The First Descendant producer wants the game to stand alongside Destiny 2, not kill it

While Destiny 2 is wrapping up its decade-long storyline with its The Final Shape expansion, a new looter shooter rival, The First Descendant, has just arrived on the scene. Available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam, it’s too soon to tell if it will get as popular as Bungie’s title, but The First Descendant‘s producer has downplayed suggestions that the game will kill its competitor outright.

Speaking with God is a Geek, producer Lee Beom-jun was asked how he felt about players already calling The First Descendant a potential “Destiny killer.” Beom-jun says it’s “an honour to be compared to great games,” and describes the team as being huge fans of Destiny 2. In fact, it’s the team’s love of looter shooters that led to The First Descendant‘s creation. However, it sounds like he’d rather The First Descendant and Destiny 2 got to co-exist since there aren’t many games like them to begin with.

“There aren’t as many looter shooters in the gaming market as we’d like,” explains Beom-jun. “As a fan myself, I hope our game becomes a beloved title that stands the test of time alongside others a comrade [sic], rather than being seen as a ‘killer.'” Some healthy competition could only benefit both The First Descendant and Destiny 2 as well and, while it’s still early days, the former must be doing something right as it’s attracted 185,754 players on Steam (per SteamDB) at the time of writing. Destiny 2, by comparison, has just over 50,600, but it’s important to remember The First Descendant has the advantage of being brand-new. It’ll be interesting to see how the player counts compare later in the year.

Elsewhere in the interview, The First Descendant‘s director Minseok Joo was asked about the sort of content players can expect in the future. Firstly, every season will introduce a new playable character, and new locations will be periodically added as well. However, it sounds like new locations won’t be as frequent since “we are focusing on expanding contents around the dungeons.” Joo believes updates should offer new experiences, and simply adding more areas to run around in would get repetitive, which is why “we are preparing dungeons with new mechanics, traps, and challenges to enjoy cooperative play.”

As for seasonal events, Joo suggests they’re not a priority at the moment since the team is “focusing more on strengthening the core of the game.” Plus, if events do come to The First Descendant, you probably shouldn’t expect ones themed on holidays like Halloween or Valentine’s Day as seen in other games. Joo says this is because “we would prefer to prepare events that fit the atmosphere of the game.”