Dauntless, Phoenix Labs' monster slaying co-op game, is leaving early access soon, apparently, despite doing the exact same thing in May. That was the official launch, but it won't hit 1.0 until later this month. Untangling the release state of a game is hard work these days.
The launch—for real this time—will be accompanied by a seasonal expansion, Aether Unbound, introducing a new weapon, Hunt Pass and a bounty system. You'll be able to put your new gear to good use senselessly slaughtering wonders of nature, including the new Dire Behemoth and Tempestborne Stormclaw.
Phoenix Labs' plans for Dauntless after 1.0 can also be browsed in the surprisingly flashy but slightly overdesigned roadmap.
I quite enjoyed my first few adventures in Dauntless, with its streamlined Monster Hunter formula and nearly instant battles. I thought I wanted to get straight to the good stuff, the fights, and at first that was definitely true, but I ended up starting to miss all the exploration, tracking and complexity of Capcom's romp and never went back.
Dauntless 1.0 launches on September 26.
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