Dauntless, the free-to-play monster slayer, has launched on the Epic Games Store and consoles today, and the good news is that it doesn’t really matter where you get the game, you’ll be able to play with everyone else and keep your progress.
Games rarely launch with any kind of cross-platform bells and whistles, so it’s a novelty to see one launch with both cross-platform and cross-progression support. It helps that it’s had a year in open beta on PC, and smaller tests before that.
I played for a couple of weeks last year and found it a refreshing change of pace from Monster Hunter, which tasks you with doing a lot of legwork before getting to fight some monsters. Dauntless just lets you pick your bounty and then it sends you to a map where the monster awaits. There’s a bit of stalking your prey, but mostly it’s about the confrontation. It has more immediate thrills, though there’s a lot to be said for Monster Hunter’s more drawn out hunts.
Today’s launch also coincides with a campaign rework, with various fundamental systems getting big updates. There’s a also new set of rewards available in the Hidden Blades Hunt Pass, Dauntless’s version of a battle pass, which has free and premium tracks you can work your way down.