Dauntless

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 31

Play It

Dauntless is a pleasant alternative to Monster Hunter, offering a fantastic multiplayer experience and a vibrant artistic style.

Play It

Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 31

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 31

Dauntless is a pleasant alternative to Monster Hunter, offering a fantastic multiplayer experience and a vibrant artistic style.

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Critic Reviews for Dauntless

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

31

Reviews

Average Score - 77/100

77%

Ranges

8.5/10

David Jagneaux (IGN)

What Dauntless lacks in layered complexity it makes up for with tightly crafted combat and rewarding progression, proving you don’t need to cram every possible feature into a game for it to be great.

June 1, 2019 |

Full Review

A fantastic multiplayer experience and vibrant art direction help make Dauntless stand out, despite feeling a little empty at times.

May 31, 2019 |

Full Review

7/10

Ginny Woo (GameSpot)

75/100

Sam Desatoff (GamesBeat)

I wanted very badly to love Dauntless, and for a time I think I did thanks to the fantastic combat and weapon variety. But the lack of any real storytelling makes the repetitive questing structure a glaring issue in desperate need of some TLC. If you’re looking for a new go-to F2P experience, you could do much worse — just don’t expect a world drenched teeming with lore and compelling characters.

October 14, 2019 |

Full Review

David Jagneaux (IGN)

8.5/10 - (Read Review)

Ginny Woo (GameSpot)

7/10 - (Read Review)

A fantastic multiplayer experience and vibrant art direction help make Dauntless stand out, despite feeling a little empty at times.

Sam Desatoff (GamesBeat)

75/100 - (Read Review)

