Dauntless’ Review-Bomb Controversy Explained

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 10, 2024 26 Views 6 Min Read
Dauntless' Review-Bomb Controversy Explained



Many games have tried to emulate the formula of Monster Hunter in recent years, but Dauntless was one of the first to do it. Developed by Vancouver-based studio Phoenix Labs, Dauntless is a free-to-play action RPG that takes a lot of cues from Capcom’s wildly successful series. The game, which takes place in a colorful fantasy realm torn to shreds by an apocalyptic event, tasks players with the insurmountable goal of defeating the dangerous monsters, or Behemoths, that terrorize the world. Dauntless was originally released as an early access title in May 2018, only a few months after the debut of Monster Hunter: World. It was then launched across all eighth-generation platforms, including PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, in 2019.




Although Dauntless has been available on PC since its initial release, it was originally an Epic Games Store exclusive, since Epic had funded and published the game on most systems. On December 5, 2024, it was finally brought to Steam alongside the new Dauntless: Awakening update, which overhauled many of the game’s systems. Its launch on Valve’s PC storefront, however, has been anything but successful. Currently, the game has a dismal Overwhelmingly Negative rating on Steam, denoting that only 15% of users have left positive reviews. On top of all this, Dauntless‘s recent update has been lambasted by players across other platforms, due to what many claim are changes that have actively made the game worse.

Torgadoro, Deepfrost Gnasher, Thunderdeep Drask and Thrax - Behemoths in battle in Dauntless

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From the prickly Flameborn Quillshot to the time-distorting Chronovore, here are some of Dauntless’ toughest Behemoths and some tips to beat them.

Dauntless’s New Awakening Update is Being Heavily Criticized by Players


The New Monetization in Dauntless: Awakening Has Been Called Predatory

Perhaps the biggest issue that many fans have expressed their frustrations about is Dauntless‘s new monetization method. Being a free-to-play title, Phoenix Labs’ action RPG has always had a sizable number of microtransactions in it, but its Awakening update made the game far more predatory. The major patch in question increased the amount of limited-time cosmetics in the game’s battle passes, thus making them more FOMO-inducing. To make matters worse, it also added loot boxes, which players can purchase to get unique weapons from.

Loot boxes were originally present in early versions of Dauntless as a way for players to obtain in-game cosmetics, but after feedback from fans and industry-wide condemnation of the monetization method, they were removed in a post-launch patch sometime in 2017. At the time, John Houston, a lead developer on the RPG and a co-founder of Phoenix Labs, said in an interview with Glixel that the decision to get rid of loot boxes was made in order to give players a “clearer relationship to the content that [they’re] purchasing.” The fact that Houston was critical of loot boxes a few years ago makes their re-introduction in Dauntless‘s new update all the more confusing.


Fans Are Not Happy With the Removal of Various Features in Dauntless: Awakening

The questionable monetization methods in Dauntless: Awakening are just some of the many issues that players have with the game. Most users on Steam have routinely critiqued Phoenix Labs’ decision to roll back Dauntless players’ progression in the new update. The weapons that gamers acquired and the progress they made in Dauntless‘s main questline have largely been wiped from the game. Players have to start from scratch and spend dozens upon dozens of hours grinding for loot in the monster-slaying RPG in order to get back what they’ve lost. Either that, or they must spend real-life cash to get the weapons they want.

The reworked weapon crafting system in Dauntless: Awakening has also been a point of criticism. Cells, items that players could previously use to add perks to their armor sets, have been heavily nerfed. No longer can gamers mix-and-match abilities in order to create unique builds. Instead, they can only receive +1 bonuses when equipping additional Cells. The fact that this mechanic, along with several other systems in Dauntless, have been gutted, has led many to jokingly claim that its Awakening update removed more features than it added.


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