Nexon's 2024 looter shooter The First Descendant was never truly healthy, and its 110,152 Mixed Steam reviews and slowly collapsing PC concurrent player count make that clear. Nexon can't deny it, but to its credit, it doesn't want to. Instead, the studio is introducing a "Completing the Game" roadmap to possibly, finally find gold in the mess it's made.
Game director Minseok Joo and community manager Jason go into detail in Korean and English, respectively, about Nexon's plans in a Dev Talk livestream from April 2; you can watch the entire stream here. Following Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee's recent comments that The First Descendent had a "strong launch, no staying power," the Completing the Game roadmap feels like an overdue surgery.
"The roadmap is titled 'Completing the Game,' and it's exactly what the name implies," Jason says. "We are well aware of the frustrations players have experienced since launch – the lack of content, lack of an end game, poor endgame balance, and steep learning curve. So we decided to tackle these head-on."
Jason continues to say that the first phase of The First Descendant's roadmap will be an "overhaul of the core game," meaning its balance, "farming loops," and entire endgame will be completely rehabilitated. Nexon plans to accomplish this by its scheduled Season 4 update this summer – which it initially delayed in 2025 out of a desire to "completely overhaul the weapon system." Clearly, Nexon's known for a while now The First Descendent has needed a refresh.
In a way, I'm pleasantly surprised – both by the studio's transparency and the fact that The First Descendent's attempt to attract a player base mostly with the boob and butt-ness of its characters wasn't enough.
I thought some players wanted inhumanly sexy protagonists at the cost of everything else in a game, but I'm glad to be proven wrong – and, anyway, that approach only seems to work for developers like Shift Up, whose hit Stellar Blade at least balances oversexed designs with solid gameplay. I imagine that's what's next for The First Descendent, if fans are willing to give Nexon even more time.
But there are so many games we already think are the best shooters…
