The First Descendant Season 3 heads to a vast new region, with an early demo

The First Descendant Season 3 has a date, and you'll be able to get a taste of its vast new zone and try out the hover bikes early. The free-to-play looter shooter's next big update is titled 'Breakthrough,' and will see us traversing a dangerous region known as the Axion Plains. Pitched as a big turning point in the main story, the new season will also include another playable Descendant, the introduction of swords to your arsenal, an eight-player field raid, a dedicated social hub, and a Nier Automata crossover event.

As The First Descendant moves into its third season, we'll be sent out to explore the Axion Plains. This vast battlefield was once a promising outpost, but has been devastated by a void storm and is now overrun by Colossus. To help you get around this large area comes the new hover bike, designed for high-speed travel. You'll be given a standard-issue bike to get started when you log into the free Steam game during Season 3, and can collect additional models as you explore the Axion Plains.

Built to suit the larger scope of this region, the Colossus Field Raid is an eight-player encounter at a massive scale. It's big enough, in fact, that you'll probably want to bring your hover bike along with you, as you ride to take on the gargantuan Wall Crasher. While I'm not convinced they'll be as useful in this particular battle, we're also finally getting the ability to use swords, with three varieties on offer and additional types (including a two-handed greatsword and a pseudo lightsaber) coming in Season 3 Episode 2.

Also making their playable debut with the summer update is Nell; the Albion executive officer is stepping out onto the field to join the fight. Her skill set includes telekinetic spheres that can be thrown out to pull in and debuff nearby enemies, and to temporarily make all of her gunshots act as weak point strikes. Joining her is Ultimate Luna; the variant form of the support specialist will get options to either enhance her debuffs, or to shift her playstyle towards firearms. Later, in Episode 2, Nexon plans to follow up with the launch of Ultimate Yujin.

Also due at some point during Season 3 is the first official crossover, which will bring outfits based on Nier Automata's 2B and A2 to The First Descendant. Nexon says it decided to keep this to cosmetics for now as it focuses on "solidifying the substance of our game." The team will be hosting a developer livestream on Wednesday June 11 to show more of the Breakthrough update, such as new social space the Lounge, along with some additional details about what else players can expect in the months between now and the start of Season 3.

The First Descendant Season 3 'Breakthrough' launches Thursday August 7. An early demo of the update will be available starting Thursday July 24. You can pre-register now for rewards including a Descendant Selection Box and a title. If enough players do the same, the milestone rewards include a Transcendent Module, and Ultimate Weapon Selection Box, and (at the one-million mark) an Ultimate Descendant Selection Box.

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