Today, we’re going to review the game Crimson Desert. Crimson Desert is not a direct sequel to Black Desert, but a standalone game from the same developer, Pearl Abyss. While the games share similarities in style and atmosphere, Crimson Desert tells its own story with new characters and a different world. The game focuses more on a narrative-driven single-player experience, while Black Desert is mainly known as an online multiplayer game.
First of all, we want to congratulate Crimson Desert on selling no less than 5 million copies. Not numbers from a service where you pay monthly to access multiple games, but 5 million actual copies sold. Secondly, we want to give the team behind Crimson Desert a big compliment. The way they listen to the community and how quickly they fix glitches and bugs is impressive (for example, they quickly added a personal storage chest). We have a lot of respect for that. It’s something we sometimes miss in the gaming industry. There are other companies (we’re not naming names) that take a week to release an update and don’t even work on weekends. This review is based on roughly 120 hours of gameplay and reflects Patch Notes version 1.03.00.
What kind of game is this?
But what exactly is Crimson Desert, and what can you expect? Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure game set on the continent of Pywel. Join Kliff on his journey to rebuild the Greymane faction and save the land from an incoming threat. From vast wilderness and cities to ruins and the mysterious Abyss: fight your way through and explore everything the world has to offer.
Story
The story takes place on the continent of Pywel. On Pywel, different factions are constantly fighting each other. Kliff fights alongside his loyal group, the Greymanes. But one night, their camp is suddenly attacked by their enemies, the Black Bears. Many of his comrades are killed or go missing. Kliff loses almost everyone he considered family. Determined, he sets out to find the survivors and rebuild the group. During his journey, he forms new alliances, but not without problems. He also encounters mysterious factions with their own plans. As expected, things don’t go smoothly, and Kliff ends up involved in a conflict much bigger than he anticipated.
The story of Crimson Desert revolves around Kliff. As his story progresses, two new playable characters (Oongka and Damiane) join your journey. Once unlocked, you can freely explore Pywel with them and take on quests outside the main story. Each character has their own combat style, skills, and weapons, allowing you to experience the world and its battles in different ways. To be honest, though, we mostly just played as Kliff.
World and gameplay
What I really like about this game is that it truly feels like an open world. It’s not just a big map. The world of Pywel actually feels huge and impressive. I love all the secrets and details hidden throughout the world. If you don’t feel like following the story for a while, you can completely lose yourself in the world.
You can farm resources, fish, craft, do quests for your camp, play minigames, and much more. I do have to say that I personally felt this sense of getting lost in a world slightly more in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, but Crimson Desert still captures that feeling really well. That feeling from back in the day: just playing for hours and getting completely absorbed in a game. It’s something we’re always looking for, but don’t always find anymore.
The best part is that even when you’re approaching 200 hours, you’re still discovering new things. Those secrets also include puzzles. The sandbox gameplay felt really strong and, honestly, sometimes even more fun than the story itself. The game looks great visually as well. Combined with the environment and atmosphere, it creates a really impressive overall experience.
Camp
What I also really like is that you can manage your own camp. You take care of livestock, plant trees, and help your camp members with various requests. The more people you bring into your camp, the more you need to expand it. You can clearly see this when walking through your camp. The game also uses time progression. For example, we saw a large rock later turn into a statue. Small details like that make the world feel alive.
Combat and difficulty
I got pretty annoyed with people on social media who immediately dropped the game because bosses or puzzles were “too difficult.” If a boss is too hard, you’re supposed to get stronger, improve your healing, and adjust your strategy. And if a boss is really too difficult, they’ll eventually adjust the difficulty anyway (which they actually did). As for puzzles: if you don’t like them, just look up the answer online. You can really tell that gamers aren’t as eager to take on a challenge anymore. Whether that’s a generational thing or just people being lazy, who knows. During combat, it took a bit of getting used to, but once it clicks, it works well. For example, you can hold down the attack button and more easily stay focused on your target. Also, make sure your controller actually works. We found out our block button was broken, which made things unnecessarily difficult.
Combat feels realistic and satisfying. Finishing off enemies (including the animations) feels rewarding. Boss fights are challenging and memorable, which is exactly how it should be.
I personally found the boss, Reed Devil, very difficult. But after trying a few times, I prepared better: cooked food, upgraded my gear, and adjusted my strategy. And then it worked. What’s also nice is that each boss requires a different approach. And if you end up looking up a guide, you’ll probably think: “Okay… this was actually pretty easy.” You also see that many players want to get as much in-game money and resources as possible through exploits instead of just playing the game. That’s a shame.
Small details
What I personally really liked is that you can tame animals and turn them into companions. You can even buy special armor for your companion. After fights, they help you with looting, which is very useful when you’re mining or looting. It gives off a bit of a Fallout vibe: exploring the world together with your buddy.
Downsides
What I do find disappointing is that the story isn’t very strong. That definitely affects the final score. It often feels like you’re doing separate quests rather than following a cohesive story. If you ask us what Crimson Desert is about, we can explain what you do, but not really what the story is. The controls can also take some getting used to. Some actions require multiple button inputs, which don’t always feel smooth. This can discourage players and cause them to stop playing, which is a shame.
And then there’s horse taming. We almost destroyed our controller. In many games, this is simple, but in Crimson Desert, it feels like punishment. We couldn’t figure it out, got really frustrated, and eventually looked it up on YouTube. There, we saw we weren’t the only ones struggling. I even called Dex for help, but he mostly just laughed and told me how bad I was. We’ll see how he does when he has to do it himself.
Conclusion
Crimson Desert is an ambitious and impressive open-world game with a strong world, solid combat, and a lot of content. At the same time, you can tell the story falls short at times and some mechanics are just frustrating. Still, this is a game you can completely lose yourself in, and in the end, that’s exactly what we’re looking for.
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