Dauntless lets you engage in exciting battles against giant monsters on PC. So like in Monster Hunter, but fully geared towards coop gameplay. But does the “Western Monster Hunter” live up to the hype? We have played Dauntless and will tell you if it is worth waiting for the game.
One of the highlights of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was the great fight against the griffin at the end of the first area. The flying beast landed heavily on the clearing, swiped with its claws, and repeatedly launched deadly aerial attacks. The unequal battle demanded full concentration.
When the beast finally lay in its blood and made its last gasp, the feeling of victory was indescribable! The adrenaline was still pumping, the fingers were cramped, but you had defeated the beast and were the hero!
Dauntless – The Witcher meets Warframe
In Dauntless, you can experience such epic moments of victory more often, as the coop action game from Phoenix Labs revolves solely around fighting giant monsters. But unlike Witcher or the great template Monster Hunter from Asia, Dauntless is a coop multiplayer game. You play it like Warframe with up to three friends together.
I was in Munich last week for a preview play session of Dauntless and, together with developers Nick and Ian, set out to hunt three particularly terrible beasts. What we experienced will be revealed in the following paragraphs.
Dauntless – The first monster “Shrike” – “Isn’t that a small bird?”
As soon as we introduced ourselves, the developers threw us into our first mission. We were supposed to hunt down a beast called “Shrike” on a floating island. I still casually said, “That doesn’t sound too dangerous!” after all, the term “Shrike” refers to a small bird that impales worms and insects on thorns. So what could await us? The developer Ian next to me grinned broadly. I sensed trouble.
My suspicion was soon confirmed, as “it” awaited us on a clearing! The Shrike was a bear over three meters tall with an owl beak and gigantic wings! So a bear-like version of the griffin from The Witcher 3. And we were supposed to slay it? “Yes,” Ian said, as the creatures consume a magical substance called ether, and when they have eaten all of it, the floating islands collapse.
And since our heroes live on such islands, that would be really bad. Therefore, the owl bear must go, and as freshly minted “Slayers”, that is our job.
Dauntless – The fight against the dreadful owl bear
We charged at the owl flutter beast, armed with oversized swords, and immediately a wild battle erupted. The beast flapped around, slashed with its claws, and bit with its beak. We constantly had to dodge and seize every opportunity for a counterattack. Fortunately, the controls were easy to master. Whether with gamepad or mouse-keyboard combo, after a short time we deftly dodged and dealt the beast some serious damage.
Just as I was thinking, “Heh, the beast is so stupid, letting itself be beaten by us. A real animal would have run away long ago”, the owl bear suddenly soared into the sky and flew away! It did not leave the island, but the longer it took us to find it, the more health the beast regenerated, and our efforts were in vain.
Dauntless – No fear of death?
After a short search, we found the battered beast again, but the monster is now agitated and stronger. Its blows are more powerful, and I went down more often. Luckily, a loyal teammate quickly came to my aid and revived me.
Every time a teammate is revived, the steadily ticking “Danger Meter” increases. When this reaches 100, the next character death triggers a retreat, and the round is lost.
Such a shameful defeat should not befall us. We bravely hacked away at the Shrike, and eventually, it reared up for the last time, let out a nearly pitiful last cry, and then collapsed. Victory!
Dauntless – Monsters are resources
Back in our base, the floating city “Ramsgate”, we could not only show off our trophies and dance silly emotes in Gangnam style. From the parts of the slain beasts, we craft new weapons and armor. Lower-tier gear is still quite easy to craft.
Later and more powerful specimens require mightier resources, which you only get by taking down a monster in a particularly spectacular manner. For example, when you don’t just bludgeon a Shrike to death but specifically break its back with a hammer.
Dauntless – The fight with Quillshot – Primary target: Tail!
In Dauntless, you can’t just randomly beat on a monster; you can deliberately mutilate and injure it. How this works, the developers showed us in the next battle. This time it was against a kind of giant porcupine called “Quillshot”. The beast was full of thorns that it shot out, and it had a long, spiked tail.
“The tail is the primary target,” one of the developers told us, and we all started pounding on the tail like crazy. I had meanwhile acquired a giant axe, which was decidedly slower than the sword from the previous battle. But I was swinging away like a berserker! One of the developers, on the other hand, had a hammer with a handy crossbow mechanism in the handle. That allowed him to shoot at close range; however, there were still no actual ranged weapons available.
The immense striking power of our arsenal couldn’t hold back even the thickest tail, and it soon separated from the rest of the porcupine. Amusingly, the severed piece rolled down the hill in a physically correct manner. Nice! Quillshot, of course, did not like that very much, but without a tail, it couldn’t hit as hard and soon lay defeated. Another victory for the Slayers!
Dauntless – Can we defeat Pangar, the “Beltasaurus Rex”?
After we spectacularly slaughtered Quillshot, we moved on to a special challenge. “Pangar, the next monster, has never been defeated in a presentation before”. Of course, we accepted the challenge. But I hesitantly asked developer Ian, what exactly a “Pangar” is. He showed me a picture of a cute little armadillo on his phone; just “much bigger and more dangerous!”
I was confused and curious about what was coming our way. To make it short, Pangar was a gigantic monster that looked like a armored Tyrannosaurus Rex!
We bravely faced the monster, but shortly thereafter we had been defeated so many times, rammed into the ground, and shredded that the danger timer ran out, and we had to admit defeat. Yes, big creatures in Dauntless require excellent teamwork and a lot of skill.
According to the developers, it doesn’t always have to be the giant creatures that pose a special challenge. Rather, there are each of the initially 20 monsters at different difficulty levels, from juvenile to alpha. The more experienced the beast, the stronger and larger it is.
Dauntless – Story campaign planned as well
At the end of our session with the developers, we learned that Dauntless will eventually have a story as well. However, the developers did not reveal what the story would be about. There will be recurring characters and quests, though. Moreover, the author of WildStar is behind the work, so I hope for the best!
Jürgen’s conclusion: I admit it, when I heard that I had to travel to Munich specifically for the Dauntless session, I was not too excited. The game didn’t say much to me, and I had also pretty much ignored Monster Hunter until now. But just a few minutes into the game, I was completely captivated. Dauntless plays like the cool monster boss fights from The Witcher 3 (which, according to the developers, were one of the main inspirations) and even has a more refined gameplay mechanic.
Especially the hit zones and severable body parts allow for intricate tactics, and you really can’t do without teamwork. And when the monster is finally slain and the adrenaline slowly fades, the feeling of victory is indescribable. Thus, I am already looking forward to the alpha in August.
Dauntless will be released in Winter 2017 for the PC as a free-to-play game. On August 8, 2017, a founder alpha will start, which you can access with founder packs. After that, there will also be a beta.
Founder Packs for Dauntless can be bought here!
Also interesting: Dauntless – “We do not fear the competition!”
