Dauntless Is Being Review Bombed

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Key Takeaways

  • Dauntless reached Steam on December 5, debuting to “Overwhelmingly Negative” reviews.
  • The game is being widely panned for its newly launched Dauntless: Awakening update, which introduced loot boxes, reset most weapon progress, and gutted build variety, among other issues.

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades under my belt, I’ve seen my fair share of game updates that left players scratching their heads and cursing at their screens. The latest update for Dauntless, titled “Awakening,” seems to be following suit, much to the dismay of its community.

At the moment, Dauntless is experiencing a surge of critical reviews on Steam, and similar sentiments can also be noticed on other marketplaces. It seems that the recent update for Dauntless might be causing this influx of unfavorable feedback.

Phoenix Labs’ monster-hunting game, initially launched as an early access title in May 2018, later had a complete launch for PC and consoles in September 2019. Exclusively available on the Epic Games Store since then, the PC version of Dauntless became accessible on Steam in early December 2024. This Steam release happened simultaneously with the unveiling of a significant update named Dauntless: Awakening.

However, the debut on Steam for the game has been bumpy, with it accumulating numerous negative user reviews in just two days since its release. As of December 7th, Dauntless has garnered an “Overwhelmingly Negative” rating on Valve’s platform, mainly due to criticism surrounding the game’s Awakening update. One aspect that has sparked discontent among some dedicated players is the introduction in the new patch that resets progress, eliminating all weapons within Dauntless except for Exotics.

Dauntless: Awakening Criticized for Loot Boxes, Balancing Changes, and More

Players have voiced their disapproval regarding the recent modifications in the Cells feature, where items are inserted into armor slots for additional advantages. Post the Awakening update, Cells can no longer be combined to enhance their potency; instead, they all now provide +1 bonuses. Some self-styled long-term players assert that this alteration has significantly diminished the versatility in build construction within Dauntless, especially since the latest update also restricts most perks from accumulating. The predicament worsens as certain abilities have been eliminated, leading to the impossibility of adapting many old builds, and even rendering them ineffective with this new patch.

Many gamers have voiced their disapproval towards the reintroduction of the classic battle pass system in the game, as it features time-limited cosmetics that create a fear of missing out (FOMO) to motivate gameplay. Additionally, the introduction of loot boxes in Dauntless: Awakening, which can be obtained instead of grinding weapons, has been met with criticism. The combination of this change and the resetting of most weapon progress has led some passionate players to label the update as overtly pay-to-win and highly predatory.

Similar sentiments can also be read by browsing the game’s latest reviews on the Xbox and PlayStation Stores. But neither console version of Dauntless has yet had its user rating meaningfully affected by the new update. Phoenix Labs is yet to publicly acknowledge this ongoing barrage of complaints, making it unclear whether the Canadian studio has any plans to revert some of the seemingly unpopular changes that it introduced.

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2024-12-07 12:13