(Photo : Phoenix Labs / Screenshot taken from Steam)
Players are currently review bombing Dauntless, causing the free-to-play monster hunting game to have an Overwhelmingly Negative rating on Steam.
The situation comes after Dauntless' debut launch on Steam that brings with it a major overhaul that made almost every player furious. A lot of the complaints center around the fact that the launch on Valve's gaming platform reset progress for players.
Dauntless Gets Overwhelmingly Negative Rating
This is not the first time that developer Phoenix Labs has done something of this nature. The studio also released a new monetization model that many players feel is a bit too much. One user said that all weapons they had in the game were taken from them.
The weapons are now locked behind a $20 paywall except for the starting seven you get in the game itself. There were also a lot of weapons that were removed, including ones that people grinded for.
The user said that Dauntless was a prime example of a good game that should never have been touched and was simply ruined by new updates. The changes came shortly after the developer was quietly acquired in 2023 in an unannounced deal, according to PCGamer.
Phoenix Labs was founded by Riot alumni but its parent company is now Forte, which is a blockchain company. Previous reports noted that the latter ordered the developer to keep quiet about the acquisition.
Another user said that the latest update is easily the worst one that they have ever seen out of every game that they have played. They also noted that the company that bought Phoenix Labs had other games not related to crypto stuff, which all closed down soon after.
Changes in the Awakening Update
Dauntless originally released as an early access game in May 2018 before fully launching for PC and consoles in September 2019. The PC version remained an Epic Games Store exclusive for quite some time, Game Rant said.
The game's arrival on Steam comes alongside the release of a major new update known as Dauntless: Awakening. Many players also criticized the changes made to Cells, which are items that are placed in armor slots to provide various perks.
These can no longer be fused in order to increase their effectiveness, which means that they will also provide a flat +1 bonus. Many veterans are calling this the killer of build variety in Dauntless.
Phoenix Labs tried to quell the chaos by trying to justify the recent changes made to Dauntless. The studio said that many weapons felt similar to each other, with the exception of Exotics, which is why they were removed as they only worked like skins, according to Games Radar.
Related Article: 'Dauntless' Patch 1.8.3 Update Guide: New Behemoth, In-Game Refreshes, Changes, Fixes, and More
