Dauntless reached its release on Steam five years after the original launch. Users greeted it, to put it mildly, coldly. Currently, Dauntless has an "overwhelmingly negative" rating on Steam with only 14% positive reviews.
Dauntless
According to the Steam250 portal, Dauntless smashed into the top-80 lowest-rated games in Steam's history. At the time of writing, it holds the 73rd spot on the list. It is accompanied by Fragmented and Madden NFL 24.
The main reason for the discontent is the massive Awakening update, released concurrently with the game's launch on Steam. All users had their progress reset. Additionally, players are now more aggressively pushed to make microtransactions.
Low ratings were mainly given by users who spent many hours on the version previously available via the Epic Games Store. They cannot express their discontent on the latter platform.
Veterans of Dauntless complain that all the items they had enhanced simply disappeared from their inventory. Moreover, developers completely overhauled the weapon and armor upgrade system.
Initially, the game featured about 400 types of weapons, and after the update, only 18 basic weapon categories remain. Now they have to be leveled up again for money, and skins must be purchased to make them look as before.
Additionally, according to players, Dauntless has become an example of classic pay-to-win. Furthermore, the game aggressively encourages purchases. For example, after each raid, players are first shown missed rewards available only with a premium pass.
The game also introduced a loot box mechanic and several more paid currencies. Most of the cosmetic content that was previously obtainable for free is now sold at inflated prices.
"This update is, without exaggeration, the worst I've seen in all my time playing games," summarizes one user. Avid "hunters" are literally shouting that newcomers are better off staying away from Dauntless.
As reported by PC Gamer, the reasons behind Dauntless's disastrous launch on Steam and the excessive monetization lie in the change of the developer studio Phoenix Labs' ownership. In 2023, it was acquired by the blockchain platform Forte, which apparently holds its own views on monetization.
It's worth noting that developers from Phoenix Labs have already responded to the criticism with a letter to the community. Instead of apologizing or promising to fix the situation, they suggested that players accept that the changes will be permanent.
According to SteamDB, at launch, the peak online for Dauntless reached 3,000 people. Now, the number of concurrent players does not exceed 500.