There’s a great selection of Free-to-play games on the Switch and Dauntless was no exception. Originally dropped on the Switch in 2019 as a free-to-play monster-hunting title with an emphasis on teamwork, big monsters, and battle passes. It did a great job engaging players, and grew a decent fanbase across all platforms, while still fighting in the shadow of Monster Hunter Rise. The team at Phoenix Labs have been hard at work on the new “Awakening” update which completely overhauls the game. What’s It Like? Download the update, sharpen your blades, and grab a battle pass as we review the Free-to-Play Dauntless Awakening update for Nintendo Switch.
For the uninitiated, Dauntless allows you to hunt monsters in the Shattered Isles and use the items the monsters drop to craft weapons and armour to improve your chances of hunting even bigger monsters. It’s very Monster Hunter-esque and is best approached as a “Free to play Monster Hunter” title. Not that it’s a shameless clone, but it does enough to separate it from Capcom’s titanic title in both setting and gameplay style. There’s a narrative that drives the game along called the “Slayers Path” that essentially acts as a tutorial for the game and its mechanics. With the new update, there’s a new lot of quests designed to refamiliarise you with the world of Dauntless, whether you like it or not, which sometimes felt like I was being held back from the action despite being well versed in the hunt.
That’s not the only thing that has changed, as Awakening adds many quality-of-life features, weapons, and a new Behemoth. A huge change that actually impacts the gameplay (in a positive way) is you can now equip two weapons and switch them on the fly. This is great for switching from ranged to a melee weapon to get up close and personal, or having different elemental attacks equipped to different weapon types. I found switching during combat a breeze and it was great to mix up styles. Each weapon type also now has its own progression and levelling, although even if you don’t use your secondary as much, it will still level up during a hunt so you don’t have to worry too much about swapping weapons out if you’re caught in the heat of the battle. There are a lot of currency changes and a lot of things resetting which has caused some outcry amongst dedicated fans too. So if you haven’t played in a while, there’s a good chance you may have to level some things again.
Graphically, the game still looks the same and has an almost Fortnite aesthetic that works really well for the game. Levels are fairly large and the environmental effects work well. There are plenty of cool little details too like swinging your axe in a heavy attack can lop trees down in the heat of battle. The behemoths themselves look impressive and dangerous, and there’s a sense of excitement when fighting them. The UI could do with some work as there are plenty of pop-ups that hinder your view even during battle, and for some reason no matter how many times I view it, the game keeps wanting to remind me about stamina.
While all of these changes certainly freshen up the free-to-play model, this update comes at a heavy cost to the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, Dauntless performance on the handheld console is so poor, that it often drops into single-digit framerates. Sometimes, it even pauses on load-in for up to 20 seconds or so, only changing frames once every few seconds. It did have some performance issues previously, but the Awakening update has ground performance to a halt. It’s the single biggest thing holding Dauntless back on the Switch as the gameplay and unique elements make it such a fun game to play, but in the heat of battle when the game drops to around 10 frames per second or so, it’s a mess. On top of this, there were a few bugs like air cannons just shooting you off a cliff instead of elevating you, and I had several crashes to the home screen as well. It’s such a shame because I think I was one of the players most excited to return to the world of Dauntless, only to have my hopes and enthusiasm crashing harder than the framerate.
For my vision-impaired slayers, there are options to increase text size for readability, and some FOV settings, but as always, I recommend further research into finding out if Dauntless Awakening is for you.
Finally, we can tackle the big question we ask with most free-to-play games: How free-to-play is it? Dauntless has the standard Standard Battlepass prices, although they did lock the Alluring Sun’s Pistols Transmorg behind the latest Hunt Pass which has irked some players. You can purchase a lot of cosmetics and transmorgs for your weapons, but aside from that, you can progress rather easily through the game without needing a purchase. The free Hunt Pass included also offers rewards at every level, meaning progression is still rewarded regardless of whether you fork out money for it.
It’s common for performance issues and bugs to tarnish a game launch, and I have no doubt that given a week or two, there will be hotfixes and updates that could elevate Dauntless on the Switch to one of the leading Free-to-Play titles. The framerate issues aside, there’s a solid game here that doesn’t attempt to gouge the player at every turn. As it stands, despite the fun gameplay, the performance issues make Dauntless more of a rude Awakening.
So, What’s It Like? Dauntless Awakening is like a Fortnite version of Monster Hunter.
