Crimson Desert Reviews

Open-world games are among the most popular video game genres nowadays, but it's undeniable that, among the many released each year, only a few achieve widespread success and enduring popularity. This isn't very surprising. While the idea of having huge maps filled with activities and secrets to discover is always enticing, the execution makes all the difference. Those that fall into the "Ubisoft" open-world formula often become tiring very quickly without a strong, cohesive narrative, while those that do away with markers and quest indicators, leaving players on their own, like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Elden Ring, fare considerably better.

Crimson Desert is a fascinating video game. It's an open world adventure of frankly absurd scope, taking blatant cues from notable examples of the genre, like Red Dead Redemption 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and The Witcher 3.

Crimson Desert is an incredibly ambitious project. If you are willing to commit, you will find appreciation in this deeply immersive medieval RPG that is almost stuffed with too many features, but somehow makes it all hang together in a beautiful and ambitious package.

Proving that looks aren’t everything, Crimson Desert’s stunning visuals and strong performances aren’t enough to save it from being a disappointing experience. Jam-packed with content and systems that make it feel like a Jack of all features, master of none with an unenjoyable gameplay loop, Crimson Desert is really just a single-player MMORPG in all but name.

Crimson Desert is one of the most ambitious single-player open-world games ever. It throws a ton of deep systems at you with almost no hand-holding, but once it clicks, the combat feels fantastic, and exploration feels rewarding. There’s enough content here to keep you busy for months on end. The story is pretty average, and the beginning can be brutal, but if you’re the kind of person who loves big, sandbox adventures, this one is worth the ride (and $69).

Even though the onboarding was rocky, Crimson Desert stands out for its depth and sense of discovery. It can be a lot to grasp at first, but players who stick with Crimson Desert will discover a game that feels completely different from anything else. Crimson Desert is everything I hoped it would be, and it has the potential to be one of the biggest titles of this generation of gaming.

Crimson Desert is a breath of fresh air for those looking for true ambition and adventure, as it delivers one of the most experimental combat systems and an open world on par with anything Rockstar has ever made.

Crimson Desert does not make a good first impression. Imagine an episode of Game of Thrones, but you’ve taken a blow to the head and can’t remember much of anything. You’re hanging around with Jon, but you’ve got no idea about the Starks, no idea about the land they preside over, and, frankly, no idea about anything that’s going on. Imagine then, that the game version of this has the most convoluted, overly-complicated controls you’ve ever come across, and any tutorials use the vaguest words possible. It does get better, but this is the opening of Crimson Desert.

Crimson Desert is huge, and it's beautiful, but it can't pull itself out of the bog standard narrative trenches. Combat feels clunky, especially when facing off against one of the many frustrating bosses, and there feels like there is little reward for exploration. I wanted to like this, but it left me feeling empty.

Despite a few minor issues, Crimson Desert sets a new benchmark for this style of open-world experience, one that will be extremely difficult for future games to match.

A devastating ambush in the deep of night by their sworn enemies the Black Bears leaves members of the Greymanes dead or scattered across the continent. Kliff – having lost his Greymane comrades, his family in all but name – is determined to reunite with the survivors, rebuild the fallen Greymanes, and reclaim what was lost. But on a journey where alliances are forged, dangers abound, and mysterious factions are uncovered, Kliff will come to realize that an unprecedented threat and a destiny greater than he imagined await him.​ EXPLORE A LIVING, BREATHING WORLD Welcome to the open-world of Pywel, a continent filled with mystery, fantasy, and tons to discover. Visit bustling towns and quiet hamlets, venture across vast plains, deserts, and mountains, and explore forgotten ruins, shrines, and other unique landmarks of the continent’s distinct regions. Gather resources, craft, hunt, and partake in the various activities of Pywel to also aid in your journey. FORGE YOUR OWN COMBAT The world is yours to explore as you will and there are many paths for you to uncover; ride various mounts from horses to wolves, even a dragon and machines, scale cliffsides and walls which you can leap from to glide, and go through mystical gates to find yourself in the mysterious realm known as the Abyss. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW JOURNEY On the unforgiving battlefields of Crimson Desert, there is no single path to victory.​ Acquire weapons like swords, spears, and bows, and wield powerful abilities and elemental enhancements. Take advantage of the wide arsenal available to you and create lethal combinations to unleash even greater power.​ With every strike and move, forge your own way in a world where a split second can decide your fate in fast-paced, visceral battles. FACE RELENTLESS CHALLENGES From ruthless warriors to fearsome beasts, there are those in Pywel who will seek your downfall. Encounter a diverse array of challenging enemies and bosses in brutal one-on-one duels, large-scale battle clashes, and quick skirmishes, and prevail against the threats that stand in your way. THE BEGINNINGS OF A NEW JOURNEY On the continent of Pywel, the rival factions of Pailune maintained a tense balance.​ At Kliff's side stood his steadfast Greymane comrades: Oongka, Yann, and Naira.​ That fragile peace is shattered with the sudden assault of the Black Bears. The Greymanes fall one by one in the ambush. In a desperate struggle against their fearsome leader Myurdin, Kliff and the few Greymanes who survive are scattered to the winds. Kliff, etching the names of his fallen companions into his heart, vows to rebuild the Greymanes and exact vengeance upon the Black Bears. Along this path, he would meet those who seek to upend the very order of the continent and face a mission unlike any he has ever known.

