[2021] Some honest opinions on Dauntless.

Ill admit. The game has me hooked. As infuriating as it can be sometimes, i love just logging on when i have nothing better to do and killing some Behemoths. Graphics are pretty good, (even if they stretch my Switch to its limits) th Behemoths have pretty neat designs, (even if some are copies of the other) and its overall pretty enjoyable.

Heres the thing though. At the same time, it feels… lacking, in a way. Beyond the bugs, (of which there are enough to make me believe no one tests the game before an update), it feels lime there could be so much more to Dauntless. The story is pretty neat. Long time ago, all these monstrous creatures rose up and became a huge problem, Arkan had an encounter with Chonovore that made him immortal, Middleman comes from the future, etc. But when it comes to gameplay… theres not a lot. The islands are just large and practically flat expanses where Behemoths come in out of nowhere. And while I believe this is good for an open world monster hunter game, it feels like there could be more to it. At least in Missions and Escalations. Make them more lore-driven. Kaltuaga, can be made like the old Hunting Ground system. Linnea can task us with hunting it down, and we explore the area till we find it. Dont just GIVE it to us. And escalations. I had an idea with the Terra escalation, where we are tasked with figuring out the source of the Arbourhome Blight. Now, it already kinda does this. But not to the extent im imagining. Make encountering Agarus a little more… natural. Dont tell us rumours and little tidbits about these legendary Behemoths, let us find them ourselves. for agarus: We go to the Blight, find the ruins of Arbourhome, and set out to discover just what caused it. We follow the spores, meeting Behemoths along the way, until we stumble upon Agarus. Not just... “Hey, big baddie here, go get him,” ya know?

Dauntless is pretty good. Overlookign the bugs, it has a pretty well structured world. Theres just … something missing. Theres a sense there can be more with this game, it feels a bit like a salad on a fancy dinner plate. Dauntless has great potential. I just dont feel like its there yet.