Bilawal Bashir 
The free-to-play game The First Descendant is off to a rocky start on Steam, as players report severe performance and framerate issues but there is a fix. Or at least a Band-Aid for it.
The First Descendant is a third-person looter shooter powered by Unreal Engine 5. Despite the fancy graphics and a splashy arrival, the game has a “Mixed” rating on Valve’s storefront. The biggest reasons for the negative reviews are performance issues and pricy microtransactions.
The performance issues are not limited to PCs, either. Console players also report having framerate issues in the game. The game is also available on last-generation consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, compounding the performance issues. The First Descendant developers, Nexon Games, know the problems and have communicated the game plan to the players.
Fix the framerate issues in The First Descendant by reinstalling
The game’s constant frame drops make the experience jarring and unenjoyable; thankfully, reinstalling the game might fix that issue.
The developers have identified that the issue is associated with preloading. So, players who preloaded the title might face frame drops in gameplay. While the developers are working to find a permanent solution to the problem, they recommend players delete and reinstall the game.
The official The First Descendant account tweeted that the issue is due to a bug in the game’s preload version. The developers have yet to nail down a concrete cause of the bug but are working to resolve it.
How to fix crashes and stuttering in The First Descendant
If The First Descendant constantly crashes and reinstalling hasn’t worked, try verifying the game’s integrity and installing Easy Anti-Cheat.
The First Descendant crashes less on consoles than on PCs, even if both have some framerate troubles. There are several reasons why the game wouldn’t run stable, even on powerful machines. Verifying the integrity of the files can sometimes help with faulty downloads or installations.
Installing the Easy Anti-Cheat can ensure the program runs when playing The First Descendant. The anti-cheat software sometimes has issues on other games like Apex Legends and Elden Ring. Some users have reported that disabling Ray Tracing and DLSS resolved the “Out of Video Memory” issues. Lastly, ensuring the antivirus program isn’t stopping the game from running can help. The developers are working on making the game more stable, but no time frame has been given for the first batch of fixes.
