Monster Hunter-like Dauntless is finally launching next week

First revealed in 2016

Announced back in the tail-end of 2016, it seemed like Dauntless would be relegated to early access for ages, but it finally has a release date: May 21. It’ll launch on PC (Epic Game store), PS4, and Xbox One all at once, so you don’t have to worry about a staggered release for those platforms at least.

Since the game has been in early access for some time it’ll properly launch with season five alongside of a new “hunt pass,” which is basically the battle pass program (leveling up in the pass system unlocks cosmetics and currency) that every game has now following Dota 2 and Fortnite‘s popularization of the concept.

Developer Phoenix Labs is promising “massive” updates for 1.0, including a mastery system for extra skill acquisition, a campaign rework, and questing and crafting enhancements. As a reminder Dauntless is free-to-play and will support itself on a microtransaction system that leans toward cosmetics (fine for a F2P joint) and boosts (which I’m not so crazy about if this system is expanded). So far the community has self-policed the studio if they overstep (loot boxes were removed in 2017 after an outcry), which is a good sign for the game’s future.

Dauntless release date [Dauntless]