Monster hunting multiplayer game developed by Phoenix Labs Dauntless launched into open beta today – breaking open its doors and allowing the unwashed masses to flood into its servers to fight the behemoths that threaten the city of Ramsgate amidst the Shattered Isles.
Now that the open beta has opened the floodgates, users need only download the game to get in on the fun.
Dauntless puts players in the role of a slayer, one of the fearless hunters of the Shattered Isles whose only job is to takes out the behemoths. These are giant monsters who have been feeding on the magic that underlies the world.
The aether, a magical power that keeps the islands of the Shattered Isles floating, is consumed by these monstrous behemoths. As it dwindles something not fully explained happens to those islands, perhaps they crumble, perhaps they shake loose from the world, but it’s bad for civilization.
Gameplay in Dauntless is simple from a first glance: suit up, get on an airship and fight a behemoth.
Every fight that players queue up for is a fight with a giant behemoth. Some behemoths are giant owlbears, others wear rocks as armor, yet others look like a reptilian mixture of an armadillo and an otter.
To beat these lumbering lummoxes, slayers fight them with a number of fantasy melee weapons. These include swords, hammers, chain-blades, axes and warpikes.
Each weapon comes with its own special style for fighting and – as with any giant beast – it’s also important to remember to dodge. Battles with behemoths are all boss battles, each one has its own mechanics that must be learned, and some even have resistances or attacks of specific types that need to be either avoided or mitigated.
These instanced fights in Dauntless are not like the dungeons of MMORPGs or the battlefields of shooters, they are each an encounter with a behemoth.
Swords feel a lot like the standard fantasy fighting weapon, except that it’s the two-handed version and the swings are slow but hit hard. Chain-blades are rapid, a twirl of fury and strikes that deal little damage individually but can stack up the more time they’re wailing on behemoth hide. Hammers are extremely slow, but they come equipped with a shotgun and explosive impact – thus they’re very good for stunning or interrupting behemoth attacks.
Aside from hunting the beasts, players will also spend time making things out of them.
Every hunt, players will come away with hides, claws, teeth, tails and any other number of organs and bits from behemoths that can then be fashioned into armor and weapons. This is important for the gameplay in Dauntless because all there is to do is fight behemoths: thus, progression is tied to breaking them down into crafting components and making better (or more interesting weapons).
The graphics of the game are reminiscent of the Disney film Tangled with an eye towards an almost cell-shaded angular cartoony 3D. It makes the game extremely approachable with vivid worlds populated with square-jawed heroes going about their daily lives of fighting would-be dragons all day long.
The game does have a social area, similar to the Tower in Destiny – the previously mentioned city of Ramsgate. It functions as the quest-hub and crafting center. It can also support what appears to be around 20 other players, who linger around doing their work and can chat locally and regionally.
The community is also extremely friendly. Coming out of the closed beta, where people would constantly seek out new players and assist them. Calls for particular tough behemoths ring constantly across Ramsgate, often with players further in progression offering to “carry” to help people break into new islands and territories.
The open beta is just starting and it began with a progression wipe: so everyone will begin at the same power level.
Although the servers at Dauntless are having trouble keeping up with the sudden popularity, and the game went down for maintenance some time midday, it’s shaping up to be a good launch.
See you amid the islands; and if you find one of the voces, do say hello.
The game can be downloaded from the Dauntless website. Sign on and bring your best hunting-pants, for the safety of Ramsgate, behemoths need to go down.
As the game will be free-to-play at launch, it is suspected that the open beta is part of a soft launch for the game. It has a cash shop already available and founder’s packs were sold to allow access to the closed alpha and beta.
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