Dauntless will be releasing its next major update, Call of the Void, on June 11. It will bring new activities, a new monster, and more when it launches for free on PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The online action role-playing game has players teaming up to fight giant monsters called behemoths. It is similar to Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise, but Dauntless is free-to-play and has a brighter, more cartoon-like art style. It also gets you into monster fights faster than Monster Hunter, with less of an emphasis on tracking and searching. Dauntless also supports crossplay among all of its platforms.
After a lengthy early access period on PC, Dauntless had its official launch in 2019. The game has attracted over 15 million players on PC and consoles. Dauntless makes money by selling season passes and individual cosmetics, and updates like this can increase player engagement.
The Call of the Voice update adds a new Escalation, which has players fighting a sequence of behemoths while earning power-ups between each fight. This Escalation focuses on the Umbral element (think dark energy), and it culminates in a fight against the new Thrax behemoth.
Fighting the darkness
I had a chance to experience the Umbral Escalation and the fight against Thrax myself thanks to an online demo with developer Phoenix Labs. The battle is exciting and challenging, with the insect-like Thrax able to teleport around the battlefield. He was even able to use a portal just strike at me with pincers, which was as cool as it was terrifying. It took a good while to bring him down (mostly thanks to the efforts of my Phoenix Labs teammates). Beating him also gives you a chance to unlock recipes for new legendary weapons.
The update also adds a new training grounds section. This gives players a place to check try out different weapons against training dummies, and it gives you tips and teaches you some basic combos. Call of the Void is also adding more narrative elements to the game.
“Players will notice changes over the coming weeks and choices they make will directly impact the narrative arc, culminating in a big surprise when Dauntless’ next content update arrives in July,” notes Phoenix Labs. During my demo, the developers highlighted a large, ominous orb hanging out between two fights in the Umbral Escalation. This orb will likely be the key to the upcoming story developments.
