The First Descendant Free to Play
Image via NEXON

Is The First Descendant Free to Play?

Can you hop in with no commitment?

The First Descendant is a new MMORPG on the market. But before potential Descendants get too excited, they need to know whether or not the game is completely free. Here’s whether or not The First Descendant is free to play.

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Can You Play The First Descendant for Free?

Fortunately for all potential The First Descendant players, the game is entirely free to play, meaning you can download it directly from Steam or your console store at no cost. Once the game is downloaded, the entire game’s campaign, side quests, and characters are accessible. Though you may have to grind quite a bit to unlock all the characters you want.

Image of Ajax fighting a boss in the First Descendant that's spewing laser beams
Screenshot via NEXON

As with any free to play game, though, The First Descendant does feature microtransactions and certain content locked behind grinding/currency. For example, at the start of the game, you only have access to three Descendants, which are characters that feature different classes. To unlock the full lineup of Descendants, you can either pay for them directly using Caliber (in-game currency) or grind for them by earning a certain amount of materials.

There’s also a Battle Pass in The First Descendant that contains dozens of cosmetics and other items, such as XP Boosters. Over half of the full Battle Pass falls under the “Premium” version, meaning you have to pay to unlock that content. However, there is also a free version of the pass that lets you unlock certain content simply for playing the game.

From what was seen in the betas for The First Descendant, you can have a fulfilling experience without forking over any real-life money. You’re able to unlock each Descendent, various cosmetics, and other items just by playing and grinding XP. Of course, if you want to unlock special kinds of content or bypass some grinding, you can pay some money, but that’s not required in the slightest.

The First Descendant launches on July 2 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Windows.


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Joey Carr
Joey Carr is a Staff Writer at The Escapist. He has over seven years of experience in the video game industry as a writer, editor, and content manager covering a wide range of genres and titles. Specifically, Joey covers Call of Duty, other multiplayer titles, and new game releases. You can find some of his previous work on Upcomer, Dot Esports, GameSpot, and more gaming sites.