Dauntless

The Monster Hunter series has managed to spawn its sub-genre of MMOs, a genre that focuses solely on killing large singular boss monsters and using whatever they drop as materials for crafting better gear. Unfortunately, few games manage to stand out, many of them failing to even exit the Beta phase due to poor reviews. However, once in a blue moon, there comes a title that blows everything away due to one or more groundbreaking features, one such title being Dauntless.

While the majority of Monster Hunter-type games choose either a hyper-realistic art style or an anime-inspired art-style, Dauntless is designed in a way that doesn't fit any existent trope, although it could be considered animated without being a caricature. The environments look amazing, and so do the monsters, characters, spell effects and so on, without sacrificing performance at all.

Instead of starting from a blank slate and then customizing your character, you first have to choose your ancestry, which will form the basis of how your character will look. Once finished, you'll be amazed at how well your character is included in all of the game's cinematics and cutscenes, making you feel like you're part of a story and not one of the thousands of players all racing for the same goal.

Behemoths draw their devastating power from aether, consuming the land and destroying our home, and you assume the role of a slayer (this game's version of a monster hunter), and it is your job to vanquish these Behemoths. Each encounter begins with a cut-scene, thus reminding you that you are part of a bigger story and not just on a casual farming spree. Behemoths come in all shapes and sizes, and each of them requires different fighting strategies and recommended team compositions to fight them effectively. Some are mobile and shoot long ranged attacks, forcing you to be nimble, while others deal high are of effect damage, forcing you always to be aware of where you are standing.

Your arsenal of weapons include classics such as swords and axes, along with newer additions such as cannon/hammer hybrids or long-range chain-blades. When it comes to crafting, Behemoths provide both inspiration and materials. Use the parts you collect to build out your arsenal and improve your chances of survival. Each piece you craft has its perks and bonuses.

Dauntless shows great promise with all the features it has, showcasing great graphics, top-notch voice-acting, as well as encounters that always seem just as epic as the first time you tried them.