The MMO shooter The First Descendant aimed to compete with Destiny 2, now it stands on the brink, but the developers are not giving up.
What game is this about? The First Descendant is a free loot shooter with 4-player co-op, where you play different classes – the so-called Descendants. Your mission is to defend humanity against the malevolent aliens “Vulgus”.
All classes have different abilities that make them unique. For example, Ajax is a tank with strong shields, Freyna is a damage dealer with poison attacks, and Yujin is a healer who can deal little damage.
In addition to gameplay aspects, the shooter also heavily focused on revealing outfits and “fan service”. Players were allowed to put their female Descendants in stylish bikinis in hot tubs. But that also didn’t save the shooter.
Here you can watch a trailer for the game:
Few Players Left
What is the status of The First Descendant today? Looking at the peak player numbers on Steam, a dark picture emerges. According to SteamDB, only 4,545 players played simultaneously on April 7, 2026.
What seems okay at first glance changes immediately when you see that the shooter launched with more than 264,000 players. That nearly 260,000 players are gone, about 98% of all players, is clear to the developers, but they won’t let that slide.
What are the developers planning? In a livestream on YouTube, the developers of The First Descendant spoke about the status of their shooter. They are aware of how bad the situation is. For this reason, instead of ending it, they announced a massive overhaul of the shooter.
The first step involves a thorough overhaul of the core game, with the endgame and loot mechanics being improved. Once the foundations are laid, the developers will focus on the story and revise the main campaign as well as the optional missions.
In the final phase, it’s about rounding everything off, refining the game so that it becomes the title that was promised since the first announcement. This will also include a new mega-dungeon, a limited challenge mode, and a transformation of players into a colossus.
The developers are not giving up on their shooter. However, whether the announced changes can lead to a significant increase in player numbers remains to be seen. The shooter was also previously involved in a scandal: “They stole my face” – Loot shooter allegedly fabricates clips from streamers to make it look like they are promoting the game
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