Dauntless is getting a new mode for earning abilities and cosmetics in its first major content update

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Phoenix Labs' monster hunting game Dauntless will get a new hunting mode called Trials next week as part of the game's first major content update, Fortune and Glory. The new mode will confront players with modified, more dangerous Behemoths and new environmental challenges across two distinct difficulty levels, each with their own unique rewards for players who can get the job done.

Completing Trials at the normal difficulty will earn Steel Marks that be used to purchase useful rewards including weapon mods and alternate special attacks. Completing them at the Dauntless difficulty will bring in Gilded Marks, which are used to purchase "exclusive cosmetic rewards that showcase more advanced accomplishments."

The currencies can only be earned by Trials, and can be spent in a shop owned by a new character in Ramsgate named Lady Luck. Her shop will also feature a Wall of Champions leaderboard for solo and group hunts that will rotate on a weekly basis.

The Fortune and Glory update also kicks off a new Dauntless season called High Skies, which will include two Hunt Passes with "new and stylish content" to collect. The first, built around a "swashbuckling pirate theme," will have 50 levels of both cosmetics and consumables to earn; the second will arrive later this summer.

The Fortune and Glory update, and the High Skies season, goes live on July 16. Details are up at playdauntless.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.