This is a massive undertaking for any development team. It's ambitious to a point that it becomes curious that it was attempted. But unlike Captain Ahab, this is a level of investment and ambition that ultimately pays off in the highest order. The level of detail in Crimson Desert is unlike anything we have seen in this console generation.

It’s developed by Pearl Abyss, a South Korean studio that developed the massive MMORPG, Black Desert Online. Rather than being connected to Black Desert, it’s an entirely separate single-player open-world action game.

Dark Souls has often been used to measure one's gaming prowess, but that measuring stick has changed with Crimson Desert. Not only does it boast some of the most challenging boss battles ever seen in the industry, its required levels of patience, determination, and ability have set a new gold standard.

Of particular note are the puzzles. Crimson Desert has a ton, many of which are related to the main questline, and many of which are optional and peppered around the open world, not unlike Breath of the Wild's shrine puzzles. I'm not ashamed to say that many of these stumped me, albeit in a good way. The game refuses to hold your hand through these challenges, and forces you to rely on your own patience and powers of observation to solve them.

The first meal you learn to cook in Crimson Desert is Clear Soup, a brothy mixture of simply water, meat, and lentils. It looks nice and is probably filling, but would no doubt be a bit simple and leave you wanting something with a little more depth of flavor. As it turns out, it’s the perfect allegory for Crimson Desert at large: a beautiful, exploration-rich open-world game that’s a clear technological achievement, hampered by a cornucopia of little frustrations and a stark lack of narr...

A lavish, unruly fantasy epic where astonishing scale, ferocious combat, and technical confidence collide with bloated systems, bruised pacing, and an exhausting addiction to its own excess.

Crimson Desert is frustrating and buggy and can be very player-unfriendly, but it's also beautiful, deep, seemingly endless and monumentally, perhaps detrimentally, ambitious.

Story and Gameplay Normally, we focus on short-form reviews and content here at GameTyrant, but I don’t know how that can be accomplished with Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert and the world of Pywel. This may be the most unique gaming experience I’ve had in years, if not ever. The game opens with a qu

Crimson Desert is a remarkable achievement in open world design, with an inexhaustible number of things to see, do, and fight. It’s a miracle that it never collapses under its own weight. It isn’t perfect. By both accident and design, there are times when clarity and user-friendliness temporarily disappear, and the game’s rough edges and opaque mechanics overshadow the fun. A lot of games over-promise and under-deliver. Crimson Desert is not one of them.

In our Crimson Desert review, we discuss the game's amazing world and varied combat, but also its incongruent story and baffling UI.

Before Crimson Desert, I’d never played a game I’d describe as maximalist. Crimson Desert is a maximalist video game, defined by its excess, straining against the confines of an open world video game and perhaps the medium itself. It is stunningly ambitious, and often worse for it. It invites you to explore every aspect of its world and hates you for doing so. It is bogged down by design choices that baffle as much as they intrigue. It believes that more is always better, always necessary, that aims to create a living, breathing world, but one that only extends to the major characters. It does not view NPCs as people, and hopes you will not notice. It chases grandeur and gets there perhaps – generously – half the time. The rest of it made me wish I was doing literally anything else. I cannot deny its ambition; I did not enjoy my time with it. It is a game that wastes your time.

A vast world and even vaster array of MMO-like activities mix with glittering fidelity in Crimson Desert, but what good is it without much character, texture or charm?

Crimson Desert manages to capture the essence of pure open-world exploration and delivers incredible combat that is unlike anything you've played previously, while offering an engaging story that keeps you engaged as you progress through its massive map. It's not perfect due to some of its quality of life issues and unfair boss encounters, but this is a game that deserves very high praise.

Crimson Desert is a game with a lot to offer players, but it gets held back slightly by some odd design choices that can create more of a challenge than they really need to.

Vast and obtuse in a way that is going to frustrate some and exhilarate others, Crimson Desert is a fascinating journey, even when the destination isn't all that.

Crimson Desert is an ambitious open-world game that buckles under its own weight, making it a fun but flawed experience that will leave the player base divided.

No summary available

No summary available