Dauntless, the debut effort from Phoenix Labs, has drawn many comparisons to Monster Hunter since it was unveiled at The Game Awards in 2016, and it`s easy to see why. Like Capcom`s monster-slaying series, the object in Dauntless is to team up with other players to take down colossal Behemoths and use the materials you gather to forge new weaponry and armor.That`s not to say Dauntless is simply a Monster Hunter clone, though. While its premise may be similar, the game sets itself apart from Capcom`s series in a number of notable ways. Perhaps the most obvious is its free-to-play structure, which should make the game more welcoming for curious players to jump into. Dauntless also has more variety in terms of its weapons; in addition to the standard array of swords and shields, we got to try a set of kusarigama, which functioned both as a fast-paced melee weapon and allowed for long-range attacks.One of the big draws of Dauntless is experimenting with different weapons and armor, each of which has unique properties that change the way you approach a hunt. We saw some of these in action in our previous hands-on time with the title, but Phoenix Labs has added plenty of new options and abilities since then. One major addition are Lanterns. You can equip a Lantern before a hunt, and each one endows you with a different, limited-use support ability; one, for instance, creates a restorative field around your avatar that allows players within your vicinity to regain health.Like Monster Hunter, the Behemoths you`re tasked with slaying are powerful and require different tactics to defeat. In our hands-on time at E3, we teamed up with developers from Phoenix Labs to hunt a giant, owl-like monster, which could bowl players over by swooping across the battlefield. This attack in particular caused a heavy amount of damage, and we had to roll out of the way in time to avoid it and follow up with our own attacks. You can catch a glimpse of the Behemoth, and learn more about the ...
|