The First Descendant is finally getting a fan-requested Hard Mode change

The First Descendant developer Nexon has announced an upcoming hotfix that will add matchmaking to Hard Mode, fixing an issue that has frustrated players since launch.

While The First Descendant has had a fairly successful launch, breaking its own Steam player count peak several times during its first week, one major player complaint concerns its lack of matchmaking in Hard Mode.

Players quickly noticed that there’s no option for random matchmaking when playing missions on Hard Mode, meaning they need to either get a group of friends together to play co-op or attempt to solo it.

Fortunately, the developers have heard the criticism and are working on a solution.

Nexon

In a post shared to its various social media accounts, Nexon said, “We’re preparing a hotfix that includes matchmaking for public Infiltration Operation (Dungeon) on Hard Mode.” While no date or further details were included, the devs promised “We’ll update as soon as possible.”

Players – including those who had been critical of Nexon – were quick to praise the devs for the impending fix, with one top response on Twitter/X reading, “Great change coming in from the team! Just keep listening to the community and you guys will have a hell of a game!”

“It’s encouraging to see dev are listening,” said a Reddit user.

The lack of matchmaking in Hard Mode already had players concerned about late-game content, with many saying they’d stop playing at a certain point without it. That seems to be changing, though, with one player saying, “Kudos to the dev team, brilliant decision. This will increase the longevity of the game exponentially.”

The dev’s relatively quick response and decision to incorporate player feedback also has some hopeful that they’ll implement additional suggestions from The First Descendant community, such as changes to the dye system and “rage inducing” grind.