**Read all 31 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (31 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
Attack of the Fanboy	Brandon Adams	4.5 / 5 stars	12-18-2019	Dauntless offers up a pleasant alternative experience in the monster hunting action genre that focuses on the battles without sacrificing the core appeal. If you’ve ever wanted to take down larger-than-life beasties to wear their hides and take down even nastier foes, but felt intimidated by Capcom’s more deliberate design, then Dauntless will prove a great, enjoyable way to finally see what all the monster slaying fuss is about. The fact that it’s a fair free-to-play game makes it all the easier to experience for yourself.	Read review
CGMagazine	Cole Watson	7.5 / 10	06-03-2019	Dauntless is a great entry point to hunting games that is easily accessible to players who have yet to experience the thrill of the hunt.	Read review
COGconnected	Alexander Thomas	76 / 100	01-11-2020	There are definitely some things that the developers need to iron out, and should if they want to keep their impressive player base, but as it stands right now Dauntless has a very strong base that can be built upon moving forward.	Read review
Cubed3	Renan Fontes	3 / 10	01-03-2020	Uninteresting and uninspired, Dauntless is certainly impressive in its own right, but as far as actual gameplay goes, what’s present fails to engage beyond the surface level. Perhaps that’ll be enough for most who download the free title, but between aesthetically resembling Fortnite and aping Monster Hunter’s combat wholesale, Phoenix Games has failed to contribute anything truly novel to the experience. Dauntless is as derivative as they come, and while that lack of price tag may be appealing, there are much better games to spend one’s time (and even money) on. Go play Monster Hunter instead.	Read review
DualShockers	Jordan Boyd	9 / 10	05-24-2019	Phoenix Labs has crafted a fully realized action RPG with Dauntless that brings together players across all platforms.	Read review
GameGrin	Shayne Brown	8 / 10	08-05-2019	If you’re a fan of the action RPG genre and love to dish out major pain to monsters that would otherwise eviscerate you, you’ve found the game.	Read review
GamePitt	Kieran Harris	8.5 / 10	10-25-2019	Dauntless is a brilliant and lengthy free-to-play game – one that has and will be supported with crazy amounts of content. The latest update that pushed the game out of early access is its biggest and best update yet, especially with the release of the ridiculously fun new striker weapons. With a lot of content and the ability to play with friends, Dauntless is at least worth giving a shot. Obviously, it draws comparisons with Monster Hunter World but if you need another fix of David vs Behemoth action, this will more than quench your blood-thirstiness.	Read review
Gamersky	金闪闪老里	8 / 10	06-12-2019	Although it’s not as great as Monster Hunter: World, but Dauntless is good enough as a free-to-play online game. It might be your best choice before Monster Hunter: World’s Iceborne Expansion released.	Read review
GamesBeat	Sam Desatoff	75 / 100	10-14-2019	I wanted very badly to love Dauntless, and for a time I think I did thanks to the fantastic combat and weapon variety. But the lack of any real storytelling makes the repetitive questing structure a glaring issue in desperate need of some TLC. If you’re looking for a new go-to F2P experience, you could do much worse — just don’t expect a world drenched teeming with lore and compelling characters.	Read review
GameSpew	Richard Seagrave	8 / 10	10-16-2019	Unlike many other free-to-play games, Dauntless never makes you feel like you’re missing out if you don’t spend any money. Needless to say, if you’re after an action RPG along the lines of Monster Hunter to really sink your teeth into, you can’t go wrong with Dauntless.	Read review
GameSpot	Ginny Woo	7 / 10	05-29-2019	A fantastic multiplayer experience and vibrant art direction help make Dauntless stand out, despite feeling a little empty at times.	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Russell Archey	8.5 / 10	02-01-2020	If you’re not worried about a major story or a lot of strategy but still want to see what the monster hunting genre is like without shelling out a lot of money, Dauntless is a nice free-to-play game to ease you into things.	Read review
GamingBolt	Pramath	8 / 10	05-28-2019	Dauntless hits the mark across the board, and delivers an extremely compelling and engaging monster hunting game that genre newcomers and veterans alike can enjoy.	Read review
Geeks Under Grace	E.L. Wilson	8.5 / 10	05-29-2019	In Dauntless, the slayers hunt fantastic beast with friends then craft weapons and armor from those fallen behemoths in this free to play action-rpg.	Read review
God is a Geek	Mick Fraser	8.5 / 10	06-03-2019	Mick Fraser: “The variety of bosses is strong and the combat/reward loop is wonderfully addictive. If nothing else, the fact that every Behemoth, armour set and weapon can be unlocked without spending a penny makes it well worth checking out.”	Read review
IGN	David Jagneaux	8.5 / 10	06-01-2019	What Dauntless lacks in layered complexity it makes up for with tightly crafted combat and rewarding progression, proving you don’t need to cram every possible feature into a game for it to be great.	Read review
IGN Italy	Diego Cinelli	7.5 / 10	06-07-2019	As things stand today, Dauntless is still a promising game, crippled by some technical issues (there’s still an OB in the software version, after all), but enhanced by a great cross-play feature.	Read review
MMOGames	TheDCD	8.5 / 10	06-14-2019	While Monster Hunter: World continues to pound its chest in dominance, it’s no longer the only game in town. Phoenix Labs’ Dauntless proves that it can hold its own against the king.	Read review
MMORPG.com	Robin Baird	9 / 10	10-02-2019	Dauntless is fun, plain and simple.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Mitch Vogel	7 / 10	12-22-2019	Though this Switch port mightily struggles from a performance perspective, it’s still enjoyable on a consistent enough basis that such issues can be mostly overlooked. It literally costs you nothing more than time to give Dauntless a try, and we’d highly recommend you give it a shot.	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Daan Koopman	8 / 10	12-30-2019	The pure focus on hunting and looting monsters feels amazing, with fun missions and even better weapons. It thrives and pushes you constantly to completion, and slowly moves that completion goal further down the pipeline. As a free-to-play title, it is absolutely one of the nicer ones and makes for a great time with your friends.	Read review
NoobFeed	Adam Siddiqui	85 / 100	10-02-2019	It’s hard to play Dauntless without comparing it to Capcom’s incredibly successful and popular Monster Hunter franchise. The free-to-play title captures many of the aspects that fans loved about those titles here. Killing monsters, gaining loot, and crafting new gear. It’s a little disappointing that a bulk of the personalization options are locked behind microtransactions but this is a small issue. Dauntless successfully crafts an addicting monster hunting formula with lots of incredible Behemoths to kill.	Read review
PCGamesN	Phil Iwaniuk	5 / 10	10-04-2019	A game with unapologetically singular focus, its distillation of deeper MMOs’ elements nevertheless results in an experience that all too often feels barren. Phil Iwaniuk	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Eric Hauter	9 / 10	06-06-2019	Dauntless comes bursting out of early access with one of the best, most original, and most polished games in the free-to-play space. With tons of content, amazing battles, a great matchmaking system, and endless room to grow, Dauntless is going to be around for a long, long time. Beyond highly recommended, Dauntless is compulsory, obligatory, required gaming.	Read review
RPGamer	Phil Willis	Recommended	01-22-2020	For RPGamers new to the hunter sub-genre of RPGs, Dauntless can provide an excellent entry point, especially given its free-to-play model.	Read review
Screen Rant	Zak Wojnar	3 / 5 stars	05-31-2019	Dauntless combines Monster Hunter and Destiny to create a fun, free-to-play experience.	Read review
SpazioGames	Unknown	7.8 / 10	07-01-2019	A good free-to-play, with simple Monster Hunter gameplay element at its base, but only them.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Jim Hargreaves	8 / 10	06-25-2020	Although hardly original in its premise, Dauntless offers an extremely fun and accessible take on the monster-hunting roleplaying game. It wastes no time in throwing you straight into the action and while easy to pick up there’s plenty of depth there for fans of the genre. What’s more Dauntless is completely free to play, gracefully sidestepping those annoying monetisation pitfalls we’re so used to seeing.	Read review
Twinfinite	Greysun Morales	4 / 5 stars	06-03-2019	Although it’s a copycat in a lot of ways, Dauntless has its own perks that make it worth checking out for fans of the genre looking for something that’s very low risk to try, familiar, and fun.	Read review
USgamer	Mike Williams	4 / 5 stars	06-03-2019	Dauntless is Monster Hunter for those that don’t have the time or money to devote to Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World. Dauntless falters in certain areas, but provides the feel of hunting and gear progression in a more streamlined manner. the world can feel a bit lifeless and gamey at time, but this is definitely good enough to carve out it’s own space alongside Capcom’s flagship series. And being free-to-play with full cross-platform play helps a great deal.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	5.5 / 10	01-02-2020	Dauntless is one of those games that’s best played in short bursts every once in a while.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

Dauntless takes place in a fantasy setting, where a cataclysmic event has torn the world apart, releasing monster-like Behemoths that prey on the surviving humans. Players take on the role of Slayers to take down Behemoths, collecting loot that they used to craft and upgrade weapons and equipment as to take down larger and more powerful Behemoths.

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