Co-op looter shooter The First Descendant dethrones Elden Ring as Steam's top seller, but 43% positive early user reviews frame a rough start overall

New co-op looter shooter The First Descendent looks to be a smash-hit success on Steam in terms of players, but it's launched to overall 'Mixed' user reviews.

The First Descendent is a brand new third-person looter shooter, which launched today as a free-to-play game on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. On PC in particular, the shooter looks like it's been nothing short of a brilliant launch for developer Nexon Games, having soared straight to the top of Steam's best sellers chart just hours after launch.

What did it dethrone at the top of said chart, you ask? Why, only Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, the gargantuan DLC expansion for FromSoftware's critically-acclaimed and widely beloved 2022 RPG. Shadow of the Erdtree did launch over a week ago at this point, it's worth noting, but this is still a pretty fantastic feat from a brand new game like The First Descendent.

However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows for the third-person shooter. After more than 4,100 user reviews on Steam, The First Descendent is currently sat at a 'Mixed' review aggregate score, after just 43% of players gave it a positive review. The vast amount of negative user reviews are unfortunately scathing of the shooter's microtransactions.

"I buy Calibers pack the money was written off, but there is no Caliber, WTF???" writes one user reviews, while another adds, "Brought Caliber for battle pass but I never got it, Steam payment was successful but nothing in-game." Caliber is The First Descendent's microtransaction currency, with which players can get cosmetic items, like brand new outfits for characters, or pay to level up their characters.

Over on Nexon's website though, the developer writes that it's well aware of players seeing delays when purchasing Caliber. "When purchasing multiple items through the basket from the PlayStation Store, there may be a delay of the items to be delivered to your inventory," Nexon writes, which admittedly omits any mention of issues on PC.

Otherwise, a fair few players are really enjoying The First Descendent's looting and shooting. "Very good game if Destiny and Warframe made a baby together this would be the baby," writes one positive review. "Game is grindy, just like Destiny, but looks better. There’s way more enemy types and the skills are fun. You are not locked into minimal classes but have a large variety based how many descendants you unlock," another adds. 

It's a rocky launch for The First Descendent on Steam, but the shooter's status at the top of the best sellers chart indicates that it has a player base, at the very least.

Take a look at our new games 2024 guide for an overview of all the other new titles arriving this year.