The First Descendant hotfix 1.4.5b, announced on October 16, 2026 for Steam, Xbox and PS5, temporarily hides Trials: Protocol 001. Only Protocol 002 will appear in the Trials selection until the affected mission’s portal issue is fixed.
Players already in the game should return to the title screen and reconnect to apply the hotfix. The announcement says no client update or additional download is required.
A portal bug in Protocol 001 group sessions
The official hotfix notes describe a specific trigger: in Trials: Protocol 001, with at least two players in the session, the portal disappears when one participant enters the Commander stage. That is the reported problem behind the temporary change to the mission list.
The player count describes the reported bug’s circumstances. The announced selection change carries no such group-size condition: the measure is to display Protocol 002 alone. Players looking for Protocol 001 after applying the hotfix should therefore expect it to be absent from the list.
Protocol 002 remains listed while the team investigates
At the time of the October 16 announcement, the team was still investigating the exact cause of the portal disappearing. Hiding Protocol 001 is an interim measure pending a correction. The announcement does not present this change as a fix for the underlying portal problem.
For anyone planning a Trials session, the immediate consequence is a narrower mission selection. Protocol 002 remains listed, while Protocol 001 is temporarily hidden. The condition for restoring the displayed selection is correction of the portal issue; the announcement gives no date for that correction.
Return to the title screen to apply the change
The application procedure concerns players who are already connected. Return to the title screen, then log in again to apply the hotfix. This instruction covers Steam, Xbox and PS5, the platforms named in the announcement, and requires no client update or additional download.
Reconnecting applies the hotfix with its temporary Trials selection. If Protocol 001 was your group’s planned activity, Protocol 002 is the listed alternative under the announced measure. Protocol 001’s return to the selection remains tied to correction of the portal problem.
Related links: our The First Descendant game page, our article on The First Descendant: roadblocks persist after the and our article on The First Descendant: a planned 15% loot bonus.
