The First Descendant update 1.1.6 has arrived, with a wealth of upgrades and improvements just introduced to the free Steam game. There's a lot to dig through in this latest set of patch notes, including improvements to Resource Defense and the long-awaited Reactor Implant function, but the most notable addition is likely the Descendant's Daily Tasks, which run for the next three weeks and let you snag a wealth of gold and experience boosts to help minimize the grind.
Grinding out the best free Steam game can easily flip from a motivation to keep playing into a frustration that might drive you away, so developer Nexon has introduced some new additions to help. The first of these is the daily tasks system, which runs for three weeks from now until Wednesday November 20.
These tasks reset every day at midnight PDT / 3am EDT / 7am GMT / 8am CET, and they're pretty easy to complete – complete four Zone Missions and two Void Intercept Battles, and take out 100 enemies, and you're already halfway there. The remainder require you to complete one research project, enhance one module, and combine one module, and doing all of them will net you an ample supply of Gold, Kuiper SHards, and materials, along with a pair of five-hour boosts for your Descendant experience and weapon proficiency respectively.
The weekly task, meanwhile, challenges you with enhancing a reactor each week, with the reset happening at the same time each Sunday. You'll snag a Crystallization Catalysts and a resource box filled with materials for your troubles. That reactor grind has just got a lot smoother, too, thanks to the introduction of the Reactor Implant feature at the workbench.
This new feature allows you to implant the weapon optimization conditions from other ultimate reactors into your current one, with up to three on a single reactor meaning you'll no longer need separate options when you decide to switch weapons. Getting a suitable reactor for your current loadout can feel like one of the biggest frustrations, so this should make your life a lot simpler.
Resource Defense special operations have been dramatically shortened from 21 down to 10 waves, with a significant increase to the number of common and commander-type monsters that appear. Champion monsters will also drop buff items, and you'll get weapon proficiency when you reach the interim review stages, rather than having to wait until the very end.
Rounding out the update is a new variant of the Twisted Worship skin – if you've already purchased it, you'll be sent the Twisted Worship SE version via mail. "To accommodate the original design, we've decided to keep the existing skin unchanged for those who own it and to provide the redesigned skin as an additional option," Nexon writes. "The dev team is committed to providing skins that satisfy you." The First Descendant update 1.1.6 is out now – you can play for free on Steam.
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