Hunts are still incredibly fun to prepare for with armor and weapon types to gain the advantage over elemental monsters, the controls feel natural, and the game progress can be grindy but in a manageable way that makes me keep coming back for a few hours at a time. The game plays great and it is a fun experience to work together and slay giant monsters, however the technological limitations of the Switch in its innovative handheld or tabletop mode feel like a hindrance to the experience, and those who may only have a Switch Lite may easily be put off from investing in this game as they won’t be able to play for long. That has been their mission from the start and in that they have absolutely succeeded. Phoenix Labs has built Dauntless to be the same game for all gamers. For those who don’t have a Pro-Controller, the Joy-Cons may feel a bit clunky to use should you prefer playing at a range, but given the fact the other consoles will offer the same experience with their standard controller, I didn’t really see an overwhelmingly compelling reason to play solely on Switch. Dauntless is best played when docked, but this then draws the question of why get it on Switch? True you could play a short hunt here or there with friends on the go, but it doesn’t feel like a strong enough draw to bring it to the hybrid console. While these in and of themselves are not detrimental to the game for what it is, it does limit the ingenuity the Switch brings to gaming. The fact this is also an online-only game means you need to have a strong connection to the wifi as well which makes your window of play even smaller. That means for 12 minutes of gameplay I lose 1/10 th of a full charge. I found that one hunt drained roughly 10% of my battery, not including time spent in the hub world. It isn’t a question of capability as the console can handle the game like a pro, but the inherent design of the Joy-Cons coupled with the extenuating drain on the battery make this very difficult to play off the dock. This is of course greatly rectified with the use of a Pro-Controller, but it also lead me to understand one glaring flaw about Dauntless’ inclusion on the Switch: It simply is not meant for portable use. Will it maintains its simple and easy control scheme, playing as the gunslinger becomes exceedingly difficult as the range of motion is severely reduced to the point of near frustration when attempting to target specific parts of the monster in question. I mostly played the game using the system in handheld mode to test out the Joy-Cons, as their shorter joysticks can often cause issues with accuracy and fine-tuned controls.
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