate to dip close to the low twenties. It’s definitely one of the biggest negatives for the game right now but it’s still reasonable enough that it doesn’t ruin the experience. The problem is when you’re in the hub, where it’s filled with other players and the framerate is just all over the place. Good thing while there you’re only reading dialogue and crafting weapons/armor, right?

Speaking of the hub space, I’m fairly disappointed by it. Going back to MHGU, I’m used to smaller spaces condensed with the relevant NPCs, but here it is just a big plaza with the NPCs spread all over the place. Navigating it is sort of counterintuitive but, as expected from an MMORPG, it’s cool to see the other players donning armor crafted from the materials of stronger hunts.

Going back to the combat for a bit, it’s rather simplified, limited to normal and heavy attack. Even the weapon choice is reduced to swords, axes, chain blades, hammers, ostian repeaters (i.e., guns) and war pikes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just saying what is available in the game, not really judging it. By all means, I have fun slashing away at monsters, specially when the overdrive meter fills up and I start throwing energy waves with my slashes (I stuck with swords for my first two hours of gameplay, other weapons have different effects).

Specially when other players join the session (I found the matchmaking to be rather good), the game becomes even better as there are four players on screen beating the creatures. Also, it needs to be said that Dauntless supports cross-play with PC and Xbox One Slayers (the name of the players in this game), which obviously increases the pool of potential comrades. Unfortunately, as a drawback of the game’s success since it released on consoles this week, queues are not rare as servers hit their capacity.

Before getting to the monetization (because this is a free-to-play game after all), I also want to give props to the developers for the designs, both of weapons and armors but also for the monsters. The monsters, while simple, have some nice designs, but the weapons and armor sets look quite good and I am looking forward to acquiring them. Good thing they are easy to craft, at least in the beginning. Thumbs up for that!

Lastly, there’s the monetization. Dauntless is free-to-play and it doesn’t even need PS+ (which is a big bonus for me right now), but there’s a marketplace available, as well as a battle pass, sorry, a hunt pass. It works exactly the same as Fortnite’s, that is, it costs 10$ to purchase and lasts an entire season. During this time, the players can level up to earn new rewards, such as unique skins and emotes. Personally, I don’t like this as it requires a lot of playing to unlock the rewards but hey, if you are going to spend a lot of time with Dauntless, then this will most likely be a good offer for you.

So, to wrap it up, I am quite satisfied with my first two hours with Dauntless. It suffers a lot with performance issues, but that addictive gameplay loop of hunting down big monsters, crafting new gear with its drops and coming back to kill new and stronger monsters is as satisfying in Dauntless as it was in MHGU and MHW. I am looking forward to playing more and see how long I stick with it. Anyway, I liked what I played so far and will come back to the game soon!

#impressions #2019 #ps4 #freetoplay #dauntless