What game you ask? Well, here's a little intro post about it!
So, what may you ask IS Dauntless? Well, I overheard people talking about it, and essentially it is a free to play, cross play action RPG where you can hunt monsters, collect loot, and upgrade weapons and armour? Think a lighter, cartoony version of Monster Hunter Worlds and you'll get the idea.
With that little introduction out of the way, here are my initial findings!
So few facts - download size! I'm currently playing this on the Xbox One and the download size was roughly 8-9GB which, once you get into the game for yourselves, I don't think is too bad a size for what the game is and the art style of it.
The first thing I was greeted with when loading the game up for the first time was the character creator. This I found rather in-depth! You can change anything from gender (no gender neutral option here I'm afraid) to eye position, nose size, right the way through to make-up and cheek thickness. It was very easy to navigate, and soon I had Kwingo (my Xbox Live gamer-tag by the way) looking the way I wanted (see pictures at the end!):
So, once the character creation was out of the way, I was launched into a rather nice movie sequence that set the scene perfectly. Essentially I was one of the new "Slayers" set out to hunt monsters and ensure the people of Ramsgate (the central hub location) were safe. I'll not spoil the cut scene but soon after I was hunting down my first monster!
This is where Dauntless really shines in my opinion. Firstly, the graphics I believe are awesome! I really like the art style that they have gone with - it reminds me of the way Disney's infinity games looked, with the clay-cartoon-esque look to them!
Secondly, the gameplay mechanics are verrry smooth. You have a simple attack which can be chained together (in the case of Xbox players, this is the x button), a heavier attack using the Y button, a dodge ability using B and jump with A. There are some other techniques such as running and charging up abilities that use the shoulder buttons but that's it. I found the mechanics very simple and intuitive, and very easy to pick up and play.
The tutorial mission essentially had me kill one of the many "behemoths" that are within the game itself. Once I had done the deed, I was transported to Ramsgate and given my first set of quests to do. These were the usual kill x number of behemoths with x varied weapons, but somehow they made me want to play more - they made me want to try out different weapons. Were the mechanics different? How did they play compared to my initial weapon.
I'm eager for more, and hope this has caught your attention and whetted your appetite too. I'll be updating shortly with how my character has progressed and how the cross play worked, but for now, here's a few more fun screen captures and Kwingo in all his glory (apologies for poor picture quality - better photos will appear in new blog posts!):
