You really need to shut your brain off to enjoy The First Descendant

One month ago, I was sitting in a meeting room at Summer Game Fest about to go hands-on with The First Descendant. I was eager to see how Nexon’s multiplayer looter shooter would shake up a space dominated by Warframe and Destiny 2. Before I could start, I was shown a long video presentation breaking down how the game works in exhaustive detail. I was instantly lost; it felt like I was reading gibberish. That confusion didn’t clear up when I was tossed into a hub with no direction and had to be shepherded into a dungeon by a nearby PR person like a lost sheep.

I came away from that experience appreciating its sharp shooting and character-driven gameplay, but felt like I’d need to see the game in context to really get it. I wanted to know more about the world and its characters. I wanted to build a Descendant from the ground up instead of getting thrown into a hub. It felt like I was doing it a disservice by judging it based on a high-level activity that I couldn’t possibly hope to understand.

After finally getting to play right from the start, I now realize that I had gotten a fairly accurate slice of the full game after all. The First Descendant is an inscrutable looter shooter that still doesn’t make a lick of sense to me several hours in. My mistake was that I was trying to put an ounce of critical thought in while I played. In reality, I’d need to virtually shut my entire brain off to enjoy it.

Tune in and tune out

You’ve probably heard someone say — or even said yourself — that they want to turn their brain off when they watch a movie or play a game. It’s a common refrain for people who see blockbusters as nothing more than light escapism that can entertain for a few hours. I’ve never related to that sentiment. Even the most bombastic action movie can still be an enriching experience that sticks with me. Why would I want to waste my precious time on this Earth just looking at flashy noise that will go in one ear and out the other?

Still, I can understand the