Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs has apologized for the game's recent Awakening update, pledging "immediate adjustments" for some of the patch's more controversial features.
In a post on the official Dauntless website titled "Reflections on the Launch and What Comes Next", Phoenix Labs says it "hear[s]" players' frustration with Awakening and that it "sincerely apologize[s]" to players who felt their "time, effort, and trust were overlooked".
Phoenix Labs goes on to say that while its goals for Awakening were "ambitious", it acknowledges that the release of the update caused "frustration and confusion" and that it's "committed" to earning players' trust back.

In order to "respect [players'] lost progress and investment", Phoenix Labs says it'll be awarding 300,000 Rams and 5,000 Combat Merits to returning players, as well as up to 500 Peerless Aetherite "based on your weapon crafting in the pre-Awakening game".
Additionally, all game modes will be unlocked from the jump for returning players in an upcoming update, so you won't have to complete the new questline to unlock your favorite mode.
Phoenix Labs also says it's currently working on "immediate adjustments...to address progression, monetization, and technical issues", which were three of the biggest areas players identified as frustrations with Awakening.
Throughout the rest of the post, Phoenix Labs goes into detail regarding how it plans to reimburse players' time, detailing what initiatives are in place to fix Dauntless and make it appealing to returning players again.
In case you're not familiar with Dauntless' Awakening update, it launched earlier this month, with the Steam version of the game also arriving on the same date.
Handily, that means Dauntless' Steam reviews, which are currently sitting at Overwhelmingly Negative, pretty accurately reflect players' feelings about Awakening. Complaints include new paywalls where none previously existed, as well as massive changes to weapon crafting, technical problems, and much more.
Suffice it to say that although Dauntless managed to rack up more than four million players in its opening week, numbers have dwindled massively since then, and the Awakening update hasn't exactly restored trust in Phoenix Labs.
Hopefully, the changes outlined in the developer's blog post can bring players back, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the beginning of the end for Dauntless either. You can play the game right now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch for free.