Dauntless is a brand new co-op action RPG coming from Phoenix Labs, coming in 2017. The studio showed up at the 2016 Game Awards with their reveal trailer showing off a cinematic look at the setting for their upcoming title. Phoenix Labs has some serious pedigree running through it’s veins, with staff who have previously worked at Bioware, Riot Games, Capcom Vancouver and other studios.
The game has a very slick, animated style that looks similar to something that could come from Blizzard or Pixar, in both their character and creature designs. In the game, players act as Slayers in a dystopian world, and venture out to conquer Behemoths that occupy the floating islands of the game. The game looks to embrace its gameplay influences of Dark Souls, and especially Monster Hunter. The 4v1 of players versus monsters initially led to that impression, and a visit to the website shows a couple gameplay clips that look like a more westernized take on the Monster Hunter series. Players additionally will be able to obtain materials to craft and upgrade armor and weapons, of which there will be hundreds of items to use in the game.
The game is coming to PC in 2017, and to sign up to be included in the beta visit the Dauntless website, though there is no word on whether or not the game will be coming to consoles. Dauntless will be free-to-play, and it should be interesting to see how Phoenix Labs creates an effective setup for bringing in and retaining players and handling their microtransactions. Regardless, it will be interesting to see a new take on the Monster Hunter style of action-RPG and what Phoenix Labs will be bringing to the table.
Source: Dauntless Website