Dauntless Reviews
In Dauntless, the slayers hunt fantastic beast with friends then craft weapons and armor from those fallen behemoths in this free to play action-rpg.
Dauntless is a free-to-play action RPG developed by Phoenix Labs and debuted a full release across Windows, Xbox One, and Playstation 4 with fully functional cross-play. The game closely resembles the gameplay structure of the popular Capcom series, Monster Hunter. Though not without its problems, Dauntless might be one of the best free-to-play games currently available.
It's hard to play Dauntless without comparing it to Capcom's incredibly successful and popular Monster Hunter franchise. The free-to-play title captures many of the aspects that fans loved about those titles here. Killing monsters, gaining loot, and crafting new gear. It's a little disappointing that a bulk of the personalization options are locked behind microtransactions but this is a small issue. Dauntless successfully crafts an addicting monster hunting formula with lots of incredible Behemoths to kill.
Dauntless is a brilliant and lengthy free-to-play game – one that has and will be supported with crazy amounts of content. The latest update that pushed the game out of early access is its biggest and best update yet, especially with the release of the ridiculously fun new striker weapons. With a lot of content and the ability to play with friends, Dauntless is at least worth giving a shot. Obviously, it draws comparisons with Monster Hunter World but if you need another fix of David vs Behemoth action, this will more than quench your blood-thirstiness.
For RPGamers new to the hunter sub-genre of RPGs, Dauntless can provide an excellent entry point, especially given its free-to-play model.
Dauntless is great and addictive, offering many hours of hunting while exquisitely balancing action and RPG. With fun battles and a satisfying progression, I highly recommend the download, as this is the best free title I've played on the Switch - as well as being one of the best online experiences on the console. Even with flaws, the Slayers game is capable of bringing down any performance problem or monster prestigiously, attacking without ever losing its greatness.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Dauntless is one of those games that's best played in short bursts every once in a while.
If you're a fan of the action RPG genre and love to dish out major pain to monsters that would otherwise eviscerate you, you've found the game.
Unlike many other free-to-play games, Dauntless never makes you feel like you’re missing out if you don’t spend any money. Needless to say, if you’re after an action RPG along the lines of Monster Hunter to really sink your teeth into, you can’t go wrong with Dauntless.
The pure focus on hunting and looting monsters feels amazing, with fun missions and even better weapons. It thrives and pushes you constantly to completion, and slowly moves that completion goal further down the pipeline. As a free-to-play title, it is absolutely one of the nicer ones and makes for a great time with your friends.
Uninteresting and uninspired, Dauntless is certainly impressive in its own right, but as far as actual gameplay goes, what's present fails to engage beyond the surface level. Perhaps that'll be enough for most who download the free title, but between aesthetically resembling Fortnite and aping Monster Hunter's combat wholesale, Phoenix Games has failed to contribute anything truly novel to the experience. Dauntless is as derivative as they come, and while that lack of price tag may be appealing, there are much better games to spend one's time (and even money) on. Go play Monster Hunter instead.
Dauntless is a marvellous co-op action RPG wrapped into a wonderful and fun monster hunting game. It's an excellent F2P choice for casual gamers and hardcore hunters alike. It's also one of the few games that console only owners can cooperatively play alongside their PC-centric friends! Phoenix Labs has set a new standard for cross-play that we hope other developers will one day also embrace! Bottom line this game is monstrously fun!
Dauntless hits the mark across the board, and delivers an extremely compelling and engaging monster hunting game that genre newcomers and veterans alike can enjoy.
Dauntless is a great entry point to hunting games that is easily accessible to players who have yet to experience the thrill of the hunt.
A good free-to-play, with simple Monster Hunter gameplay element at its base, but only them.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Although it's not as great as Monster Hunter: World, but Dauntless is good enough as a free-to-play online game. It might be your best choice before Monster Hunter: World's Iceborne Expansion released.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
While Monster Hunter: World continues to pound its chest in dominance, it’s no longer the only game in town. Phoenix Labs’ Dauntless proves that it can hold its own against the king.
There is a lot of potential for alternative game modes and expansion of content for Dauntless, as they regularly update the game every other week.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the loop of hunting monsters and collecting their parts to craft better weapons and armor. That being said, its performance issues in the open-world hub and the inability to earn any substantial amount of platinum through regularly playing the game inhibits me from giving further praise. However, with some improvements, this game could be a sleeper hit within the library of free-to-play Nintendo Switch games.
Phoenix Labs has crafted a fully realized action RPG with Dauntless that brings together players across all platforms.