Developer Nexon has released the first post-launch update for The First Descendant, which brings some much-needed improvements to the game after its rough launch.

Hotfix 1.0.1, out now across PC, PlayStation and Xbox, improves performance on PlayStation 5 specifically (the PS5 version has significant frame-rate issues), makes gameplay tweaks and various bug fixes, and fixes the logo sound volume on game launch.

On gameplay, knockback and knockdown recovery times have been sped up by 1.5 times, and the maximum usage of the Eterllick shield skill per phase has been reduced from two times to one time. There are no changes to The First Descendant’s heavily criticized monetization, however, which some have called “microtransaction hell.”

Nexon’s free-to-play co-op focused looter shooter, a sort of fusion of the likes of Warframe and Destiny, launched on June 30 and has seen huge player numbers on Steam (Sony and Microsoft do not reveal player numbers on PlayStation and Xbox). On Valve’s platform The First Descendant has seen 239,513 peak concurrent players so far, enough to put the game in Steam’s top five most-played games. Check out IGN’s The First Descendant review in progress to find out what we think of the game so far.

But the launch has endured significant problems, including the aforementioned frame-rate issues and crash problems, with lots of players still waiting for promised rewards including Twitch drops. Nexon has issued multiple apologies and dished out compensation in the form of in-game resources and items, but that hasn’t stopped the complaints. Nexon even had to ask players to stop buying the same item multiple times through Steam or the PlayStation or Xbox platform stores because players weren’t getting what they paid for.

The First Descendant hotfix 1.0.1 patch notes in full:

Platform & System

– Fixed the issue where the logo sound volume was too high when launching the game.

– Server and client stabilization has been carried out.

– (PS5) Removed unintended factors that were degrading performance.

– (PS5, XSX) Fixed the issue where FSR Upscale was malfunctioning.

Content Improvements

– Knockback and knockdown recovery times have been sped up by 1.5 times.

– The maximum usage of the Eterllick shield skill per phase has been reduced from 2 times to 1 time.

Bug Fixes

(1) UI/UX

– Fixed the issue where the back button did not work after closing the capacity exceeded popup in the module enhancement UI.

(2) Descendant

– (XB1) Fixed the issue where the heads of other players wearing skins would intermittently not display.

(3) Module

– Fixed the issue where the ‘Skill Power Modifier’ number was not applied correctly after level 5 enhancement of the ‘Lethal Infection’ module.

– Fixed the issue where the ultimate module drop animation was used when the normal module ‘High-Power Rounds Capacity Increase’ was dropped.

(4) Field

– Fixed the issue where object destruction animations did not appear in the Strategic Outpost.

– Fixed the issue where the name and description of the NPC Dominique in the Hagios region were displayed incorrectly.

(5) Equipment

– Fixed the issue where the Guided Round of the Ultimate Weapon ‘Restored Relic’ did not apply the ‘Ancient Fire’ status effect.

– Fixed the tooltip error for the Fire Skill Power of the ‘Active Volcano’ External Components 2-set effect.

– Fixed the tooltip error for the Weak Point Damage of the ‘Frozen Heart’ External Components 4-set effect.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for the final boss of Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree. Proceed with caution!

Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree comes with plenty of additional lore that ties up some of the base game’s loose ends and threads many more, but its final boss didn’t have a word of dialogue itself.

That seemingly wasn’t the original plan, however, as one player went digging into the files of Shadow of the Erdtree and found some cut dialogue that didn’t make it into the final version.

As reported by The Gamer, Reddit user LaMi_1 shared the brief snippets online, and though they don’t give much away, the dialogue would ironically silence some of the complaints voiced by players upon finishing Shadow of the Erdtree. Final spoiler warning for Shadow of the Erdtree’s final boss.

Antagonist Miquella must take down the player to usher in a new age, so in true FromSoftware fashion, he summons some help to do so. Miquella brings in Radahn from the past, but not the weak, puny (incredibly difficult) version of Radahn from the base Elden Ring, but a bigger and stronger version now imbued with magic.

Almost like a puppet, this Radahn doesn’t speak but proceeds to destroy the player, somewhat ominously swinging his giant blade without saying a word. And this was seemingly a very deliberate creative decision as FromSoftware did record dialogue for the fight, even though some players complained of Radahn’s silence, disappointed that what almost felt like an old friend had nothing to say.

“I am Radahn,” the cut dialogue began. “Born of red-maned Radagon, and Rennala of the Full Moon. A lion bred for battle.” Elden Ring fans have weighed in on its significance, with LaMi_1 themselves admitting the dialogues are “very generic and don’t reveal anything” but it would also “be cool to hear his voice.”

Tiloy22 leaned into that first point. “They may have cut it because it just wasn’t impressive or important enough,” they said. “It’s very generic dialogue and Radahn never spoke, so him saying something ‘meh’ might lose the impact. It’s like how people prefer for mute characters like Link [from The Legend of Zelda] to never speak.”

Shadow of the Erdtree, which arrived June 21, 2024, features bosses with which FromSoftware “really pushed the envelope” on what the player can withstand, director Hidetaka Miyazaki said ahead of its release. If you consider Radahn on of those, check out IGN’s extensive guide for everything you need to know about Shadow of the Erdtree’s new weapons, its various quest lines, and how to defeat the big man himself.

In our 10/10 review of the expansion, IGN said: “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail launched on July 2, 2024 with some technical issues but that didn’t stop it from drawing the most players to the massively multiplayer online game in over a decade.

In a blog post, Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida thanked players for their support of Dawntrail and said the MMO had enjoyed its highest numbers since the game-changing A Realm Reborn update was released in 2013.

“I would like to thank you all for your patience and cooperation in dealing with server congestion during the early access for Dawntrail,” Yoshida said. “With your support, we were able to reach a record number of concurrent users we’ve not seen since the release of A Realm Reborn in 2013.”

A Realm Reborn is the revamp that saved Final Fantasy 14, which originally launched in 2010 to a poor reception. Square Enix relaunched the MMO in 2014 with the A Realm Reborn subtitle, which also saw its arrival on PlayStation.

Several major expansions have been released since — Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, Endwalker, and now Dawntrail — with each adding a significant chunk of story content plus new dungeons and mechanics.

Dawntrail launched with some issues, however, especially on Xbox where the game client can become completely unresponsive when moving between locations. Yoshida previously said a fix for this should arrive in the week or two after its proper launch.

The expansion’s accompanying Version 7.0 patch made plenty of positive changes to the game too, such as new areas, quests, quality-of-life improvement, a huge graphical upgrade, and the Viper and Pictomancer jobs, but seemingly not without a few frustrating bugs.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Cardy, Matt, and Jesse are taking advantage of it being exactly the halfway point of the year to talk about some of their highlights of 2024 so far, as well as the games and movies they’re most looking forward to in the remaining six months. Before that, though, they each have a new thing to bring the table in the form of Zenless Zone Zero, Kinds of Kindness, and Longlegs respectively. Do they like them? You’ll just have to listen to find out.

Be sure to send us your thoughts about all the new games, films, and TV shows to ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 756: The 2024 Halfway Point Check-In

• IGN UK Podcast 755: Miyazaki’s Michelin Star
• IGN UK Podcast 754: The Boys, Some Dragons and an Acolyte
• IGN UK Podcast 753: The Best Games From Not-E3
• IGN UK Podcast 752: Our Summer Showcase Predictions
• IGN UK Podcast 751: The State of Astro Bot